Collectors with global stamp interests will find an assortment of columns and features to serve their interests in Linn’s new section devoted to the international collecting scene and marketplace.

The invention of the cotton gin in 1793 made it possible to process cotton crop much faster. Eli Whitney, the machine's inventor, was shown on a 1¢ stamp in 1940.

The U.S. Postal Service's usps.com website passed $1 billion in sales during the fiscal 2015 year, more than the combined sales of post offices in New York City, Los Angeles, Chicago, Philadelphia, and Dallas. A Dec. 8 news release called that “a major milestone” for the website. “USPS.com can provide virtually any service offered at a brick-and-mortar Post Office,” the release noted.

In early December, the United States Postal Service’s board of governors dropped to one member. A Temporary Emergency Committee, established by the board in the event the board lacks a formal quorum, comprises the one remaining presidential appointee, former Rep. James Bilbray of Nevada, and Postmaster General Megan Brennan and Deputy Postmaster General Ronald Stroman.

Canada Post will kick off 2016 on the second Monday in January (Jan. 11) with an estimated 14 stamps, including multi-stamp installments in two continuing series, a five-stamp inaugural release in a new series of Birds of Canada, and a new definitive depicting Queen Elizabeth II. The biggest surprise of this multi-stamp Monday may be the return of old designs in new denominations. The sites pictured on five $1.20 and $2.50 UNESCO World Heritage booklet and souvenir stamps issued May 16, 2014, (Scott 2739-44) will be back as nondenominated (85¢) permanent-rate stamps.

The second-largest land mass of the Falkland Islands, West Falkland, is now home to the world’s southernmost postal museum, according to a release from Nova Stamps. The Old Post Office House at Fox Bay, West Falkland, has been standing tall since November 1918. Serving as a house as well as Post Office until 1988,when the post office was relocated to the town’s Village Store.

December 7, 1941. On this date 74 years ago, a Japanese surprise aerial attack on Navy ships and military installations at Pearl Harbor, Hawaii, brought World War II to America.

Willa Cather's popular Prairie Trilogy, beginning with O Pioneers!, grew from her Nebraska upbringing. Cather was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1922.

Actor, director and producer William S. Hart captivated early movie audiences with his honest portrayals of Western life during the silent film era.

Martin Van Buren came from a predominantly Dutch area in New York to become the eighth president of the United States.

The show featured four societies this year, one from Australia (Australasian Specialists/Oceania), India (The India Study Circle), and two from the states (The Eire Philatelic Association and The Institute for Analytical Philately).

The Hungarian Soviet Republic headed by Bela Kun lasted only from March 21, 1919, until Aug. 1, 1919, but during that time the postal administration issued a set of large bicolor postage stamps in the style of contemporaneous political poster art.

Japan’s nearest neighbor to the west, the peninsula of Korea, is about 120 miles away, across the Strait of Korea. The two countries engaged in diplomatic and trading exchanges as early as the third century, and Korea was the conduit to Japan for many elements of Chinese culture, including food and religion. A treaty in 1876 launched the efforts to make Korea economically and politically part of the Japanese empire, and early in the 20th century, Japan accelerated the maneuvering to dominate its small neighbor.

It’s time to catch up on the week that was in stamp-collecting insights and news. Linn's Stamp News is looking back at its five most-read stories of the week. Click the links to read the stories. Here they are, in reverse order.

When the election of 1844 ended on Dec. 4, James K. Polk had been chosen as the nation's 11th president, defeating Henry Clay. During Polk's single term in office, the first U.S. postage stamps were issued.

In my August column, I wrote about domestic mail and pictured covers addressed within the United States. This month, I’m writing about international mail — in particular, depreciated currency covers. But first, I need to provide some background on the subject of early overseas mail between the United States and foreign countries.

Karla Norman, a librarian from the outskirts of Memphis, has been teaching young students geography by way of international stamps and postal notes. Her resources include her own 150 count topical collection, along with those that belong to members of the Memphis Stamp Collectors Society, which she is a member of.

One of the least expensive local post stamps with a good deal of eye appeal is the (1¢) Cincinnati City Delivery Mail Carrier stamp (Scott 39L1). The design shows a bearded and uniformed mail carrier striding purposefully down the street with a letter in his right hand and a mail pouch in his left.

The United States’ first Circular Die embossed stamped envelopes were issued 100 years ago, ushering in a postal stationery era that spanned World War I, the Roaring Twenties, the Great Depression, World War II, and the first decade of the Cold War.

If there’s a secret to Christoph Gaertner’s success, it’s a simple one: He might be one of the hardest working people in the stamp business. In just a few years, Gaertner has built his firm from scratch to the point where, three or four times a year, he conducts what is probably the world’s largest philatelic auction by volume.