WASHINGTON, DC — What do Bette Davis, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” and Latin jazz have in common? They’re some of the subjects recognized in the Postal Service’s 2008 Commemorative stamp program.

The 2008 stamp program recognizes a range of subjects as diverse as America itself, from the Chinese Lunar New Year celebrated in Chinatowns all over the country, to 20th century movie icons and literary figures, to the flags of our states and territories.

“This stamp series celebrates our greatest creative minds, our groundbreaking heroes, and the places, institutions and values that have made us who we are,” said Postmaster General John Potter. “We’re proud to be able to highlight noteworthy parts of our shared American history on stamps that people will use every day to connect with family and friends.

Our introduction of The Flags of Our Nation series this summer makes for a perfect start into stamp collecting — and they’re a great geography lesson. We encourage parents to involve their children in this fascinating inexpensive hobby they will cherish for years to come.”

Flags of Our Nation

In mid-June, the first of this multiyear series of 60 stamps will begin to wave across the counters of the nation’s 37,000 Post Offices. The series highlights the Stars and Stripes, 50 state flags, five territorial flags, and the District of Columbia flag. Ten stamps will be issued in the spring — Stars and Stripes, plus Alabama through Delaware — followed by 10 more in the fall — District of Columbia through Kansas. The series continues in 2009 and 2010, with four of the six groups of 10 to include a Stars and Stripes stamp.

The flag art was created by Tom Engeman of Bethany Beach, DE, under the guidance of art director Howard Paine of Delaplane, VA. Each stamp design also includes artwork that provides a snapshot view of the area represented by its flag. In most cases, an everyday scene or activity is shown, but occasionally the view is of something less commonplace — rare wildlife, perhaps, or a stunning vista.

Celebrating Lunar New Year: Year of the Rat
The 2008 commemorative stamp program launches in early January by celebrating the Chinese Lunar New Year with the issuance of the Celebrating Lunar New Year: Year of the Rat stamp. The rat is the first of 12 animals associated with the Chinese lunar calendar. People born in the Year of the Rat are said to be industrious, adaptable and ambitious. The Year of the Rat begins Feb. 7, 2008, and ends Jan. 25, 2009. The stamp will be dedicated 11 a.m. PT, Jan. 9 at the Nob Hill Masonic Center in San Francisco. Art director Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, worked with illustrator Kam Mak, an artist who grew up in New York City’s Chinatown and now lives in Brooklyn.

Charles W. Chesnutt
Later in January, the 31st stamp in the Black Heritage series honors Charles W. Chesnutt, a pioneering writer recognized today as a major innovator and singular voice among turn-of-the-century literary realists who probed the color line in American life. Art director Howard Paine of Delaplane, VA, wanted a stamp that emphasized Chesnutt’s intelligence and dignity. Stamp artist Kazuhiko Sano of Mill Valley, CA, painted Chesnutt’s portrait based on a 1908 photograph from the special collections of Fisk University’s Franklin Library.

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Best known for her Pulitzer Prize-winning novel The Yearling and her memoir Cross Creek, Marjorie Kinnan Rawlingswill be commemorated on Feb. 21 at the site of her Cross Creek, FL, home. Rawlings is remembered for a series of short stories, novels and non-fiction works about life in the Florida backwoods. Her memoir spurred readers to urge her to write Cross Creek Cookery. Rawlings’ collections of southern recipes remain a popular addition to many kitchen libraries today.

Art director Carl Herrman of Carlsbad, CA, worked with award-winning artist Michael Deas of Brooklyn Heights, NY, to create a portrait of the novelist with a background depicting a fawn at a watering hole in the Florida scrub country. The rows of spots on the male fawn are consistent with the description in The Yearling. 

American Scientists
Some of the most impressive scientific achievements of the 20th century will be recognized in April when the American Scientists stamps are issued. The series honors four scientists:

• Theoretical physicist John Bardeen (1908-1991) co-invented the transistor, arguably the most important invention of the 20th century. Bardeen also collaborated on the first fundamental explanation of superconductivity at low temperatures, a theory which has had a profound impact on many fields of physics.
• Biochemist Gerty Cori (1896-1957), in collaboration with her husband Carl, made important discoveries that later became the basis for our knowledge of how cells use food and convert it into energy. Among her discoveries was a new derivative of glucose, a finding that elucidated the steps of carbohydrate metabolism. Their work also contributed to the understanding and treatment of diabetes and other metabolic diseases.
• Astronomer Edwin Hubble (1889-1953) played a pivotal role in deciphering the vast and complex nature of the universe. His meticulous studies of spiral nebulae proved the existence of galaxies other than our own Milky Way, paving the way for a revolutionary new understanding that the cosmos contains myriad separate galaxies, or “island universes.”
• Structural chemist Linus Pauling (1901-1994) determined the nature of the chemical bond linking atoms into molecules. He routinely crossed disciplinary boundaries throughout his career and made significant contributions in several diverse fields. His pioneering work on protein structure was critical in establishing the field of molecular biology and his studies of hemoglobin led to many findings, including the classification of sickle cell anemia as a molecular disease.

For each stamp, artist Victor Stabin of Jim Thorpe, PA, with the assistance of art director Carl Herrman of Carlsbad, CA, created a collage featuring a painted portrait of each scientist combined with diagrams or photographic representations associated with their major contributions.

