He has always been interested in the news so when Joshua Major was 17 years old, he had an opportunity to tour a news station. He went to WPLG, an ABC affiliate in Florida. “That was where Larry King worked for one of his first jobs,” Josh says. After the tour, he was able to get the autographs of the news anchor and weather newscaster. That experience sparked a great passion in Josh – collecting autographed photos.
In 2004, Josh moved to Centralia where his mother was living. Now 29 years old, Josh works at Goodwill and has an impressive collection of autographs. How many can a person collect in 12 years – how about 400! Spread among five binders, his collection includes celebrities, news anchors and musicians. He even has autographed photos of news anchors from Canada. “I get one Canadian channel so I like to ask for those because they are international,” he explains.
His first celebrity was Mike Farrell from the hit show M.A.S.H. “I wanted to get autographs from people who were in shows that were part of pop culture,” Josh explains. “I emailed him, and received an email back. I didn’t recognize the name though, thinking, ‘Who is this?’ But it was him telling me that he would be happy to send me an autographed picture, he just needed my mailing address.”
But Josh doesn’t get most of his autographed pictures that way. You can get some people to send you a signed picture, like Farrell. “Robin Williams and Seth Green both sent me a picture with their autograph. I just printed out a letter and mailed it to them asking for one and they sent it.”
Typically, though, Josh purchases a picture from eBay. He then attaches it to a piece of cardboard, along with a letter asking the celebrity to sign the picture. He puts it in envelope addressed to the celebrity and also includes their publisher or PR person’s name. He includes a self-addressed, stamped envelope, marked “Photo, Do Not Bend” on it. It takes about four stamps to mail the whole thing. “Your chances of getting a signed picture back are much higher when you send the package,” he instructs.
There can be pitfalls though. “I take a risk sending a picture,” Josh explains. “Sometimes they get sent back as undeliverable, or maybe don’t come back at all.” But he has only had that happen about ten times. “That’s not a bad return rate at all,” he says.
A couple of times he has had pictures returned unsigned. “Jerry Rice and Dolly Parton sent their pictures back with a letter explaining that they couldn’t sign them. I think they are just so busy and don’t want to say yes to some people and no to others,” Josh says.
Josh finds out where to send the requests simply by searching online. “For instance, I just Googled ‘Reba McEntire fan mail address’ and got it. I just recently received her picture,” he reports with enthusiasm. She’s one of his favorites. “I love redheads,” he laughs.
“One of the best sites to find addresses is Fanmail.Biz. But sometimes they are wrong, too. One time I sent a request to Joe Diffy and it came back.” He looked online again and in the comment section someone had posted a different address in Tennessee. Josh sent the picture again and about three weeks later he got the signed picture back. “But it came from Nevada. I think maybe he was touring and signed it and sent it from there,” says Josh.
Patience is a good thing when collecting autographed pictures as well. “It took a month and a half to get Tim Allen’s picture. When I got that envelope, before I opened it I thought, ‘Oh, I hope it’s a good one.’ And it was!”
Josh also likes to bring joy to his family through his collection. “I got Alan Jackson’s signed picture for my mom. My cousin and brother both received Michael Jordan. My ‘other mom’ got Alicia Keys. The best part for me is the smile it puts on their faces. It really makes me happy.” Josh takes his collection seriously and plans to leave it as an inheritance for his family one day. “They’re very supportive,” he smiles.
Some other notable pieces in his collection include Kathy Najimy, Whoopi Goldberg, Chris Rock, Chris Cooper, Jeff Bridges, and Katey Sagal. Josh plans to continue adding to his collection, next sending for autographed pictures from Toby Keith and Sandra Bernhard.
“I just enjoy it so much because it’s my passion. When I open the mailbox and see that envelope, I think ‘Yes! There’s another one!’” he laughs. “It’s just so rewarding because they take the time to autograph the picture and mail it back to me.”
