Every month, senior editor Jeff Stage provides readers of The American Philatelist with all the details of the latest U.S. releases — but every month, some of that information has to be cut for space. No longer. Now APS members can read the unabridged version of New U.S. Issues right here on stamps.org. Enjoy!
Children’s author, civil rights activist, and endangered animals on May stamps
A diverse set of three issues – two single stamps honoring an artist and a civil rights activist and a pane of 20 showing endangered animals – were released in May by the U.S. Postal Service.
Artwork from children’s author Tomie dePaola appears on the month’s first stamp and is followed by a colorful portrait of Standing Bear, who was involved in a landmark civil rights case before the Supreme Court. The third release is a pane of 20 Endangered Species stamps which show portraits of the animals against a black background.
All the new stamps are domestic Forever stamps, meaning all will be forever valid for first-class domestic postage. They were 63 cents when first issued. However, starting July 9, the price of the stamps will rise as the rate for first-class domestic postage will be 66 cents. On that same date, the domestic postcard rate rises from 48 cents to 51 cents and first-class international cards and letters will each rise from $1.45 to $1.50.
Tomie dePaola
Tomie dePaola, known for his illustrated books for children, was honored May 5 with a Forever stamp that shows one of his thousands of illustrations.
A dedication ceremony for the stamp, sold in panes of 20, was held May 5 at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester, New Hampshire.
DePaola (pronounced Tommy de-POW-la) – who lived for many years in New Hampshire and worked in a 200-year-old renovated barn – said at age 4 that when he grew up, he would write and draw stories for children, and sing and tap dance on the stage. As an adult, he proudly declared that he had done all of those things, and even gotten paid for the latter, according to the author’s website (https://www.tomie.com/).
DePaola wrote and/or illustrated more than 270 books, including Strega Nona. The stamp art features a detail from the cover of Strega Nona. Derry Noyes, an art director for USPS, designed the stamp with dePaola’s original art.
The year 2015 marked Tomie dePaola's 60th year as a professional artist, and 50th year as an illustrator of children's books. The year 2015 also marked the 40th anniversary of the publication of Strega Nona.
“There are many gifted children’s book authors and illustrators, but Tomie dePaola’s genius is unique in so many ways: He could communicate with — and without — words, and touch readers across cultures and generations,” said Steve Monteith, chief customer and marketing officer, who was the dedicating official for the ceremony. “At the Postal Service, we feel great kinship in this idea. We help Americans of all backgrounds and generations stay connected, no matter where they are.”
DePaola (1934-2020) produced an extraordinarily varied body of work that encompasses folktales and legends, informational books, religious and holiday stories, and autobiographical tales. Deceptively simple, his stories contain layers of emotional meaning that appeal to readers of all ages.
DePaola is probably best known for the Strega Nona series. Set in southern Italy, the gently humorous stories focus on Strega Nona, or “Grandma Witch,” who uses magic to help with matters of the heart and to cure her neighbors’ ills. Published in 1975, the first book in the series received a Caldecott Honor as one of the most distinguished picture books published that year.
The Tomie dePaola Forever stamp shows one of the children’s authors iconic illustrations. The stamp is available through https://aps.buzz/USPSdePaola.
The “Strega Nona” stories read like well-worn folktales, as do plenty of dePaola’s other works. Some of his books retell legends that have shaped cultures around the world.
Other stories are dePaola inventions. Many of his books emphasize family relationships and draw on dePaola’s personal experience. “I’ve discovered,” he once said, “that children most respond to books based on my own life.” Some of the author’s other popular works include Tomie dePaola's Mother Goose, Oliver Button Is a Sissy, and 26 Fairmount Avenue. Nearly 25 million copies of his books have been sold.
Whatever the subject, dePaola’s illustrations are instantly recognizable. Characterized by bright but muted tones and flat, two-dimensional perspectives, they offer a distinctive mix of Romanesque painting styles and traditional folk art. Objects that meant the most to dePaola — notably hearts and white birds — recur throughout his work.
In all his books, dePaola tried to convey three fundamental truths: Success depends on hard work, happiness relies on embracing one’s true self, and love and kindness underscore all.
In 2011, the American Library Association awarded him the Laura Ingalls Wilder Award (now the Children’s Literature Legacy Award) for his “substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”
DePaola died in Lebanon, New Hampshire, after complications from surgery following a fall. Following his death, the Currier Museum established the Tomie dePaola Art Education Fund to support art instruction for young people from all backgrounds. Counting more than 100 pieces of art by dePaola in its permanent collection, the museum shares his long-held belief in the power of art to transform a child’s life.
DePaola received many awards, including the Smithson Medal from the Smithsonian Institution, the Kerlan Award from the University of Minnesota, the Regina Medal from the Catholic Library Association, and the Sarah Josepha Hale Award, a prestigious distinction in writing by a New Englander.
