Help & User Guide
Getting Started
fdoi.us is a gallery of First Day Of Issue covers — postal history collectibles that commemorate the first day a new stamp is available for purchase.
Anyone can browse the gallery, but contributing requires an account. Request an account and an administrator will review and activate it, usually within a day or two. You'll receive an email once approved.
Browsing
- Gallery — The main page shows all visible covers, 50 per page.
- Search — Full-text search across titles, descriptions, tags, artists, and stamp numbers.
- Artists — Browse covers by cachet artist (the designer of the illustrated envelope).
- Dates — Browse by issue year and month.
- Places — Browse by US state and city where the cover was postmarked.
- Tags — View the tag cloud or filter the gallery by any tag.
- Random — Discover a cover at random.
- On This Day — See covers issued on today's date in history.
Contributing
Once your account is active, you can contribute in several ways:
- Tags — Add descriptive tags to any cover. Tags from non-owners go through moderation.
- Community Notes — Add notes to share knowledge about a cover's history or significance.
- Edit Suggestions — Suggest corrections to a cover's title, description, format, or artist. The cover's owner reviews and approves or rejects each suggestion.
- Date/Location — Add first-day-of-issue dates and locations to covers that are missing them.
Collections & Favorites
- Favorites — Click the favorite button on any cover to save it. View your favorites from your profile or collections page.
- Collections — Create themed collections (e.g., "Space Covers", "Holiday Stamps"). Collections can be public or private.
Your Profile
Your profile page shows your stats and activity. You can add up to 12 covers to a personal showcase — a curated selection displayed on your public profile.
Image Scanning Tips
If you're scanning covers to contribute in the future:
- Scan at 300 DPI or higher for best results.
- Use a flatbed scanner or a tripod-mounted DSLR. Handheld phone photos will be rejected — we check EXIF data to maintain consistent image quality.
- Scan against a dark background to clearly define the envelope edges.
- Save as JPEG or PNG (TIFF also accepted).
API
fdoi.us provides a read/write REST API for programmatic access. See the API documentation for details.
Questions?
For questions or issues, use this form to contact the site administrator.