National Postal Museum

1972 Peace Corps Stamp Artist David Battle Visits Museum

By, Patricia Raynor, Loan Coordinator

David Battle, whose design concept was used for the 1972 Peace Corps Stamp, visited the Postal Museum on April 12. Jim O’Donnell and I interviewed Mr. Battle in 2010 for an article on the Peace Corps stamp and were delighted when he contacted us that he was planning a visit to Washington, DC. While at the museum, Mr. Battle spoke fondly of his visit to Washington in December of 1971 when and his family were invited to attend the ceremony announcing the Peace Corps stamp.

Peace Corps stamp issued February 11, 1972

 

David Battle also designed the cachet for the 1971 first day cover that he is holding.

The National Postal Museum has the original Peace Corps stamp art on loan from the U.S. Postal Service’s, Postmaster General Collection. Annette Shumway, museum technician PMG Collection, brought out the art for him to examine in person.  He showed us how graphic artist Bradbury Thompson added an extra dove in the adaptation for the final design as the design of the Peace Corps stamp was vertical and his original design was square.

 

 

David Battle examining the 1972 Peace Corps stamp art with Annette Shumway overseeing on the right.

Bradbury Thompson note from the National Postal Museum Library, Third Assistant Postmaster General, Stamp Design Files.

David Battle lives in Ohio with his wife Esther.  His art frequently appears in the Antioch Review.

Photographs by James O’Donnell

To learn more check out:
David Battle and the story behind the Peace Corps stamp
http://postalmuseum.si.edu/museum/1d_peace_corps_stamp.html

The Postmaster General Collection
http://postalmuseumblog.si.edu/2012/07/the-postmaster-general-collection.html
                                

First-Day Ceremony: Emancipation Proclamation Commemorative Forever Stamp

By: Calvin Mitchell, NPM Research Associate

On January 1, 2013 at 9:00 A.M. the United States Postal Service (USPS) held the first- day ceremony for the Emancipation Proclamation commemorative forever stamp in the magnificent Rotunda Gallery of the National Archives.  The selection of January 1, 2013 as the first- day of issue was historically consistent as the date marked the 150th Anniversary of the signing of the Emancipation Proclamation by President Abraham Lincoln. Scheduling the first- day ceremony on New Year’s Day resulted in the stamp’s release on a Federal holiday, which is a rare event, but scheduling the first- day ceremony at the National Archives allowed this momentous event to become an integral part the 150th Anniversary celebration from Sunday, December 30-Tuesday, January 1.

A’Lelia Bundles, President of the Foundation for the National Archives, served as the Master Of Ceremonies. She recognized the importance of the ceremony to stamp collectors by asking how many people in the audience were stamp collectors, which resulted in a significant number of people raising their hands.  She used this occasion to pay homage to her own ancestors who were enslaved at the time the Emancipation Proclamation was signed. She also read a stirring proclamation issued from “another president,” President Obama, which commemorated the sesquicentennial anniversary of the signing.

Ms. Bundles was followed by David S. Ferriero, Archivist of the United States, who began his presentation by saying “Welcome to my house.” During his brief speech he cited the issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation as a document that added a moral dimension to the Civil War.

Ronald Stroman, the Deputy Postmaster General representing the USPS, gave the keynote address and spoke about the importance of the Emancipation Proclamation in changing the “arc of history” forever in America and the enduring significance the document holds in American history. “It is a legacy we choose not only to remember, but also to make our own.”  The unveiling ceremony occurred after his brief remarks.

After the unveiling Dr. Bernice Johnson Reagon, who is a singer, composer, and founder of the a cappella group, Sweet Honey in the Rock, opened her presentation with a very brief but beautiful hymn. She followed with a dramatic reading of the original Emancipation Proclamation. The presentation closed with a stirring performance by the Washington Revels Jubilee Voices. The group enthralled the audience with spirituals and gospel music sung by African Americans during the Civil War period. At the conclusion of the ceremony, which lasted about 45 minutes, attendees were given the rare opportunity to view the original Emancipation Proclamation displayed in the East Rotunda Gallery.

