Issued in celebration of the long history of U.S. postage stamps, this souvenir sheet features new versions of six of America's earliest stamps, re-issued as Forever stamps to make them easily distinguishable from the mid-19th-century originals.
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This festive and energetic stamp design features 50 blue and red stars spiraling around a central gold star on a white background. The idea for the design was to illustrate a community of stars protectively orbiting a central star that in an abstract sense stands for our nation's steadfast idealism and hope for a more perfect union."
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Festival of Diwali, which is also known as Deepavali. One of the most important annual Hindu events, the holiday celebrates the triumph of good over evil. Spanning five days each autumn, it is considered by some to be the start of the new year.
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The 2016 contemporary holiday stamps will highlight the role windows play during the holidays. Portraying four “windows on the holiday world,” the stamps are intended to add a dash of winter bliss to letters and cards during the year's coldest months.
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First seen in October 1941 to test her appeal at a time when female superheroes were rare, Wonder Woman quickly broke out and headlined her own title by the next year. Subsequent generations came to know her via her hit 1975-79 television series and roles in animated shows and movies, as well as her appearance on the cover of Ms. Magazine #1 in 1972.
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Birds
Though many birds migrate to warmer climes before the snow falls, some hardy birds have ways to cope with the cold. Fluffing their feathers creates an insulating layer of air, and their winter plumage can contain up to 30 percent more feathers than in summer. Many birds are able to slow their metabolism, lower their body temperatures, or even reduce their heart rate to help them conserve energy.
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Old Presidents
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This issue continues a Postal Service tradition of honoring the bravery and achievements of members of the U.S. Armed Forces. Previous issues having depicted the Medal of Honor, these new stamps honor recipients of the Distinguished Service Cross (Army), Navy Cross (Navy and Marine Corps), Air Force Cross, and Coast Guard Cross. These decorations are awarded for acts of extraordinary heroism in which an individual braved enemy fire, made bold decisions, and took selfless actions to rescue or protect fellow service members.
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The stamp is intended for use by high volume non-profit mailers. Studies have shown that mail is more likely to be opened when the envelope bears a stamp rather than a printed indicia. Mailers apply the stamp to each mailing piece, calculate the total postage due and pay the Postal Service a lump-sum for the actual postage in excess of 5¢ per piece.
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This double sided booklet of 20 stamps contains 10 different designs that are meant to be reminiscent of the Mexican craft of "papel picado." This translates to "pierced paper," although the stamps themselves do not have the paper pierced. According to the Postal People, the intricate designs on the stamps, which show birds, flowers and symbols, "do not strictly follow the thematic traditions of the Mexican art form, but instead are whimsical, colorful vignettes in the style of" papel picado.
This art style is used for many festivities by Mexican-Americans, and it is expected that other mailers will want to use these stamps for any festive occasion.
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The stamp art is an original painting created for the stamp by Kate Simmons. On the left is a portrait of Henry James based on a 1906 photograph by Alvin Coburn. On the right, behind James, is a vignette showing a man and a woman in a small boat, an artistic interpretation of the climactic scene from James' 1903 novel The Ambassadors,
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Yellowstone National Park is a national park located primarily in the U.S. state of Wyoming, although it also extends into Montana and Idaho. It was established by the U.S. Congress and signed into law by President Ulysses S. Grant on March 1, 1872. Yellowstone, the first National Park in the U.S. and widely held to be the first national park in the world, is known for its wildlife and its many geothermal features, especially Old Faithful Geyser, one of the most popular features in the park. It has many types of ecosystems, but the subalpine forest is the most abundant. It is part of the South Central Rockies forests ecoregion.
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Theodore Roosevelt National Park is a United States National Park comprising three geographically separated areas of badlands in western North Dakota. The park was named for U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt. The park covers 70,446 acres (110.072 sq mi; 28,508 ha; 285.08 km2) of land in three sections: the North Unit, the South Unit, and the Elkhorn Ranch Unit.
