When I recently saw the list of exhibits at the Southeastern Stamp Show held in the Atlanta, Georgia area. I was surprised to see an exhibit about the Freedom Train. Here's a short article I wrote in the May, 2009 issue of The Vermont Philatelist.
One of the major events of the USA Bicentennial commemoration held
from 1970 through 1981 was the American Freedom Train tour of the
continental United States in 1975 and 1976.
According to the website, http://www.freedomtrain.org/ “the display
cars of the AFT were outfitted with the 500+ artifacts of Americana that
they carr(ied) around the nation. Among them were the Bill of Rights,
the Louisiana Purchase, Judy Garland’s dress from The Wizard of Oz,
Joe Frazier’s boxing trunks, Abe Lincoln’s stovepipe hat, and even a rock
from the moon.”
The tour began in Wilmington, Delaware April 1, 1975 and ended on
December 31, 1976 in Miami, Florida. Over 7 million visitors viewed the
exhibits. Burlington, Vermont was the 3rd stop on the two-year national
tour. The train was in Burlington April 11-12, 1975.
At each stop a special commemorative postmark was used. It seems
that this was mostly overlooked by the Vermont philatelic community.
There is no mention of the cancel in contemporary issues of the Vermont
Philatelist. Even when Paul Abajian published his initial listing of The
Special Cancellations of Vermont in 1997, this cancel was missing.
In the decade since less than 5 covers bearing the cancel have been
reported. Even collectors who specialize in this issue don’t seem to have a
Burlington example. All examples seen are dated April 11. It’s not known
if there are April 12 examples in existence.