American Journalists
Five journalists who risked their lives reporting some of the most important events of the 20th century receive their stamp of approval in April. The five stamps honor:

• Martha Gellhorn (1908-1998) covered the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Vietnam War in a long career that broke new ground for women. With her constant focus on harm to civilians, her reporting was considered a morally courageous model.
• John Hersey (1914-1993) was a versatile writer whose most famous work, Hiroshima, describes what happened when the United States dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city that gave the work its title. It has been acclaimed as the greatest work of journalism of the 20th century. Hersey’s work appeared in various publications, including Time, Life and The New Yorker.
• George Polk (1913-1948) was a talented young CBS radio correspondent who filed hard-hitting radio bulletins from Greece describing the strife that erupted there after World War II. He was working on reports of corruption involving U.S. aid when he disappeared. His body was found a week later. The exact circumstances of his death remain a mystery.
• Ruben Salazar (1928-1970) was the first Mexican-American journalist to have a major voice in mainstream news media. His writings in the Los Angeles Times and segments at KMEX-TV on the Chicano movement of the 1960s added richly to the historical record. While in Los Angeles covering a Vietnam War protest, Salazar was killed by a tear gas projectile.
• Eric Sevareid (1912-1992) was a writer for the New York Herald Tribune and later a broadcast journalist for CBS radio recruited by Edward R. Murrow. He covered World War II, reporting on the approach of the Germans to Paris, the exodus from the city and on life in London during wartime. In 1943, while en route to China, Sevareid parachuted from a disabled plane and emerged from the jungle on foot some time later. His later television commentaries in the 1960s and 1970s on the CBS Evening News were widely admired.=

Fred Otnes of West Redding, CT, worked under the guidance of Howard Paine of Delaplane, VA, to illustrate the stamp pane.

Mount St. Mary’s University Stamped Card
In late April, the 200th anniversary of the founding of Mount St. Mary’s University will be celebrated with a stamped postal card issued on the Emmitsburg, MD, campus. The stamp art features a watercolor painting of “the Terrace” created by award-winning architectural illustrator Frank Costantino of Winthrop, MA. Composed of DuBois, Bruté and McCaffrey Halls, the Terrace is one of the central attractions on the university’s picturesque campus. Costantino based his artwork on historic photographs and drawings. Constantino worked with art director Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, AZ.

Frank Sinatra
The Postal Service honors Frank Sinatra (1915-1998), an Oscar-winning actor and a supreme interpreter of American popular song. Art director Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, AZ, and stamp artist Kazuhiko Sano of Mill Valley, CA, chose to present this iconic figure in a portrait based on a publicity photograph.

In a 50-year career studded with accolades, Sinatra won several Grammys, received the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award in 1971, and was recognized at the Kennedy Center Honors in 1983. Sinatra gave generously to many charities and was noted for his philanthropy. President Reagan awarded him the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 1985. Sinatra was a native of Hoboken, NJ, where the Post Office was renamed in his honor.

Wedding Hearts
In 2008, the U.S. Postal Service will reissue the designs of the two 2007 Wedding Hearts stamps featuring vines that form the shape of a heart. These stamps are designed especially for mailing wedding invitations and RSVPs and are sure to add an elegant touch to invitations and response cards.

The stamps will be available in two denominations to cover both the one-ounce and the two-ounce mailing rates. Each one-ounce stamp is intended for use on the RSVP envelope often enclosed with a wedding invitation. Each two-ounce stamp will accommodate the wedding invitation with enclosures.
Illustrator Nancy Stahl of New York City based her designs on memories of a wide range of intertwined objects, including silver charms and old-fashioned garden gates. The one-ounce denomination features a sage background, while the two-ounce denomination features a melon background, as determined by Stahl and art director Carl Herrman of Carlsbad, CA.

Minnesota Statehood         
The 150th-year celebration of Minnesota statehood will be commemorated in May on a stamp bearing a photograph by Richard Hamilton Smith of Park Rapids, MN and designed by Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD. The view, above Winona, in southeast Minnesota, is the MN-43/WI-54 bridge spanning the main channel of the Mississippi River. The stamp will be dedicated in St. Paul.

Love: All Heart
In 1973, the U.S. Postal Service issued the first stamp in its popular Love series. The 2008 design, titled All Heart, by illustrator Paul Zwolak, under the direction of Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, features an oversized heart being transported by its owner to convey that a heart filled with love could be a gift to one’s beloved, rather than the usual flowers or candy.

Bette Davis
Film diva Bette Davis becomes the 14th inductee into the Legends of Hollywood series on the 100th anniversary of the year of her birth. A consummate actress with a magnetic screen presence, Davis (1908-1989) played a wide variety of powerful and complex roles during her six-decade career. Her riveting performances, acclaimed by critics and fans alike, resulted in 10 Academy Award nominations for best actress; she won twice for her starring roles in Dangerous (1935) and Jezebel (1938). Artist Michael Deas of Brooklyn Heights, NY, based his painting for the stamp on a black-and-white still of Davis made during the filming of All About Eve (1950). The selvage, or margin, photograph is a black-and-white still from Jezebel. Deas worked under the direction of Richard Scheaff of Scottsdale, AZ.

Vintage Black Cinema
Vivid reminders of a bygone era will be celebrated in June through Vintage Black Cinema stamps based on five vintage movie posters. