National Postal Museum

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. 

New Vatican City Stamps Added to Arago

By MJ Meredith, Museum Technician

Vatican City might be the world’s tiniest nation but it’s no slouch when it comes to stamp design.  In fact, Vatican City stamps are ranked by many among the world’s most beautiful.  What makes them so appealing? See for yourself on Arago, the Postal Museum’s online catalog where you can view every stamp issued by this unique nation. This week we updated the collection to include the 2010 stamp issues.  A few highlights include composers Chopin and Schumann, ancient Christian works of art and a stamp that unfolds into a miniature book.

         

Not only beautiful, stamps from Vatican City cover topics from the church’s vast history to famous works of art, music and much more.  A few things about Vatican City that might surprise you: 

• More letters are sent each year, per inhabitant, from the Vatican's 00120 postal code  than from anywhere else in the world.
• Vatican City is less than half the size of the National Mall in Washington, D.C.
• The Vatican City post office began operating just two days after the city became politically independent from Italy, issuing its first stamp on August 1st, 1929.

Head over to Arago to browse the 1,500+ image gallery and pick up some interesting Vatican history along the way.

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

 

Celebrating Thurgood Marshall's Appointment To The Supreme Court

By Stephen Peck, Web Team Intern                                  

                               

By the time Thurgood Marshall was appointed to the United States Supreme Court on this day in 1967, he had already made his mark on the “highest court in the land.”

One of the most influential voices of the African-American civil rights movement, Marshall won more cases before the Supreme Court during his time as chief counsel of the NAACP and as U.S. Solicitor General than any American in history[1]. 

Nearly all of those cases involved Marshall dismantling the laws of legalized discrimination and creating fairness of opportunities for all.

Marshall was born on July 2, 1908 in Baltimore, Maryland. In 1925 he enrolled at Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania. One of his classmates at Lincoln was the famous author, Langston Hughes (Pictured right).

Upon graduating Lincoln, he applied to the University of Maryland law school, only to be denied entrance because of his race. And so began Marshall’s crusade against the injustices disguised as “laws” that were all too common in America.

Marshall enrolled at the Howard University Law School where he forged a relationship with the dean of the institution, Charles Hamilton Houston (pictured at left in the 2009 42c Civil Rights Pioneer issue stamp with Walter White).  Houston was a brilliant man who graduated from Harvard law and had dedicated himself to instructing a new generation of African American lawyers with the ability to attack and bring down segregation in America.[2] Thurgood Marshall was his star.

Marshall’s first case out of graduate school was a successful lawsuit leveled against the University of Maryland, this time for not admitting an African American named Donald Gaines Murray. [3] Marshall was just getting warmed up.

He followed Houston to New York to become a staff lawyer for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Four years later, he was named chief of the NAACP Legal Defense. [4]

In this capacity, Marshall tore down state laws that denied African Americans the right to vote in primaries and provided for “separate but equal” facilities for African Americans at universities.[5] His crowning achievement was his work in the case Brown vs. the Board of Education of Topeka (commemorated in the 1954 37c stamp at right). Using arguments still studied in law schools today for their excellence, Marshall convinced the Supreme Court to rule that segregation was illegal and unconstitutional since it violated the 14^th amendment.

His tireless work in the courthouse championing the cause of those oppressed, sparked the American civil rights movement and garnered Marshall national attention. He was appointed to the US Court of Appeals by President John F. Kennedy in 1961. He worked his way up the federal legal system until President Lyndon B. Johnson (pictured at right in the 1973 8c stamp) appointed him to the Supreme Court on June 13, 1967.

Of appointing Marshall, the first African American to be appointed to the Supreme Court, Johnson said, “I believe it’s the right thing to do, the right time to do it, the right man, and the right place.”[6] Marshall was officially confirmed by a Senate vote on August 30th, 1967.

During his 24 years of service on the highest court in America, he never backed down from his ongoing battle with discrimination against all people who needed a voice to fight for them. Marshall served on the court until 1991 when he had to step down because of health issues. He passed away on January 24, 1993.

