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This album contains items from a branch of stamp collecting that involves Postal Covers. In this case Postal Covers from the United States. Postal Covers are envelopes or post cards (or, sometimes, package wrappings), often with an address, and affixed with cancelled stamps. This album contains various types of Postal Covers, and also includes a few uncanceled examples of Postal Stationary, which have pre-printed or embossed stamps, as issued by the Post Office.Postal Covers can be subdivided into a number of categories, and this album contains several types. While a few were sent through the mail from one individual to another, others were cancelled specifically for collectors, and they likely never contained a letter. In fact, they are often unaddressed. Covers for collectors may be adorned with a cachet%u2014a design, either printed or stamped onto the envelope, that visually commemorates a specific event. Several commercial companies have produced very elaborate, artistic cachets to honor the occasion being celebrated.For me, I%u2019ve always found Postal Covers more interesting than stamps because the cancellation establishes a Cover firmly and historically in particular place and time, while the cachet adds additional information.The word philately refers to the study of postage stamps and their history. It can involve everything from cataloging different types of stamps, to how stamps are made, to the actual collecting of stamps. Stamp collecting itself is comprised of many different specialties, such as collecting stamps from all over the world, or stamps from a single foreign country, or stamps with a specific theme, or just stamps from the United States. Some people only collect air-mail stamps, or commemorative stamps, or stamps of birds, or stamps related to the Olympics, maps, famous people, outer space, etc. Others collect what are known as Miniature Sheets or sheetlets, which could include smaller-than-usual sheets of stamps, special souvenir sheets%u2014or plate blocks of (usually) four stamps attached to the selvage area of the larger sheet which contains printing details, such as a serial number of the printing plate. Although they are not postage stamps, per se, revenue stamps, which are used to pay taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, or alcoholic drinks are also collected. And there is a specialty of collecting Duck Stamps, which are issued by the United States government and must be purchased prior to hunting migratory waterfowl such as ducks and geese.