The Korean Christmas Seals had grown in popularity in 1933, and raised more funds to fight tuberculosis, and so Dr. Hall’s United Christmas Seal Committee of Korea decided to continue with the 1934 seals. In this 1934 program, there was only one type of the single seal; however, there were four different sheet sizes, eight varieties of postcards, and a new variety, called “fold cards”.
A Mother Carrying a Baby Plus Postcards and “Fold Cards”
In the previous two years, the seals had been designed by Dr. Hall and the YMCA staff, with the 1933 seal based on a USA 1932 Christmas/TB seal. The 1934 seal was designed by Elizabeth Keith. She was an artist who loved Asian art, especially Korean art. She would also later design the 1936 and 1940 seals. The late Lura McLane Smith, an early KSS member, knew Elizabeth Keith personally and watched her do woodblock printing artwork in Korea. In the May 1 issue of Korean Philately, 1960 Volume IX, No. 1, Smith gives a short background of most of the artists that designed the Korean Christmas seals.
My dad’s brother, Raymond James Smith, spent several years in the Sunnyside TB Sanitarium just outside of Indianapolis.
He received a diary in 1933 from family friends. A year or so later Dr. McQueen, one of the Physicians at the
Sanitarium, presented each member of the Christmas Seal Committee with a Christmas seal. Uncle Raymond pasted that Seal in the front of his diary. He wrote in the diary for a little over three years . . . . I have that diary and on the inside cover is the 1934 Christmas Seal Stamp. His first entry in the diary says . . .”What a time to start a Diary. How far will God permit me to go in this book? This day has been a happy one for me in spite of the uncertainty of the future. Uncle Raymond lived with us most of my life. He lived to age 63 and was a major part of my life as I was growing up. I’m writing a story about him now.
Hi Robert, thanks so much for sharing that story about your uncle. Robert