Button produced by the US National Archives and distributed to the general public during the 150th Anniversary events.

 

Program prepared for the first- day ceremony held on August 16, 1963 in Chicago, Illinois for the release of the stamp commemorating the 100th Anniversary of the Issuance of the Emancipation Proclamation. This stamp shown on the program was designed by Greg Olden, who was the first African American to design a US postal stamp.

 

First- Day Program, signed by Gail Anderson, the stamp designer. Copies of the programs were found on the seats when attendees entered the Rotunda.

Post Ceremonial Activities

After the event the, USPS set- up shop in the National Archives’ Bookstore to sell philatelic products related to the stamp’s release and provide collectors with three different postmarks: a pictorial postmark, a bull’s eye postmark and a regular four bar first- day of issue postmark.   As usual, collectors will have to mail in items and pay (fifty cents per item) to receive the digital postmark.   Interestingly enough, a number of collectors actually had entire panes autographed by the stamp designer and postmarked at the Archives.  Moreover, sales at the postal service counter were very brisk. The postal service reported that attendees purchased $6000 of philatelic items.

Gail Anderson was spotted purchasing philatelic items from the postal service and was sought out for her autograph, which she gladly provided upon request.

 

Set of three Artcraft covers (above) prepared for the issuance of the 1963 Emancipation Proclamation Stamp I used to obtain the pictorial postmark designed for the issuance of the 150th Anniversary Stamp. I had the stamp designer for the 150th Anniversary Stamp autograph the cover. Note the two varieties in the circular postmarks used on the 1963 centennial stamp.

 

First day cover sold at the ceremony by the USPS and autographed by the stamp designer.

 

Congressional Stamp Exhibit a BIG success!

By Ian Gibson-Smith, National Postal Museum Council of Philatelists

Over 800 people of all ages attended this year’s Congressional Stamp Exhibit, held July 24-26 at the Rayburn House Office Building in Washington, D.C. The vast majority spent a significant amount of time playing with and learning about stamps.  (This figure does not count the large number of people who stopped by the table in the hallway to look at and play with the stamps and the folks who came by in the evening while we were not there, which we estimate was at least an additional 200!)  Eight members of Congress participated, and 15 members came by to see the exhibit. Dr. Wayne Clough, Secretary of the Smithsonian, a member of the UK Parliament and a number of other dignitaries stopped by as well.

Between the displays of material from members of Congress, the National Postal Museum frames, the Stamp Collecting 101 exhibit, the U.S. Postal Service educational display, the Stamps Teach table, StampCampUSA participants and the free stamps, we seemed to have had something that appealed to everyone.

The response was uniformly and overwhelmingly positive and we were asked constantly if we could make this an annual event. We received positive press in the Washington Post, Roll Call and a number of blogs.

The response we received seems to me to validate our belief that the way to win new collectors and reignite the passion of folks who previously collected as children is to simply get stamps back in their hands. We hope this idea can be duplicated and perhaps implemented in other ways--perhaps by setting up “free stamp” tables in malls, libraries and other events or places.

It was a joy to watch peoples’ reactions to the exhibit. They would pop their heads inside, look around the exhibit and then, as they walked by one of the tables of free stamps, idly pick up a stamp or two for a closer look. They would stop strolling and start looking more closely at the stamps.
Once one of our volunteers would talk to them, they would either pull up a chair or would continue to play and stay for a significant amount of time--in many cases for hours! We had attendees who got so excited that they left behind their briefcases or meeting materials. We even had a few folks who missed hearings and work-related obligations entirely due to their excitement over the stamp exhibit. 

This effort could not have happened without the help, kindness, and enthusiasm of many supporters and friends who share a love and passion for philately.

So many individuals and organizations came together to make this event effortless. I have to thank the National Postal Museum and their stellar staff, the kind donation of the Stamp Collecting 101 exhibit by an anonymous donor, the materials and time offered by the American Philatelic Society and their education department, the frames and bags from NAPEX, the stand of materials from the U.S. Postal Service, the extraordinary dedication and energy of StampCampUSA and their volunteers, the National Postal Museum Council of Philatelists volunteers, Members of the House and Senate, the
energy and hard work of Philip LoPicollo from the Smithsonian’s Government Relations Office, Frank Haught, who took a great deal of his personal time to make this a reality, and others.