He also was the United States nominee in 1990 for the international Hans Christian Andersen Award in illustration and 26 Fairmount Avenue was named a Newbery Honor Book. He was the 2011 Children's Literature Legacy Award recipient for “substantial and lasting contribution to literature for children.”
DePaola’s website offers a short Q-and-A with the author. Among the entries:
Q: What is your favorite color?
A: White. All of the other colors look great against it.
Q: What is your favorite food?
A: Popcorn. OF COURSE!
Q: What is your favorite book of your own?
A: When the new full-color, redrawn edition of Nana Upstairs & Nana Downstairs was published, I realized that was my favorite book of my own.
Q: What are some of your hobbies?
A: Cooking, reading, gardening, traveling, watching movies, SHOPPING!
Q: What was your favorite book as a child?
A: Hitty, Her First Hundred Years, by Rachel Field (the original edition)
Q: Why do you sign your name with a heart, and why do you draw hearts in your books?
A: The heart has become a sort of symbol for me. I also use it as shorthand, or an abbreviation, for “love.”
Standing Bear
The Postal Service issued the Chief Standing Bear Forever stamp May 12, honoring the Native American civil rights icon. Chief Standing Bear (or Maⁿchú-Naⁿzhíⁿ in his native language, Ponca) who won a landmark court ruling in 1879 that determined a Native American was a person under the law with an inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
The Standing Bear commemorative and its special first-day cancellation are available through https://aps.buzz/USPSStandingBear.
The dedication ceremony for the stamp was held near the Chief Standing Bear Sculpture at the Centennial Mall. The stamp, printed in panes of 20, features a portrait of Chief Standing Bear by illustrator Thomas Blackshear II. who based the portrait on a black-and white-photograph taken in 1877. Derry Noyes served as art director and designer for this stamp.
The Standing Bear statue, sponsored by the state of Nebraska, stands in Statutory Hall in the U.S. Capitol.
Chief Standing Bear (c. 1829-1908) was a member of the Ponca tribe, who lived in the Niobrara River Valley in what is now northeastern Nebraska. The tribe’s traditional homeland was included in the Great Sioux Reservation established by the Fort Laramie Treaty of 1868. The federal government later decided to resolve conflicts between the Sioux and the much smaller Ponca tribe by relocating the latter to the Indian Territory in what is now Oklahoma.
The U.S. Army’s forced removal of some 700 Ponca began in the spring of 1877. Some members of the tribe died during the 600-mile journey by foot. More than 100 others, including Standing Bear’s only son, died from disease and hunger shortly after the removal to the Indian Territory. Wanting to honor his son’s dying request to be buried in the tribe’s Niobrara homeland, Chief Standing Bear and a small band of some 29 other like-minded Ponca made the arduous trip back to Nebraska in 1879. They were arrested by the Army and imprisoned at Fort Omaha.
After attracting the sympathy of a newspaper reporter and the Army general who arrested him, Standing Bear sued the federal government for his freedom. Lawyers filed for a writ of habeas corpus on his behalf to test the legality of his detention, the first time in U.S. history such a filing had been made on behalf of a Native American.
In the closely watched court case, Standing Bear v. Crook, Judge Elmer Dundy ruled on May 12, 1879, that an Indian was a person under the common understanding of the word and that all persons in the United States, regardless of race, had an inherent right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. The judge ordered that Standing Bear and his fellow Ponca be released from custody.
“Chief Standing Bear is a pillar for the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska and one of the pivotal civil rights leaders in American history,” said Candace Schmidt, the chairwoman of the Ponca Tribe of Nebraska. “The Ponca Tribe is elated that this stamp will help illustrate his story of justice and triumph, which is also our story. It also serves as a symbol of the pride and perseverance for all of our members past, present, and future."
A subsequent congressional investigation concluded that the government had blundered and made a mistake when it gave away the Ponca homeland and later when it forced their removal to the Indian Territory. President Rutherford B. Hayes recommended to Congress that the Ponca be allowed the choice of where to live and that they be compensated for land and other losses. Congress passed legislation to that effect in March 1881.
“It’s remarkable, that the story of Nebraska Native American civil rights leader Chief Standing Bear has progressed from a native man being considered a non-person by the U.S. Government in 1879, to today, being recognized by the Postal Service with a stamp honoring him as an American icon,” said Judi gaiashkibos, executive director of the Nebraska Commission on Indian Affairs. “This story of an indigenous rights hero is truly and necessarily an American story. This stamp further etches his legacy in our national consciousness and provokes necessary conversations about race, sovereignty and equality in the United States.”
Standing Bear and the members of the Ponca who had followed him returned to their old Nebraska reservation along the Niobrara River, where the chief died in September 1908. In 1924, one issue that his 1879 trial had raised was finally resolved when Congress adopted the Indian Citizenship Act, which conferred citizenship on all Native Americans born in the United States.