The park's larger South Unit lies alongside Interstate 94 near Medora, North Dakota. The smaller North Unit is situated about 80 mi (130 km) north of the South Unit, on U.S. Highway 85, just south of Watford City, North Dakota. Roosevelt's Elkhorn Ranch is located between the North and South units, approximately 20 mi (32 km) west of US 85 and Fairfield, North Dakota. The Little Missouri River flows through all three units of the park. The Maah Daah Hey Trail connects all three units.
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The San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park is located in San Francisco, California, USA. The park includes a fleet of historic vessels, a visitor center, a maritime museum, and a library/research facility. The park is sometimes referred to as the San Francisco Maritime Museum, its former 1951 name that changed in 1978 when the collections were acquired by the National Park Service. Today's San Francisco Maritime National Historical Park was authorized in 1988; the maritime museum is among the park's many cultural resources. The park also incorporates the Aquatic Park Historic District, bounded by Van Ness Avenue, Polk Street, and Hyde Street.
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Mount Rainier National Park is a United States National Park located in southeast Pierce County and northeast Lewis County in Washington state. It was established on March 2, 1899 as the fifth national park in the United States. The park encompasses 236,381 acres (369.35 sq mi; 956.60 km2)[ including all of Mount Rainier, a 14,411-foot (4,392 m) stratovolcano. The mountain rises abruptly from the surrounding land with elevations in the park ranging from 1,600 feet to over 14,000 feet (490 - 4,300 m). The highest point in the Cascade Range, around it are valleys, waterfalls, subalpine meadows, old-growth forest and more than 25 glaciers. The volcano is often shrouded in clouds that dump enormous amounts of rain and snow on the peak every year and hide it from the crowds that head to the park on weekends.
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Marsh-Billings-Rockefeller National Historical Park is a United States National Historical Park in Woodstock, Vermont. The park preserves the site where Frederick Billings established a managed forest and a progressive dairy farm. The name honors Billings and the other owners of the property: George Perkins Marsh, Mary Montagu Billings French, Laurance Rockefeller, and Mary French Rockefeller. The Rockefellers transferred the property to the federal government in 1992. It is the only unit of the United States National Park System in Vermont, except for a portion of the Appalachian Trail.
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Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens is a National Park Service site located in the north eastern corner of Washington, DC. and the Maryland state border. Nestled near the banks of the Anacostia River and directly west of the Baltimore Washington Parkway, Kenilworth Park & Aquatic Gardens preserves a plethora of rare waterlilies and lotuses in the cultivated ponds near the river. The park also contains the Kenilworth Marsh, the only remaining tidal marsh in Washington, D.C. and an adjacent recreational area.
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Haleakalā National Park is a national park located on the island of Maui in the U.S. state of Hawaiʻi. The park covers an area of 33,265 acres (134.62 km2),of which 19,270 acres (77.98 km2) is a wilderness area.
It was originally created as part of the Hawaii National Park along with the volcanoes of Mauna Loa and Kilauea on the island of Hawaiʻi in 1916. Hawaii Volcanoes National Park was made into a separate national park in 1961. The park area was designated an International Biosphere Reserve in 1980. The name Haleakalā is Hawaiian for "house of the sun." According to a local legend, the semigod Maui imprisoned the sun here in order to lengthen the day. The Hawaiian National Park Language Correction Act of 2000 was proposed to observe the Hawaiian spelling, but it did not become law.
The park features the dormant Haleakalā (East Maui) Volcano, which last erupted sometime between 1480 and 1600 AD. The park is divided into two distinct sections: the summit area and the coastal Kipahulu area.
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Gulf Islands National Seashore offers recreation opportunities and preserves natural and historic resources along the Gulf of Mexico barrier islands of Florida and Mississippi. The protected regions include mainland areas and parts of seven islands. Some islands along the Alabama coast were originally considered for inclusion, but as of 2009, none is part of the National Seashore.