I had a great deal of fun doing this and look forward to doing it again!

Doonesbury’s Cinderella Story: Protest Stamps and Comic Timing

Ashley Bowen-Murphy, curatorial intern and American Studies doctoral student

In May 1990, former (temporary) postal service employee Zonker Harris bemoaned an upcoming postage rate increase.  Zonker knew that, even after the five-cent rate increase, “US postal rates would still be among the lowest in the world” [1]. Still, he felt frustrated and “fed up” with the postal service’s rate hikes.

Unlike other frustrated United States Postal Service (USPS) customers, though, Zonker had a ready platform to protest this rate hike.  As a fictional character in Garry Trudeau’s long-running comic strip Doonesbury, Zonker commanded the attention of hundreds of thousands of newspaper readers every day.

Where other comic strips may have used the rate hike for an in-strip gag, Doonesbury asked readers to take the gag to the USPS itself!  The May 20, 1990 strip included two designs in a sheet of nine “negative 5-cent” imaginary stamps.  They are adorned with an image of Zonker and the words “Mad as Heck” or “Ticked Off.” Zonker encouraged readers to cut out and glue or tape the fantasy stamps to their mail in lieu of legal postage as a form of protest. These cinderella stamps are “attractive, convenient, and probably illegal,” Zonker noted.

The postal service was not amused.  A USPS spokesman told reporters that these Doonesbury stamps were “definitely illegal.”  In fact, users risked a fine of $300! [2]

The Doonesbury protest stamps are a kind of “cinderella” stamp: an item that looks like, but is not, an official postage stamp. These imaginary issues never had postal validity but were created as souvenirs. The content of cinderella stamps ranges from political protest to mere decoration. Perhaps the most well-known cinderellas are the Christmas and Easters seals sold to raise money for a variety of charities (below). Although the postal service does place restrictions on what can and cannot be affixed to envelopes, it is legal to put a variety of non-postage labels, decorations, or other items on a piece of mail—provided that legal postage is also present.

 

This 1945 patriotic cover includes an official, legal airmail stamp on the top right and a cinderella stamp issued by the private aid organization Bataan Relief of Illinois.

Easter seals of the U.S.A., 1930s and 1940s.
Image via the Creative Commons.

Readers followed Zonker’s instructions and did use the stamps on their mail.  The postal service detected the Doonesbury stamps during normal processing procedures.  In 1990, postage stamps had phosphor-treated surfaces, known as tagging, that allowed processing machines to place mail in the right position and feed it through a cancelation machine. The Postal Service found the Doonesbury protest issues when the sorting machines failed to detect any phosphorus and kicked them out for hand canceling [3]. While the USPS caught many of the protest stamps, a few did make it through to their recipients.

Though the stakes were a bit lower in 1990, Zonker’s plea to Doonesbury readers is one of many examples of American newspapermen using the newspaper to protest taxes in the form of stamps. For example, in 1765, The Boston Gazette caricatured the Stamp Act’s proposed stamps with a skull and crossbones and the words, "This is the place to affix the STAMP.” With this phrase, The Gazette’s editors taunted loathed Stamp Act, a 1765 law imposed by the British government that taxed paper. The Stamp Act proved so unpopular that the British repealed it in 1766.

There is no information on exactly how many Doonesbury readers attempted to use the protest stamps to mail a letter.  Likewise, there is no evidence that the protest stamps had an impact on the USPS rate hike. However, it is worth noting that in 1991 the cost of postage went up just four cents—not the planned five—to 29 cents for first class mail.

References:
1 Trudeau, Gary. Doonesbury 1990 May 20.
2 Van Natta Jr., Don. “‘Doonesbury’ Protest Stamps Fool Machines.” Knight-Ridder Newspapers [Wire Service] 30 May 1990. Google News.
3 Healey, Barth. “Pastimes: Stamps.” New York Times 8 July 1990.