According to author Juan Williams, author of a Marshall biography, Thurgood Marshall did more to erase the color line in America than anyone in history, even moreso than Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X: “It was Thurgood Marshall, working through the courts to eradicate the legacy of slavery and destroying the racist segregation system of Jim Crow, who had an even more profound and lasting effect on race relations than either King or X.”[7]

 

While King was captivating a nation through peaceful and passionate calls for equality and Malcolm X was stirring up black pride through fiery words and actions, Marshall could be found in a courthouse, rewriting laws that would open new doors for African Americans all over the country.

---

[1] http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/marshall.htm 

[2] http://law2.umkc.edu/faculty/projects/ftrials/trialheroes/charleshoustonessayf.html

[3] http://chnm.gmu.edu/courses/122/hill/marshall.htm

[4] http://www.biography.com/articles/Thurgood-Marshall-9400241

[5] http://www.biography.com/articles/Thurgood-Marshall-9400241

[6] http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=11012268

[7] http://www.thurgoodmarshall.com/home.htm

Exploring U.S. Geography & World History Through Cancelled Stamps

By Dr. Mick Zais, State Superintendent of Education for South Carolina.

Caption: All 5 stamps of the 1936-37 Army Series on first day cover of the 5-cent stamp with Eugene Laird cachet.

There are many similarities between stamp collecting (Philately) and coin collecting (Numismatics). Both involve collecting items produced by national governments, represent denominations of money and favor depicting important past leaders. This post highlights a unique element of stamp collecting – knowledge about where a specific stamp has traveled in its lifetime. The only information about where a coin has traveled is where it started its journey (the location of the mint). The beauty of used stamps is that the cancellation marking can illustrate a dynamic story adding in some cases multiple layers of depth to an individual stamp’s narrative already composed of the who, what, why and where of its design and production.

The beauty of specializing in one stamp or a series of stamps is that your collection can encompass all aspects of philately – domestic and overseas postal history usages, EFOs, first day covers, production information and related material, precancels, perfins, plate blocks, event and advertising covers, and more. Since 1998, I have collected all material related to every stamp and postal history area of the 1936-37 U.S. Army Issue. 

 
Caption: Homemade postcard sent on the first day of issuance of the 1-cent Army Series stamp bearing the signatures of (from top to bottom) Vincent C. Burke - Washington, D.C. Postmaster, James A. Farley - Postmaster General, Harry H. Woodring - Secretary of War, Fred Pauling - 1c Army Stamp's Portrait Engraver, Matthew Fenton - 1c Army Stamp's Mount Vernon Picture Engraver, E. M. Hall - 1c Army Stamp's Lettering & Numerals Engraver, W. K. Schrange - 1c Army Stamp's Designer, R. E. Fellers - Superintendent, Division of Stamps.

For this post, I have chosen the lowest denomination of this five stamp issue, the 1-cent Washington & Greene to demonstrate the dynamic nature of cancels in illustrating far more about an individual stamp’s story than the typical facts about its production (which would be the most information available on any given coin).

The stamp features George Washington’s Mount Vernon home flanked by engravings of Washington and Nathaniel Greene based on paintings by the famous American portrait artists John Trumball. The building between the two portraits is Mount Vernon, George Washington famous home. The stamp’s design was approved for production on November 19, 1936. The next day the Bureau of Engraving and Printing received an order from the Post Office Department to produce 75 million of this 1-cent stamp. Less than a month later on December 15, 1936, the 1-cent Washington & Greene stamp was released to the public. This denomination was the only one of the five Army Issue stamps to be issued in 1936 with the remaining four stamps issued during 1937.

Directly Above: December 21, 1936 marks the earliest date that one of these stamps featured in this blog post was sent through the mails, starting its journey in Washington, DC. The Burlington Station post office in Omaha, Nebraska marks the latest departure point for one of the stamps depicted here, sent on April 2, 1940. 