Anyone who follows modern U.S. stamps should know Blackshear’s name. The award-winning artist and illustrator has designed more than 20 stamps, dating to the 1987 Jean Baptiste Point du Sable stamp in the Black Heritage series with his most recent being the 2017 Dorothy Height stamp in the same series.
His other stamps include Ida B. Wells, Joe Louis, Thelonius Monk, Hollywood’s Golden Era movies set of four, the Movie Monsters set of five, James Cagney and Mother Theresa.
In 2020, the Society of Illustrators inducted Blackshear into its prestigious Hall of Fame, which started in 1958 and includes inaugural inductee Norman Rockwell, Stevan Dohanos, Winslow Homer, Rockwell Kent, Rube Goldberg, Maurice Sendak, Bill Mauldin and Jerry Pinckney.
“Known for his dramatic lighting and sensitivity to mood, Blackshear has produced illustrations for advertising, books, calendars, collectors’ plates, greeting cards, magazines, postage stamps, and national posters,” wrote the society upon Blackshear’s induction. “His clients range from Disney Pictures, George Lucas Studios, and Universal Studios to International Wildlife and National Geographic magazines.”
“The induction was probably one of the most exciting honors I ever received,” said Blackshear, who started his career with the intention of being an illustrator. He studied illustration at the American Academy of Arts in Chicago and worked as a free-lance illustrator for 14 years. “But then I looked in the mirror and realized that being an illustrator wasn’t what I thought it was.”
He went on to create collectibles, particular Star Wars plates and statuettes for Ebony Visions. He later focused on fine arts – particularly portraits – and in recent years has become a major player in Western art. His works can be seen on his website (https://www.thomasblackshearii.com/). He also has created several Christian religious works, the most famous which is titled “Forgiven,” and shows an image of Jesus Christ holding a crying man wearing a purple T-shirt and blue jeans.
He said the Society of Illustrators called him out of the blue in 2019.
“I was in shock and first thing I said was, ‘are you kidding me?’ I never thought that would happen to me because I had walked away from illustration some 20 years earlier. I was just so honored.”
He talked about some stamps he designed during a phone interview.
He said the Standing Bear assignment came directly from Derry Noyes, the USPS art director with whom he has worked several times. He said he was given a slim amount of reference material on which he based the powerful image seen on the stamp.
“It was just a couple of black-and-white photos and some kind of video of somebody who tried to do an interpretation of him” recalled Blackshear, who did not know about Standing Bear before the assignment.
The artist said he approached the assignment in his usual fashion. “Once I get a photo, I do a drawing and then I do a color rough in gouache, which is a lot easier to work with because it’s an like an opaque watercolor. Once it gets approval I do a finished painting in gouache and acrylic.”
There was one bit of a startling moment during the process, in which different phases of the project are submitted to the art director.
“When I was all done, Derry sent me an image of the stamp and it was the color rough,” Blackshear recalled. “I have done this long enough to know difference between color rough and finished painting. It really freaked me out and I contacted her about it. She went to check to check to make sure (the finishers) had the right painting and luckily they did.”
After creating the Joe Louis stamp, he visited a cousin in Atlanta, who took a photo of a teenager out of drawer and showed it to Blackshear.
“The teenager had this straight hair and my cousin asked if I knew who it was. I didn’t. He said it was Joe Louis and that he was a relative of ours. I hadn’t realized that when I was making the stamp. That’s wild.”
“The Classic Movie Monsters (1997) stamps were fun,” Blackshear said. “I was a monster fan ever since I was a kid so to be asked to do those was a real honor.
All of the stamps show portraits of the monsters with the only addition being a small full moon behind the Wolf Man.
“Yes, I added the moon,” Blackshear said. “I wanted to do a couple other things – like electricity to the rods in Frankenstein’s neck, but that didn’t happen. I did try to make Dracula’s eyes red, but [Bela Lugosi’s] family didn’t like it.”
“My favorite in that set is the Phantom of the Opera,” the artist said. “The colors really came through for me. It’s something special to use color for something you always saw in black and white.”
His own favorite U.S. stamp artwork is that of James Weldon Johnson.
Endangered Species
The USPS issued a pane of 20 spectacularly photographed animals – the Endangered Species stamps – in honor of the upcoming 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act.
The stamps were formally dedicated in a first-day ceremony May 19 at the National Grasslands Visitor Center in Wall, South Dakota.
Participating in the ceremony were Peter Pastre, USPS vice president, government relations and public policy; Martha Williams, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service director; and award-winning National Geographic photographer Joel Sartore.
The images on the stamps come from the Sartore’s Photo Ark, his project to document as many animal species as possible.
