Artist Guernsey Moore did many turn-of-century covers (at the turn of the 20th century, not the 21st), and the June 30, 1900, issue appears to be our first Fourth of July cover. Using colonials as representative of the Fourth was popular before the days of fancy fireworks and Fourth of July parades, although firecrackers showed up early.

The July 4, 1903, cover shows a man setting off firecrackers and milady, in long skirt, is less than thrilled with the noise (covering her ears was a hint). Hmmm, this theme seems familiar: fast forward to the roaring 20s and J.C. Leyendecker’s cover depicting a young boy setting off a cap gun to make patriotic noises and a little girl covering her ears. Apparently, females do not care for loud noises.

But you didn’t really think we would leave our beloved Norman Rockwell out of our celebration, did you? His July 6, 1946, cover shows workmen cleaning the torch on the Statue of Liberty.