The Postmaster General Collection

By Annette Shumway, Museum Technician

As a graduate student in Intro to Museums class, it floored me to learn just how many wonderful objects were present in museum collections but were not being exhibited. This prompted me to research and gain experience in digitization of collections. Now as an employee assigned to the Postmaster General Collection, I am thrilled to think of the digitization possibilities for this collection.

What exactly is the Postmaster General Collection?

The Postmaster General Collection (PMG) consists of two distinct collections: the philatelic collection, which contains postage stamps, die proofs, essays and other material related to the printing of stamps and postal stationary; and the art collection, which contains the original artwork that the Postal Service has commissioned for U.S. stamps for the last 75 years.  The philatelic collection was started in the 1860s by the Post Office Department (POD). Under the POD and its successor organization the United States Postal Service (USPS), it has grown to include postal stationary, uncut press sheets, and metal printing dies and drums.

Kate Collen sorting the first portion of the transfer in Summer 2010.

Under an agreement with the USPS, the PMG collection has been deposited on long term loan to the National Postal Museum (NPM). In exchange for the collection, the museum staff is responsible for the care and management of the collection and for making it available to the public. As part of the cataloging process, we will identify and describe each object, being sure to include information such as its dimensions and material types-- and safely store it in containers that will extend its life.

Cataloging the philatelic (stamp and other postal matter) portion of the collection began in summer of 2010. At that time, we were re-housing and cataloging the objects prior to moving them to NPM storage. By the end of 2011, we had over 12,000 objects in the database. According to Smithsonian digitization standards, we could say these objects were digitized to an acceptable standard! Certainly, curators and researchers would now be able to quickly search through these records, sorting on various criteria.

In the fall of 2011, USPS also granted us the loan for the original artwork of many U.S. stamp designs - on the condition that we move it within three months. Wow! Considering that the artwork doubled the amount of objects we would be transferring AND we had not yet finished cataloging the philatelic portion, this was a pretty tall order. But we were up for the challenge.

I, along with my interns, Alexandra Nichols (pictured here, on the left, me on the right, unpacking a framed object) and Janelle Batkin (below, sealing the boxes before the move), worked diligently to sort objects and inventory boxes, unloading boxes that were overly stuffed, and adding cushioning to those that were not completely filled in order to stabilize the contents. And we measured! We measured  everything from the boxes that needed custom lids to the opening in the doorway (needed to make sure those moving boxes fit once they were packed...) to the height of the loading docks of the various locations where the collection would be deposited.

Once at the museum, we opened the moving boxes, carefully checking the contents against our inventory list. Almost immediately there were Curatorial requests for objects from the collection. Having this list was essential to locating the objects within our 30 plus 2’x2’x2’ boxes. We worked through the spring to finish transferring the remaining philatelic objects into their containers. Shortly thereafter the cataloging of these objects resumed.

Next, we turned our attention to the art portion of the collection. Many of the original art objects had been grouped by Scott number (a number that designates the design and printing elements of the stamp or postal stationary).  Because the art was wrapped in bundles of tissue paper and stored inside acid-free cardboard boxes, for the most part it is in good condition. However, some of the bundles were overcrowded and needed to be rehoused. The bundles also did not allow for ready access to the collection. We also saw instances where the bundles had been opened and the contents had been dispersed making it difficult to gather the pertinent objects quickly.

To answer these challenges, we placed the 2-D objects in acid-free folders and boxes, maintaining the Scott number order, but dividing them by size-small, medium, large and extra-large categories. Incredibly, much of the art is smaller than a newspaper page and thus fits into our small or medium categories. Once these objects are recorded in our database, it will take a few clicks of a mouse to gather the object locations, and from there a short while to physically reunite the objects in their original grouping, if the need should arise.

Boxes for housing small, medium, and large objects customize the storage while keeping them to a manageable size for the museum personnel.