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Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve is a United States national park and preserve in the Alaska panhandle west of Juneau. President Calvin Coolidge proclaimed the area around Glacier Bay a national monument under the Antiquities Act on February 25, 1925. Subsequent to an expansion of the monument by President Jimmy Carter in 1978, the Alaska National Interest Lands Conservation Act (ANILCA) enlarged the national monument by 523,000 acres (2116.5 km2) on December 2, 1980 and in the process created Glacier Bay National Park and Preserve, with 57,000 additional acres (230.7 km2) of public land designated as national preserve to the immediate northwest of the park in order to protect a portion of the Alsek River and related fish and wildlife habitats while allowing sport hunting.
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The Grand Canyon is a steep-sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the state of Arizona in the United States. It is contained within and managed by Grand Canyon National Park, the Kaibab National Forest, Grand Canyon-Parashant National Monument, the Hualapai Tribal Nation, the Havasupai people and the Navajo Nation. President Theodore Roosevelt was a major proponent of preservation of the Grand Canyon area, and visited it on numerous occasions to hunt and enjoy the scenery.
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Arches National Park is a US National Park in eastern Utah. The park is located on the Colorado River 4 miles (6 km) north of Moab, Utah. It is known for containing over 2,000 natural sandstone archas, including the world-famous Delicate Arch, in addition to a variety of unique geological resources and formations.
The park is located just outside Moab, Utah, and is 76,679 acres (119.811 sq mi; 31,031 ha; 310.31 km2) in area. Its highest elevation is 5,653 feet (1,723 m) at Elephant Butte, and its lowest elevation is 4,085 feet (1,245 m) at the visitor center. Forty-three arches are known to have collapsed since 1977. The park receives 10 inches (250 mm) of rain a year on average.
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Bandelier National Monument is a 33,677-acre (13,629 ha) United States National Monument in New Mexico preserving the homes and territory of the Ancestral Puebloans of a later era in the Southwest. Most of the pueblo structures date to two eras, in total from 1150 to 1600 CE.
The Monument is 50 square miles (130 km2) of the Pajarito Plateau, on the slopes of the Jemez Volcanic field in the Jemez Mountains. Over 70% of the Monument is wilderness, with over one mile elevation change, from about 5,000 feet (1,500 m) along the Rio Grande to over 10,000 feet (3,000 m) at the peak of Cerro Grande on the rim of the Valles Caldera, providing for a wide range of life zones and wildlife habitats. There are three miles of road, and more than 70 miles of hiking trails. The Monument protects Ancestral Pueblo archeological sites, a diverse and scenic landscape, and the country's largest National Park Service Civilian Conservation Corps National Landmark District.
Bandelier was designated by President Woodrow Wilson as a National Monument on February 11, 1916, and named for Adolph Bandelier, a Swiss-American anthropologist who researched the cultures of the area and supported preservation of the sites. The National Park Service co-operates with surrounding pueblos, other federal agencies, and state agencies to manage the park. The monument received 193,914 visitors in 2011.
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Acadia National Park is a national park located in the U.S. state of Maine. It reserves much of Mount Desert Island, and associated smaller islands, off the Atlantic coast. Initially created as the Sieur de Monts National Monument in 1916, the park was renamed Lafayette National Park in 1919, and was given its current name of Acadia in 1929. It is the oldest American national park east of the Mississippi River.
Two eastern Canadian national parks are older: Thousand Islands (1904) and Point Pelee (1918) in Ontario
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The Chihuahuan Desert, studded with spiky plants and lizards, offers little hint that what Will Rogers called the "Grand Canyon with a roof on it" waits underground. Yet, at this desert's northern reaches, underneath the Guadalupe Mountains, lies one of the deepest, largest, and most ornate caverns ever found.
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Assateague Island National Seashore is a unit of the National Park Service occupying about half of Assateague Island, located off Maryland's eastern shore on the Atlantic Ocean. The park covers an area of 41,320 acres (16,720 ha). The portion of the island designated as national seashore extends from the Ocean City inlet to the Maryland/Virginia state border. Over 2.1 million people visit the park each year. The park was created in 1965 after a strong nor'easter (the Ash Wednesday Storm of 1962) destroyed the planned, but never built, resort community of Ocean Beach, Maryland. The national seashore is famous for its white sand beaches and wild ponies.
