The Stamp Album as Measure

The Plot Against America

The stamp motif links national history to Philip’s effort to preserve order, identity, and a childhood world.

increasing

Bearing strength in each event

decreasing

A Portable Archive A Portable Archive from "The Plot Against America". A Portable Archive Learning through objects Philip’s stamp album gathers countries, presidents, landscapes, and historical events into a small ordered space.

A Portable Archive from "The Plot Against America". A Portable Archive Learning through objects Philip’s stamp album gathers countries, presidents, landscapes, and historical events into a small ordered space.

A Portable Archive Learning through objects Philip’s stamp album gathers countries, presidents, landscapes, and historical events into a small ordered space. Collecting gives him a child’s method for approaching an enormous world. Identity in miniature The album connects personal ownership with national belonging.

A Lindbergh Keepsake A Lindbergh Keepsake from "The Plot Against America". A Lindbergh Keepsake An uneasy object The 1927 airmail stamp honors Charles A. Lindbergh’s flight even as his politics frighten Philip.

A Lindbergh Keepsake from "The Plot Against America". A Lindbergh Keepsake An uneasy object The 1927 airmail stamp honors Charles A. Lindbergh’s flight even as his politics frighten Philip.

A Lindbergh Keepsake An uneasy object The 1927 airmail stamp honors Charles A. Lindbergh’s flight even as his politics frighten Philip. Philip cannot discard it and imagines that its value might rise if Lindbergh becomes president. Contradictory memory The stamp preserves admiration and fear in the same small image.

Symbols Defaced Symbols Defaced from "The Plot Against America". Symbols Defaced A nightmare collection Philip imagines Hitler replacing Washington on stamps and swastikas covering national parks.

Symbols Defaced from "The Plot Against America". Symbols Defaced A nightmare collection Philip imagines Hitler replacing Washington on stamps and swastikas covering national parks.

Symbols Defaced A nightmare collection Philip imagines Hitler replacing Washington on stamps and swastikas covering national parks. The nightmare turns national capture into an alteration of familiar printed images. Fragile national meaning The stamps can no longer promise that American symbols will remain secure.

Taking the Album Along Taking the Album Along from "The Plot Against America". Taking the Album Along A journey companion Philip persuades his mother to let him carry the album to Washington.

Taking the Album Along from "The Plot Against America". Taking the Album Along A journey companion Philip persuades his mother to let him carry the album to Washington.

Taking the Album Along A journey companion Philip persuades his mother to let him carry the album to Washington. He wants its presidents and monuments close while the family tests its place in the capital. Protection through familiarity The collection becomes an emotional safeguard, though it cannot prevent humiliation.

Loss in the Woods Loss in the Woods from "The Plot Against America". Loss in the Woods An object left behind Philip takes the album when he tries to run away and is injured near the orphanage.

Loss in the Woods from "The Plot Against America". Loss in the Woods An object left behind Philip takes the album when he tries to run away and is injured near the orphanage.

Loss in the Woods An object left behind Philip takes the album when he tries to run away and is injured near the orphanage. The collection disappears, and searching cannot restore it. A childhood ending Its loss marks the collapse of the orderly world the stamps once represented.

age seven

summer 1940

autumn 1940

June 1941

May 1942