Horatio Alger

Hortio Alger was an immensely successful, Nineteenth Century author of young adult books. The basic story of most of this novels was a boy from poor circumstances who works hard and grows up to become moderately successful in life – rising from poverty to middle-class. He wrote about a hundred novels, of which over two-hundred million were sold – selling for years after his death. Today, only a few are still in print, with Ragged Dick being the most popular.

The story lines of Alger’s novels were appealing to the public when they were first published because many of them had come from lower means and had managed to improve their stations in life. At the time, there were thousands of homeless children on the streets of the big cities. Very few people today, though, can identify with the characters; their circumstances seem unrealistic now.

What’s worse is that in recent years it’s been discovered that when Alger was a Unitarian minister for a year before he career as a novelist, he was accused of molesting two early-teenage boys. Not much is known about the situation, other than he didn’t deny it and left the church. So there’s life chance that there will be revival of his works – or that another postage stamp will be issued featuring him.

Note

This is a nicely filled album page: the layout is good and full. I like the stamps of Franklin Roosevelt and the Library of Congress. I also like some of the others. I decided to write about Horatio Alger because I knew nothing about him, but had heard he was at one time a famous writer. After reading plenty about him, I discovered he was acused of child abuse. I then thought about not writing about him, but decided that it’s best not to pretend he never existed and just report the information.

Contains 16 spots: own 16 – 16 unused, 0 used.
Page is finished.
Album or Web Page Last changed May 8, 2025

Stamp Details

The table below lists information about the stamps shown on this page of Lighthouse’s stamp album. For more details about a particular stamp, click on its description. That will take you to the related web page of Colnect.

spot

own

catalog

subject

description

comment

United Nations & Other Nations

1.1	✓	2003	Recognition by Netherlands	20c (apr 1982) definitive, multicolor
1.2	✓	1950	Franklin D. Roosevelt	20c (jan 1982) comm., blue
1.3	✓	2004	Library of Congress	20c (apr 1982) definitive, black & bright red

Famous Americans

2.1	✓	1952	George Washington	20c (feb 1982) comm., multicolor
2.2	✓	2010	Horatio Alger	20c (apr 1982) definitive, red & black
2.3	✓	2012	The Barrymores	20c (jun 1982) comm., multicolor
2.4	✓	2013	Mary Walker	20c (jun 1982) comm., multicolor

Other

3.1	✓	2011	Aging Together	20c (may 1982) comm., brown
3.2	✓	2014	Intl. Peace Garden	20c (jun 1982) comm., multicolor
3.3	✓	2017	Touro Synagogue	20c (aug 1982) comm., multicolor
4.1	✓	2018	Wolf Trap Farm Park	20c (sep 1982) comm., multicolor
4.2	✓	2023	Francis of Assisi	20c (oct 1982) comm., multicolor
4.3	✓	2024	Ponce De Leon	20c (oct 1982) comm., multicolor
5.1	✓	2016	Jackie Robinson	20c (aug 1982) comm., multicolor
5.2	✓	2015	America’s Libraries	20c (jul 1982) comm., red & black

Christmas & Holidays

5.3

✓

2026

Madonna & Child
Giovanni Battista Tiepolo

20c (oct 1982)
comm., multicolor

Footnotes

Spot refers to the postion of the stamp on the album page (e.g., 3.2 indicates row 3, position 2).
Amt. is an abbreviation for the face amount of the stamp.
Own indicates the stamp status: ✓ for unused; ✗ for used or canceled; ⭑ signifies I ordered one; ; ✨ indicates it was bought recently; ✠ means an auction bid is pending; and ◎ is used, and it costs too much for unused.
To search by catalog number, go to the search box and enter it in the catalog number box. However, it’s a bit broken; I need to fix it.