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Everglades National Park is a U.S. National Park in Florida that protects the southern 20 percent of the original Everglades. In the United States, it is the largest tropical wilderness, the largest wilderness of any kind east of the Mississippi River, and is visited on average by one million people each year. It is the third-largest national park in the lower 48 states after Death Valley and Yellowstone. It has been declared an International Biosphere Reserve, a World Heritage Site, and a Wetland of International Importance, one of only three locations in the world to appear on all three lists
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This issue continues the Postal Service's tradition of floral-themed stamps that are popular with mailers. The stamp art features ten different floral designs, each a detail of an illustration that appeared in an American nursery catalog between 1891 and 1912
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The stamp art captures the beauty of the Columbia River as it winds its way through the steep cliffs of the Cascade Mountain Range. The historic Vista House, sits atop Crown Point, overlooking the river 725 feet below, seen on the stamp in the setting sun.
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This issue celebrates soda fountain favorites—the cold, sweet treats beloved by people of all ages. The booklet of 20 features four each of five different illustrations: a double-scoop ice cream cone, an egg cream, a banana split, a root beer float, and a hot fudge sundae.
The geometric silver-toned patterns in the selvage and on the booklet cover evoke a classic chrome-accented soda fountain.
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The American flag has long symbolized the strength and spirit of the United States, and many Americans like to use these stamps on their outgoing mail and see them on incoming mail. The Postal Service, therefore, always tries to have Flag stamps available to individual and volume mailers.
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The moon, the Earth's only natural satellite. has long had considerable impact on mankind. Its gravitational pull creates ocean tides and affects our planet's motions. A full moon occurs approximately every 29.5 days when the moon is opposite the sun, with Earth between the two. Since the rotation and orbit periods of the moon are the same, the same part of the moon is always seen from Earth.
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This new one-cent definitive stamp features two Albemarle Pippin Apples on a branch surrounded by leaves. The Newtown Pippin is an American apple originated in the late 17th or early 18th century
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This new five-cent definitive stamp features two clusters of deep-purple Pinot noir grapes growing on vines among several green leaves.
Identified as a French wine grape, it is now grown in other regions including Oregon and California in the United States. Translated from the French, "pinot" is "pine", for the pine-cone shaped clusters in which the grapes grow, and "noir" is "black".
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This new ten-cent definitive stamp features two red pears on a white background. The two most common red pears grown in the United States are the red Anjou, similar to green Anjous in all respects other than color; and red Bartlett pears, referred to as "Summer Pears" for the time of year in which they are harvested.
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This stamp celebrates the 200th anniversary of Indiana's statehood.
Known as the Hoosier State, Indiana became the 19th state of the Union on December 11, 1816. According to the USPS, "Indiana has often been considered the heartland of America…Its fertile soil has long made it ideal for crops like corn, which remains a staple of Indiana's agricultural economy." For this reason, the stamp features a photograph of the expansive cornfields near Milford, Indiana, at sunset. The state also is known for the Indianapolis 500 and its devotion to basketball.
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Born December 31, 1930, Jaime Escalante was a beloved, charismatic California educator who used unconventional methods to inspire his inner-city students not only to learn calculus but also to pass Advanced Placement tests in the subject. With his colleagues at Garfield High School in East Los Angeles, he proved that students judged to be "unteachable" could master even the most difficult subject.
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This new Priority Mail stamp features one of Puerto Rico's many magical and mysterious caves. The stamp art depicts a sunset view of La Cueva del Indio, or the Cave of the Indian, which is located near Arecibo on Puerto Rico's north coast. The cave gets its name from the great number of engravings, known as petroglyphs, found on its walls.
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This issuance recognizes America's love of pets. The stamp art for the Pets booklet features 20 existing photographs. Each photograph represents an animal from these groups: puppies, betta fish, iguanas, hamsters, goldfish, parrots, guinea pigs, tortoises, rabbits, kittens, corn snakes, mice, hermit crabs, chinchillas, gerbils, dogs, parakeets, horses, cats, and geckos.