Looking to the future, our next phase is to ensure that the breadth and depth of this collection is captured in our database, imaged, and choice objects are loaded into our online collections website, Arago. If you live in the DC Metro area, some of the elements of the collection will be on display in the William H. Gross Gallery that is set to open in fall 2013. But for the rest of us, other portions of this long hidden gem may be coming to a computer near you.

Party Plans for the Olympic Games?

By Cheryl Ganz, Philately Department

Planning a party to watch the London 2012 XXXth Olympic Games, July 27 to August 12? Why not serve the same menu that the stewards served passengers on the zeppelin Hindenburg’s flight as it flew over the opening ceremony of the XIth Olympic Games on August 1, 1936, in Berlin?

Hindenburg over the 1936 opening ceremonies of the XIth Olympic Games Berlin.

In the NPM exhibition Fire & Ice: Hindenburg and Titanic, you can view the menu from that flight as well as mail carried on the flight. Each lavish lunch and dinner onboard had a specially printed menu.

The XIth Olympic Games Berlin flight luncheon featured clam soup, beef in Madeira sauce, cauliflower, peas, potatoes, and salad. Diners then enjoyed an ice cream bombe topped with the Olympic Games rings on a flag, hot chocolate, coffee or tea, and cake. To promote the sporting event, the Olympic Games rings were painted on the side of Hindenburg’s hull. After flying over Olympic Stadium, Hindenburg dropped twenty bags of mail by parachute at the Berlin airport.

A special red cachet identifies mail flown by Hindenburg in 1936 over the Olympic Stadium in Berlin.

Elaine Rawlinson: first female U.S. stamp designer

by Melody Parker, NPM intern.

Finding the “first” is a default mechanism for uncovering an interesting story. Elaine Rawlinson, first female U.S. stamp designer, was a first in more ways than one.

Prior to 1938, not a single U.S. stamp had been designed by a woman. This wasn’t entirely unusual as the Bureau of Engraving and Printing wasn’t just dominated by men; it was dominated by a handful of individuals. Flipping through a catalogue of U.S. stamps from the era, you’ll find the same designers’ names repeated again and again. This closed group of designers and engravers were the staff artists who worked not only with stamps, but with paper currency and other security products for the U.S. government. Engraving wasn’t an easy skill to master; this wasn’t a job with a high turnover rate or much entry into the field. Multiple firsts coincided to produce the first female stamp designer.

In 1933, devoted stamp collector and newly-elected President Franklin Roosevelt suggested a set of stamps honoring past presidents. The Post Office Department opened the first national competition in 1937 to gather potential designs for the first stamp in the new Presidential Series, which would feature George Washington. Though he has been pictured on more U.S. stamps than any other individual in history, it was only fitting that, as the first president, he would appear on the 1-cent stamp of the series. (For more information on FDR and stamps, visit our online exhibit Delivering Hope: FDR & Stamps of the Great Depression).

1,122 artists—some of whom were famous—were inspired to submit entries and compete for cash prizes. Many designers used modern fonts and streamlined images, reflecting an evolution from traditional designs to a 1920s trend in decorative arts with a bold, uncluttered and sophisticated efficiency.

A committee, which included Smithsonian Institution philatelist Catherine L. Manning (who also broke some ground herself as the first woman outside the sciences to achieve the title “Assistant Curator” at the Smithsonian) as one of the judges, spent two days narrowing the designs down to just five. The Bureau produced an experimental plate that included the winning designs from which President Roosevelt made the final selection. 

Elaine, a former student in her early twenties of the National Academy of Design School who also studied mural painting at the Beaux-Arts Institute, won the top prize and was awarded $500. She was the sole female winner among a top group of males.

Elaine’s design, which featured a side profile view of Washington from sculptor Jean Antoine Houdon’s bust at Mount Vernon, stood out in its simplicity: it lacked the tiny lines that were characteristic of most stamps both in the U.S. and abroad. The specifications of the contest were that the design be a portrait of George Washington, either profile or full-faced in view. Elaine's design was dignified and straightforward; she positioned Washington’s face in profile on the left side of the stamp as opposed to in the center, leaving a large area to be filled with solid green background. A New York Times headline from Oct. 3, 1937, announced Elaine’s achievement as “…Something New in Philatelic History.”