Directly Above: Halfway around the world on the same day (April 26, 1937) that one of these 1-cent Army Issue stamps departed from Crockett, California, air forces aligned with the Spanish Nationalists during the Spanish Civil War including German and Italian aircraft bombed the Basque city of Guernica. The event inspired artist Pablo Picasso’s painting entitled “Guernica,” considered by many to be Picasso’s most famous artistic work as well as the most important painting of the 20^th Century. For anyone interested in British Commonwealth Philately, the 1-cent Army Issue stamp sent from Wichita, Kansas on April 1, 1937 coincides with the Middle East port city of Aden’s establishment as a Crown Colony.

Directly Above: Connections to the history of British Royalty (and the recent award winning film, The King’s Speech) are intertwined with the 1-cent Army Issue stamp featured here sent from Detroit, Michigan on June 3, 1937. On this same day in 1937, King George VI’s brother, the former King Edward VIII marries Wallis Simpson in France. Academy Award winner Warren Beatty was born on the same day (March 30, 1937) that the 1-cent Army Issue stamp shown here was sent from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.

Directly Above: The 1-cent Army Issue stamps sent from Richmond, Indiana and Iowa City, Iowa on March 6, 1937 coincide with the birth date of the first woman to go into space, Valentina Vladimirovna Tereshkova.

Each of these date specific connections illustrate only a tiny fraction of the potential date and location links that these used 1-cent Army Issue stamps have to people, places and events in history. Imagine the number of connections that all existing used 1-cent Army Issue stamps would have cumulatively! So next time you look at a used stamp with a legible postmark cancellation on the postal museum's Arago website, in your collection, or at a stamp show, imagine the links that stamp has to a specific day in history and a specific location in the world. If you’re lucky, that stamp may have a great story that still has to be told. 

Learn more about the author of this blog post....

   

Caption: The author at the American Philatelic Society's AmeriStamp Show in Charleston, South Carolina with the three members of the Young Philatelic Leaders Fellowship class of 2011 displaying special U.S. Army Series first day covers. From left to right: Senior Fellow Ryan Wellmaker, U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Fellow John Phillips, Mick Zais and YPLF Fellow Andrew Shaw.

Innovations In U.S. Postage Stamp Security: Microprinting Part 2

Caption: 1992 29-cent Christmas Toys stamps

Check Out Innovations In U.S. Postage Stamp Security: Microprinting Part 1

Introduction: Postage stamps are a form of security paper, similar to currency. Postage stamps prepay the government for a service - the delivery of the mail. Any counterfeiting or reuse of postage stamps defrauds the government of revenue for services rendered. Consequently, the United States government designs and produces its postage stamps under tightly controlled conditions using printing and design features intended to thwart counterfeiters. While security features designed to prevent reuse of a postage stamp help achieve anti-counterfeiting goals, anti-counterfeiting features do not necessarily prevent reuse. 

 
Caption: 1992 Christmas Toys - Fire Truck Wheel at left & Ship Window at right

 

Caption: 1992 Christmas Toys - Train Wheel at left & Horseman Wheel at right

Microprinting: Microprinting is the use of tiny printed letters, numbers and symbols on currency postage stamps and other security paper. Generally, the text cannot be seen with the naked eye, but becomes visible under magnification. The 1992 Christmas Toys block of four has three security features – microprinted dots, microprinted symbols and numbers and special metallic ink. The multiple security features combine to make these stamps more difficult to reproduce. Each of the four stamps has magenta dot patterns in the design and bears “1992”microprinted text in the design. This marks the first instance of microprinting used inside the actual stamp designs. A third, more discrete security feature, is the special green, metallic ink used for the numeric “29” denomination and the letters “USA”. The special ink makes the “29/USA” more difficult to reproduce. The stamps were printed by Ashton-Potter American Inc.

Check Back On April 15, 2011 To Learn More About USPS Security Measures For U.S. Stamps!