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These four new stamps feature these rugged and reliable work vehicles:
The 1938 International Harvester D-2, with its barrel-shaped grill and styling that mirrored the look of luxury automobiles of the era. The 1953 Chevrolet, which featured large windshields that provided drivers with excellent visibility, a distinctive curvy grill that bulged in the middle, and a six-cylinder engine.
The 1948 Ford F-1, which included features like the roomy "Million Dollar Cab," a sharp horizontal five-bar grill, and a six- or eight- cylinder engine.
The 1965 Ford F-100, which had a grill that featured 18 small rectangular openings. It also featured what Ford dubbed "Twin-I-Beam" independent front suspension.
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This issue showcases some of the more visually compelling full-disk images of the planets obtained during this era of space exploration.
All eight planets are shown; Pluto, no longer a "planet". is not.
Some stamps show the planet's "true" color—what we might see with our own eyes if traveling through space. Others use colors to represent and visualize certain features of a planet based on imaging data.
Still others use the near-infrared spectrum to show things that cannot be seen by the human eye in visible light. The verso text explains the images and identifies the spacecrafts and telescopes that helped obtain them.
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This issue recognizes the history-making first reconnaissance of Pluto in 2015 by NASA's New Horizons mission. This souvenir sheet contains two new stamps. The first stamp shows an artist's rendering of the New Horizons spacecraft. The second shows the spacecraft's striking image of Pluto near its closest approach.
The view, which is color-enhanced to highlight surface texture and composition, is a composite of four images from New Horizons' Long Range Reconnaissance Imager, combined with color data from the imaging instrument Ralph. It clearly reveals the now-famous heart-shaped feature.
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In the spirit of Halloween, the U.S. Postal Service issues these stamps featuring photographs of four brightly lit jack-o'-lanterns that were carved by Paul Montanari.
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The stamp features a heart that was created using the ancient art of quilling. Quilling involves rolling and shaping narrow strips of paper, laying them on their edges, and gluing them in place to form intricate designs. The heart shape in the center of the stamp art is made from paper strips of many colors and is surrounded by white paper swirls on a white background.
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This issue commemorates the 250th anniversary of the repeal of the Stamp Act, British legislation that galvanized and united the American colonies and set them on a path toward revolution. The act required payment of a tax on a wide array of paper materials, such as newspapers, pamphlets, legal documents, licenses, mortgages, contracts, and bills of sale. A stamp would be embossed on these papers to indicate payment. The stamp art depicts a crowd gathered around a "liberty tree" to celebrate the repeal of the Stamp Act. The selvage area displays a proof print of a one-penny revenue stamp and includes a famous slogan from the era: “Taxation without representation is tyranny,” a theme that has once again become popular with some groups of citizens.
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Born February 14, 1760, Allen was a preacher, activist, and civic leader. This stamp coincides with the 200th anniversary of Allen's founding of the African Methodist Episcopal Church, one of the most important institutions in African-American life, and his election as its first bishop. The stamp art is a portrait of Allen, a detail from an 1876 print titled "Bishops of the A.M.E. Church." Featuring Allen in the center surrounded by ten other bishops and six historical vignettes, the full print is from the collection of the Library Company of Philadelphia.
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Born March 27, 1924, Sarah Vaughan was one of America's greatest singers, successful in both jazz and pop, with a talent for improvisation and skillful phrasing and a voice that ranged over several octaves.
The stamp art is an oil painting of Vaughan in performance based on a 1955 photograph by Hugh Bell. The cover side of the pane features a larger version of the stamp art and a list of some of "The Divine One's" popular songs. The stamp will be issued at the Sarah Vaughan Concert Hall.
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With names like Blazing Star, Touching Stars, and Starburst, stars are one of the most popular design motifs for American quilters. These stamps feature two versions of one of those favorites, the Lone Star pattern.
Each stamp shows a detail from a photograph of one of the two quilts highlighting the intricate work involved in creating the star design.