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing temporarily employed Elaine to design the first few lower stamp values of the series. She was the first person outside of Bureau employees to officially design a postage stamp, but Elaine is a bit of a mystery to philatelists as she seems to have disappeared from the design world after her work with this series.

Elaine’s 1-cent Washington stamp, issued on April 25, 1938, became the fundamental basis for the designs of the rest of the Presidential Series, one of the most famous stamp series in history and fondly known to philatelists as the “Prexies.” The series chronologically depicted all 29 presidents who had died before 1938 as well as Benjamin Franklin, Martha Washington, and the White House. The Prexies were workhorse stamps; they were simple and intended for long-term use, and were seen on everyday and wartime mail through the late 1950s. While stamps of this series are not particularly known for their beauty—though their design was quite different from the stamps that came before them—there are philatelists who collect only the Prexies for their many usages.

Ultimately, Elaine’s work isn’t remembered because she was a “first.” The Prexies aren't collected because their designer was a female and the winner of a stamp design competition, though the legacy of Elaine's design was a memorable one in stamp history.

The next stamp designed by a woman wasn’t issued until 1963, when painter Lily Spandorf designed the Christmas issue. Stamp designing remained a man’s business for some time.

Photos and information courtesy of the National Postal Museum Library, Smithsonian Institution Libraries; the New York Times archive and NPM curator Daniel Piazza. Special thanks to Kathryn Burke for research assistance.

"Stamps Teach" Pilot Program Brings Stamps into Classrooms!

An innovative program developed by the New Initiatives Committee of the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists was launched on December 7.  "Stamps Teach" offers participating third through fifth grade teachers a variety of materials for their classrooms:  free lesson plans, handouts, colorful postage stamps, a classroom calendar and a complete learning center called Stamp Ventures.

Progam material example.

Sponsored by the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum, the American Philatelic Society and the American Stamp Dealers Association, the pilot program currently has 60 third through fifth grade teachers who have agreed to use stamps   in their  classrooms to teach one or more subjects. At the end of the pilot program, teachers will complete a short survey to evaluate the program’s effectiveness.

Lesson plans and the Stamp Ventures learning center support classroom instruction in language arts, mathematics, social studies and science. Additional subjects will be added based upon teacher feedback. Students use colorful postage stamps to complete projects that reinforce the lessons being taught by their teachers. The stamps enable students visualize the subjects and assist in remembering what they have learned.

The "Stamps Teach" pilot program is still open for additional teachers.Click here for more information about this free program available on the American Philatelic Society’s website!

You may also contact Gretchen Moody at Gretchen@stamps.org.

Living People on Stamps & Portraits: Two Museums & the “Dead Enough” Rule

US stamp images © US Postal Service. All rights reserved

Part 1
Erin Marie Blasco, Public Programs Coordinator, Smithsonian National Postal Museum

This month, the U.S. Postal Service announced that living figures would be considered for commemoration on postage stamps. Its invitation to suggest names of living individuals in sports, entertainment, and other professions to the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee elicited all-caps cries for a stamp portraying Lady Gaga, or perhaps Bruce Springsteen.

As an educator at the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum, it’s exciting to see people energized about postage stamps. People online and in the museum debate the merit of honoring one American figure over another and discuss what it actually means to have one’s face on a stamp. I’ll have to un-memorize my answer to frequently asked questions such as, “Why isn’t President Obama on a stamp yet?” and “When will there be a George Lucas stamp?”

In the past, I’d answer these questions by explaining that figures on U.S. stamps have to be deceased for at least five years. U.S. presidents are the only exception; they only need to be dead for a year before appearing on a stamp. Fictional figures like Mickey Mouse, Bart Simpson, and Miss Piggy stand outside the rule, of course. Now that the policy has changed, we have the opportunity to reflect on what it means to be on a stamp and which names are coming up most frequently for consideration.