About The Author: James Chenevert is a graduate of the Young Philatelic Leaders Fellowship (YPLF), Class of 2010. Currently a Freshman at Dunlap High School in Peoria, Illinois, James has collected stamps since age 6. James's exhibit "Security Features of United States Postage Stamps: 1974-2009," developed during his year-long YPLF experience, has won multiple gold and youth grand awards in competition at National-level philatelic exhibitions. Learn more about James, his exhibit and the YPLF here. 

Check Out Innovations In U.S. Postage Stamp Security: Microprinting Part 1

 

George Ludlow Lee Collection of Egyptian Royal Imperforates

By Daniel Piazza, Philatelic Curator

 (Open August 4, 2010 to January 9, 2012) 

EXHIBIT HIGHLIGHT

Egypt’s King Fuad and his son, King Farouk, were presented with specially printed imperforate copies of every Egyptian stamp issued from 1926 until 1952, when Farouk was overthrown and exiled. After the royal collections were sold, George L. Lee (left) acquired some of the imperforate stamps and researched their origins. His writings provided philatelists with reliable information about these stamps for the first time. In 1961, he gave his collection of royal imperforates (approximately 10% of all the copies in existence) to the National Philatelic Collection.

 

 

      
Above: Royal imperforate printings of stamps for the Cairo International
Aviation Congress, Egypt, 1933.

      
Above: Royal imperforate printings, Egypt, 1947
 
To learn more about the exhibit: http://postalmuseum.si.edu/collectinghistory/

George L. Lee Collection of the Royal Imperforate Printings of Egyptian Stamps FINDING GUIDE

Innovations In U.S. Postage Stamp Security: Microprinting Part 1

 

Caption: 1992 29-cent Stream Violet stamp at left and close-up of microprinting in "29" at right

Introduction: Postage stamps are a form of security paper, similar to currency. Postage stamps prepay the government for a service - the delivery of the mail. Any counterfeiting or reuse of postage stamps defrauds the government of revenue for services rendered. Consequently, the United States government designs and produces its postage stamps under tightly controlled conditions using printing and design features intended to thwart counterfeiters. While security features designed to prevent reuse of a postage stamp help achieve anti-counterfeiting goals, anti-counterfeiting features do not necessarily prevent reuse. 

Microprinting: Microprinting is the use of tiny printed letters, numbers and symbols on currency postage stamps and other security paper. Generally, the text cannot be seen with the naked eye, but becomes visible under magnification. The United States Postal Service (USPS) introduced microprinting in 1992 with the American Wildflower Series (an example seen above), the first U.S. commemorative stamp issue to be produced wholly by offset lithography. Over time, USPS refined its use of microprinting to introduce dates, words, abbreviations such as "USPS" and even entire stamp designs composed of microprinted letters. 

Check Back On April 1, 2011 To Learn More About USPS Security Measures For U.S. Stamps!

About The Author: James Chenevert is a graduate of the Young Philatelic Leaders Fellowship (YPLF), Class of 2010. Currently a Freshman at Dunlap High School in Peoria, Illinois, James has collected stamps since age 6. James's exhibit "Security Features of United States Postage Stamps: 1974-2009," developed during his year-long YPLF experience, has won multiple gold and youth grand awards in competition at National-level philatelic exhibitions. Learn more about James, his exhibit and the YPLF here. 

From Left to Right - Young Philatelic Leaders Fellows James Chenevert (this blog post's author), Melissa Stanton (United States Stamp Society Fellow), Ryan Wellmaker (YPLF Senior Fellow), Andrew Shaw & John Phillips (U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Fellow)

The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia Select Papers, 2006 - 2009

Although the title – Smithsonian Contributions to History and Technology, No. 55: The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia: select papers, 2006-2009 – is rather ponderous and academic sounding, the latest volume from the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press is a lively collection of essays that examine postal history within the larger contexts of social, political, and economic history. The 16 not previously published essays, by 18 authors, were selected from over 60 papers presented at the first four Postal History Symposia: three from 2006 “What is Postal History?”; a single from 2007 “Further, Farther, Faster: Transportation Technology and the Mail”; four from 2008 “When the Mail Goes to War”; and half the volume from last year’s “Postal Reform” conference at the Match Factory in Bellefonte. Full disclosure – the final essay in volume is mine, “Cheap Postage: A Tool for Social Reform.” Considerable credit goes to Tom Lera, at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum (NPM), for orchestrating and editing this volume.