The quilt top is created by stitching together many small diamond shaped pieces of fabric. The quilts featured in the stamp art were made by Amish quilt makers.
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Celebrating the television show Star Trek on the 50th anniversary of its premiere, these four new stamps showcase four digital illustrations inspired by elements of the classic program: the Starship Enterprise inside the outline of a Starfleet insignia; the silhouette of a crewman in a transporter; the silhouette of the Enterprise from above; the Enterprise inside the outline of the Vulcan salute, Spock's iconic hand gesture.
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Shirley Temple April 23, 1928 – February 10, 2014) was an American film and television actress, singer, dancer, and public servant, most famous as Hollywood's number-one box-office star from 1935 through 1938
Temple began her film career in 1932 at the age of three. In 1934, she found international fame in Bright Eyes, a feature film designed specifically for her talents. She received a special Juvenile Academy Award in February 1935 for her outstanding contribution as a juvenile performer to motion pictures during 1934, and film hits such as Curly Top and Heidi followed year after year during the mid-to-late 1930s. Licensed merchandise that capitalized on her wholesome image included dolls, dishes, and clothing. Her box-office popularity waned as she reached adolescence. She appeared in a few films of varying quality in her mid-to-late teens, and retired completely from films in 1950 at the age of 22. She was the top box-office draw in Hollywood for four years in a row (1935–38) in a Motion Picture Herald poll
With the 20th stamp in the Legends of Hollywood series, the Postal Service honors actress and diplomat Shirley Temple Black. As a child, Temple was the most famous film star in the world. As an adult, Black had a distinguished career in diplomacy, serving as a delegate to the United Nations, U.S. ambassador to Ghana and Czechoslovakia, and U.S. Chief of Protocol.
The stamp art features a painting based on a 1935 still image from Curly Top, one of her iconic movie roles. The selvage feature a publicity photo from the 1933 short film "Managed Money".
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Held approximately every ten years, the first International Philatelic Exhibition to be hosted by the United States was held in New York CIty in 1913. These souvenir sheets commemorates the 11th International stamp show to be held in the U.S., from May 28 to June 4, 2016, at the Jacob Javits Convention Center in New York City
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New York artist Kim Mak once again brings us a design that features a traditional form of Lunar New Year celebration. The stamp art features two bright reddish-orange peonies against a purple background. Peonies symbolize wealth and honor in Chinese culture and often decorate the sides of the traditional drums played during the holiday festivities.
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This Christmas stamp features a detail of Madonna and Child, a 15th- century tempera-on-panel painting in the Widener Collection at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. The painting is dated to circa 1470, and its anonymous artist is known only as "a Follower of Fra Filippo Lippi and Pesellino."
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The Nativity stamp art depicts a peaceful image of the Holy Family silhouetted against a dawn sky. The baby Jesus lies in a straw-filled manger in the center of the picture. A bright star shines over the scene. The Gospel of Luke relates how Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem to register for the census decreed by the Roman emperor, and with no room in the inn, Mary gave birth to Jesus in a manger.
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This stamp commemorates the two most important festivals—or eids—in the Islamic calendar: Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha. The gold-colored calligraphy on the stamp was created by world-renowned calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya. It reads Eidukum mubarak, "May your Eid be bountiful (or blessed)." The calligraphy on previous Eid stamps issued by the USPS read Eid mubarak, "may the religious holiday be blessed."
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The 2016 Hanukkah stamp features an illustration of a holiday menorah in the window of a home. The menorah is viewed as if from inside a room, looking through a window to the outside. The candles—one for each of the eight nights and days of Hanukkah, and the ninth, the shamash or "servant," used to light the other candles—have all been lit.
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2016 marks the 50th anniversary of Kwanzaa. The 2016 stamp continues its tradition of honoring an annual holiday that celebrates African- American family, community, and culture. Bold colors are intended to depict a young African-American woman as the embodiment of Africa. In front of the woman sits a large purple bowl overflowing with fruits and vegetables, symbolizing the abundance of African first harvest celebrations that inspired the creation of Kwanzaa.
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Info USPS