This isn’t the first time the living/dead discussion has occurred. In 1945, for example a stamp (above) was issued honoring American achievements during World War II. A large group of soldiers is depicted with the Arc de Triomphe in the background. In the stamp, which is drawn from a black-and-white photograph, some of the soldiers in the front row are recognizable as individuals. But the stamp doesn’t break the “dead for five years” rule because it commemorates an event using a group, not individuals.

A number of countries don’t hesitate to issue stamps featuring living figures. Some do this to turn a profit from collectors, while others routinely put their living leaders on postage. Interested in who has already been commemorated on U.S. postage? Browse the Postal Museum’s virtual vault to see high-resolution images of stamps celebrating figures from George Washington (the first face on a U.S. postage stamp) to Zasu Pitts.

US stamp images © US Postal Service. All rights reserved

Part 2
Geri Provost Lyons, Youth & Family Program Coordinator, National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution

The conversation about living figures on stamps is somewhat familiar for the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery, which for many years collected only portraits of Americans who had been dead at least ten years, with the exception of U.S. presidents.

In 2001, the museum’s board of Commissioners agreed to change the bylaws to eliminate the “ten-year” rule. Since that time, the Portrait Gallery has actively collected portraits of living sitters in all mediums—photographs, time-based media, drawings, prints, paintings, sculpture, and mixed media.

The rule change also allowed for the commissioning and acquisition of contemporary portraits of living sitters, from many backgrounds and disciplines. For example, the first commission of a living sitter was of Eunice Kennedy Shriver by artist David Lenz; the second was of Bill and Melinda Gates by Jon Friedman. NPG has also collected portraits of such well-known Americans such as Martha Stewart, Yo Yo Ma, Norman Mineta, and Michelle Obama, to just name a few.

As an educator for the Portrait Gallery, I am thrilled when visitors can make a connection with a portrait of a living sitter. As of October 2011, 361 living Americans are represented in the National Portrait Gallery’s permanent collection, according to a recent database search. Use our online database to view portraits of living Americans in our permanent collection. Some of the living sitters may have more than one portrait in our collection, but only one has been selected. We hope you enjoy looking at these images!

US stamp images © US Postal Service. All rights reserved

In the stamp commemorating the Cosby Show, none of the characters appeared. Instead, the family's living room was pictured. 

Statue of Liberty Arrives in America...126 years ago today

By Stephen Peck, Web Team Intern                              

                                            
On this day, in 1885, the defining landmark of the United States arrived in New York harbor. It had traveled across the Atlantic from France, but that short trip was only a small moment in the winding journey behind the creation of the quintessential icon of liberty and freedom: the statue of Liberty Enlightening the World.

20 years prior, a young sculptor named Frederic-Auguste Bartholdi sat quietly at a dinner party listening to the host, Edouard Rene Lefebvre de Laboulaye, speak.

The small group of Frenchmen assembled at the party were what many at the time would call “radicals.” They were citizens opposed to the reign of Napoleon III and in favor of a Republican government.

Laboulaye praised the relationship between France and the United States, an alliance dating back to the Revolutionary War, when French assistance to the colonial cause proved to be a decisive reason why the war was won. (Pictured below are two stamps commemorating that alliance: 1952, 3c Marquis de Lafayette and the 1978, 13c French Alliance stamp)

 

Laboulaye referred to the United States and France as “Two Sisters,” each with a love of liberty. Thinking aloud, Laboulaye asked how wonderful it would be if a monument could be erected in America from the French celebrating their alliance and similar beliefs in democracy and liberty.

Bartholdi heard these words and was fascinated. The spark that would light Lady Liberty’s eternal torch had been ignited.

Bartholdi (pictured at left in 1985m 22c commemorating his work) continued to work on other projects. It wasn’t until 1871 when things got serious regarding the creation of a French statue to be given to the United States.

After speaking with Laboulaye, Bartholdi set sail to America with one goal: “I will try to glorify the Republic and Liberty over there, in the hope that someday I will find it again here.”