Sartore says on his website (https://www.joelsartore.com/) that the Photo Ark started in 2005, when his wife, Kathy, was diagnosed with breast cancer. “My career as a National Geographic photographer came to an abrupt halt as I stayed home to tend to her and our three children.”
“It’s been more than 15 years, and Kathy is fine now, but that year at home gave me a new perspective on the shortness and fragility of life. I was 42 at the time, and as Kathy recovered, one question continued to haunt me: How can I get people to care that we could lose half of all species by the turn of the next century?
“Perhaps a series of portraits, made as simply and cleanly as possible, would give us all a chance to look animals directly in the eye and see that there’s beauty, grace, and intelligence in the other creatures we share the planet with.
“All species are vitally important to our very survival; we need bees and even flies to pollinate the fruits and vegetables we eat. We need intact rain forest to regulate the amount of rainfall we get in areas where we grow crops. But beyond what’s in it for us, I believe that each species has a basic right to exist.”
As of early June, there were 46,886 images and videos in the Ark, the result of thousands of hours of work, and are primarily self-funded.
The pane of 20 stamps showcases what the USPS calls a “photographic portfolio of 20 representative endangered species.” The animals shown are found within the 50 states and American territories, as well as two North American species living near U.S. borders.
The stamps will recognize the 50th anniversary of the Endangered Species Act, which President Richard Nixon signed into law on December 27, 1973. More than 1,670 U.S. and nearly 700 foreign species are safeguarded to increase their chances of survival.
The animals shown, from top to bottom row, left to right, are: Laysan teal (duck), black-footed ferret, Roanoke logperch, thick-billed parrot; candy darter, Florida panther, masked bobwhite quail, Key Largo cotton mouse; Lower Keys marsh rabbit, Wyoming toad, Vancouver Island marmot, golden-cheeked warbler; Guam Micronesian kingfisher, San Francisco garter snake, Mexican gray wolf, Attwater’s prairie chicken; Nashville crayfish, piping plover, desert bighorn sheep, Mississippi sandhill crane.
“There’s a story behind every stamp, just as there is a story behind every one of these animals,” said Pastre, the Postal Service’s government relations and public policy vice president, who spoke at the dedication ceremony. “We hope the Endangered Species stamps tell the story of hard work, humanity and hope, while raising awareness about endangered animals and wildlife, and the efforts to protect them.”
Scientists estimate that hundreds of species have been rescued from the brink of extinction in the United States since the ESA began. In a process headed by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, a species found to need protection is listed as either threatened or endangered, the latter defined as “in danger of extinction throughout all or a significant portion of its range.”
“These stamps highlight just some of the many species that have benefited from the ESA and are emblematic of the diversity of wildlife we enjoy,” said Williams. “The ESA is one of the world’s most important conservation laws, and it plays an integral role in preventing extinctions, promoting recovery of wildlife, and preserving their habitats.”
“When I was a child, many of the species on these stamps were on the very brink of extinction. Thankfully, today they’re on the road to recovery. Each serves as a reminder of the ESA’s importance, and as a tribute to the dedicated people who have worked so hard to save each and every one of them,” said Sartore.
In addition to the stamps, from May 19 to June 9, all first-class mail bearing postage stamps was postmarked with an image of a black-footed ferret and the words: “Protect Endangered Species.”
To complement the stamp issue, the Postal Service produced a limited edition of 4,000 Endangered Species collector’s sets. The set includes a 9½-inch-by-9½ inch 36-page book and an individually numbered 4-inch-by-3-inch card. Only 4,000 copies of this set, with a USPS price of $59.95, was created.
Jay Bigalke discussed this interesting product in the June 6 edition of Linn’s Stamp News. Bigalke wrote:
“The book, Endangered Species, has information on all 20 species pictured on the new stamps and includes illustrations of other related wildlife stamps where appropriate. There is also a page about Sartore, information about the design process by Noyes, and a page discussing the printing of the stamps.
“In the inside back cover of the book, there is a pocket that holds a glassine containing the normal stamp pane along with eight different proofs of varying stages of the production process. …
“In order, the proofs are explained as follows: Second to the first normal pane is a finished pane without tagging and without the printing on the back. The third pane is the finished design but without the special coating over the animals. The fourth pane is the finished design with the special coating over the animals. The third and fourth panes are somewhat difficult to tell apart. Postal Service spokesman Jim McKean (said) that ‘this coating is designed to help separate the animals from the stamp background.’
“The fifth pane is just the black ink with the special white ink used for the word ‘Endangered.’ The sixth pane is just the black ink, the seventh just the yellow, the eighth just the magenta and the ninth just the cyan. A glassine interleaving sheet was placed in between each proof pane.”
“This is the fourth such product that the Postal Service has produced in the past 10 years.”
Similar products were created for the 2013 Jenny Invert pane of six $2 stamps; the 2019 Transcontinental Railroad set of three; and the 2020 Mayflower in Plymouth Harbor stamp.