 
The 170-page, soft bound, full color volume is available free from the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press – click on the Ordering Link and follow the instructions for sending an e-mail request at the bottom of the page; be sure to request “Contributions to History and Technology, No. 55.” Or, you may download the full text as a pdf file.

The Postal History Symposia are an annual project of the NPM along with the American Philatelic Research Library, and the American Philatelic Society. They were conceived as a venue for bringing together philatelic and academic postal historians, allowing them to interact and share their research. One measure of success is that seven of the 18 authors in this volume are academic or public historians, who do not collect stamps. The last symposia, “Stamps and Mail: Imagery, Icons, & Propaganda” was just held on September 30th and October 1st at the National Postal Museum.  Papers and presentations can be found at http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/symposium2010/index.html

U. S. Postal Service Issues Mother Teresa stamp

By Jim O'Donnel, Museum Specialist

Program for First Day of Issue ceremony for Mother Teresa stamp

The U. S. Postal Service issued a commemorative postage stamp in appreciation of the extraordinary humanitarian service of Mother Teresa, a Roman Catholic nun, on September 5, 2010.  Mother Teresa, (1910-1997), was born in what is now Macedonia of Albanian parents. She entered the religious order of the Sisters of Loreto at the age of eighteen, trained in Ireland and was posted to India in 1929. She founded her own order, the Missionaries of Charity, in 1950 to attend to the poorest of the poor. The order grew and so did her reputation. She was the subject of a documentary film and book Something Beautiful for God in 1969 by British journalist Malcolm Muggeridge.  In 1979, she was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Reagan in 1985 and honorary U. S. citizenship in 1996 by President Clinton.  She was beatified by Pope John Paul II in 2003, the first step towards sainthood.

The First Day of Issue ceremony for the new Mother Teresa commemorative stamp took place on Sunday, September 5, 2010, at the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D. C, the largest Roman Catholic church in North America.

A mass in honor of Mother Teresa was followed by a First Day of Issue ceremony. This program lists the agenda and the participants.

Postmaster General Jack Potter was perhaps the most passionate speaker.  “ I am so very proud,”  he said, “that our country, after making her an honorary citizen in 1996, is honoring Mother Teresa with such a lasting memorial."

 

After Postmaster Potter spoke, a large poster of the stamp was unveiled for all to see. From left to right the participants are Reverend Knestout, James H. Bibray, John E. Potter, Sister Cabrera, Archbishop Sambi, Reverend Rossi and Mitzi Betman.

 

 
Artist Thomas Blackshear II, who painted the portrait of Mother Teresa which appears on the stamp, was invited up to be photographed with the poster of the stamp. He has created artwork for a number of  U.S. stamp issues.  The stamp was designed by Derry Noyes.

 

Downstairs, the stamp was for sale and cancellations were available.  Long lines of collectors waited to get their programs and stamps postmarked to mark their attendance at this historic event.  LaDonna Cooke, of the U.S.P.S. stamp shop at the National Postal Museum, is visible at the far left.

 

Above is the First Day of Issue cover.  A similar cover with a digital color postmark is also available from the U.S. Postal Service Stamp Fulfillment Center in Kansas City, Missouri (1-800-782-6724) or online at www.usps.com/shop. First Day of Issue covers featuring this stamp are available until November 5, 2010.

 

 
The 44-cent commemorative stamp was printed using the gravure process by Avery Dennison company. The stamp is available at post offices nationwide in self-adhesive panes of twenty and it is proving to be a very popular issue.