Armed only with a sketch and a small model of the statue he entitled “Liberty Enlightening the World,” Bartholdi met with some of America’s elite, including President Ulysses S. Grant. The two countries agreed that France would provide the statue and the U.S. would provide its pedestal and location.

Upon his arrival in New York harbor, Bartholdi set his eyes on Bedloe’s Island, a place he deemed a perfect resting place for the statue. “The gateway to America,” he called the location.

His vision was generally well received in America, but fundraising efforts did not match the enthusiasm. Back in France, the monetary support slowly trickled in once the political situation settled down in 1875. Bartholdi began construction at the foundry of Gaget, Gauthier and Co. With copper entirely donated by outside merchants, he began forming his Liberty statue.

It was to be a female figure (some say modeled after Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom), cloaked in flowing robes, adorned with a seven pointed crown representing the seven continents, and holding a torch aloft.

The statue itself was to be surprisingly light for its size. Its outer copper skin is only 2.5 millimeters thick and has an intricate, internal steel framework designed by Alexandre-Gustave Eiffel.

As construction continued on the colossal statue (from base to torch it was to be 152 feet tall), fundraising became the big issue. The French eventually raised all the funds they needed by 1879 thanks to clever lotteries and auctions, but efforts in the States moved much slower.

The economic downturn in America set off by the panic of 1873 caused the Statue of Liberty to tumble down the list of priorities in the collective minds of the American public. As the New York Times wrote, “No true patriot can countenance any such expenditures for bronze females in the present state of our finances.”

The United States was only in charge of constructing the pedestal upon which the statue was to sit. The goal was to raise $100,000, but fundraising was so bad that construction of the pedestal stopped altogether in 1884. The future of the Statue of Liberty looked grim.

Until Joseph Pulitzer, and the American public, saved the day.

In March of 1885, Pulitzer (pictured at right in the 1947, 3c stamp) began a campaign to raise $100,000 for the completion of the pedestal in his newspaper, The World. He promised to publish the names of everybody who donated, no matter the amount.

Pulitzer wrote that the statue was paid for by “the masses of the French people. Let us respond in like manner. Let us not wait for the millionaires to give this money. It is not a gift from the millionaires of France to the millionaires of America, but a gift of the whole people of France to the whole people of America.”

The campaign captivated America and was mutually beneficial for the pedestal to be completed ($100,000 was raised over four months from 120,000 different donors) and for The World (it became the newspaper with the largest circulation in North America).

On June 17, 1885, the statue, broken up into 350 pieces like a gigantic jigsaw puzzle, arrived in New York harbor aboard the French ship Isere. It was assembled on site as soon as the pedestal was assembled.

On October 28, 1886, the Statute of Liberty was officially dedicated. The unveiling was an all day party complete with the first ever ticker tape parade (traders threw rolls of ticker tape out of the windows of Wall Street), and an address by President Grover Cleveland.

“[Its] stream of light shall pierce the darkness of ignorance and man’s oppression until Liberty enlightens the world,” Cleveland said.

In 1903, a plaque with “The New Colossus,” a poem by Emma Lazarus written in 1883 as part of the fundraising efforts, was affixed to the pedestal.

It contains the iconic lines, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free. The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these the homeless, tempest-tossed to me. I lift my lamp beside the golden door.” (Immigrants' first image of America was the Statue of Liberty as they sailed into the harbor. They were honored in this 1998, 32c, double-sided stamp pictured below)

 

For over 120 years, with broken chains underfoot, tablet in hand, and torch held high, Liberty has welcomed thousands of immigrants to her shores and has served as a constant reminder that independence and human liberty are values worth fighting for.

As described by UNESCO when the monument was designated as a World Heritage Site in 1984, the Statue of Liberty is a “masterpiece of the human spirit” that “endures as a highly potent symbol- inspiring contemplation, debate and protest- of ideals such as liberty, peace, human rights, abolition of slavery, democracy and opportunity.”

                          

References:

http://www.ohranger.com/statue-liberty/history-statue-liberty

http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/307/

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/historyofus/web10/segment1_p.html

http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/statue-of-liberty-arrives

http://www.statueofliberty.org/Statue_History.html