By the early 1860s, several state governments had begun to produce decorative envelopes with an all-over background design for use in their “Official Business” correspondence. The typical design usually included some representation of the official state seal in the upper left corner, together with the name of the individual department, either as part of the design with the seal, or in the background of the entire envelope. Some of these envelopes had designs which covered the entire face of the envelope, and since some were printed in bright colors, they readily caught the attention of their recipients – and later, collectors. The idea caught on quickly, and soon local county and city governments began to imitate the state governments and created illustrated envelopes for their own local use.

The current group of monographs represents all styles of decorative envelopes used by these state and local offices, and even includes many examples with ordinary corner cards. Taken together, they present a wide-ranging variety of illustrated designs, font styles, and colors. The time frame covered was initially defined to include the years between 1860 and 1960, but there are also some entries from even more modern times. A few envelopes included enclosures with decorative letterheads, and material of this sort was also sought out and included.

None of these studies should be considered complete or even comprehensive in scope. Some states are represented by only a few envelopes, while other states are represented by large numbers of envelopes within their monograph. This disparity is not to intended to imply scarcity or rarity; it is just what I encountered when collecting images of these envelope for these monographs.

A more detailed introduction to this monograph series can be found in the Introduction monograph found at the beginning of the list of state monographs below.

These studies are intended to provide the interested collector with an overview as to what envelopes might exist for his area of regional interest. While not a typical Stamp Smarter community project, it would be helpful if some state postal history collectors would consider to “volunteer” to take on the expansion of the study for their state. If you are interested, please contact me using the information within each monograph, and I will be delighted to discuss it with you.

This is a work in progress, and new state monographs will be added as time permits.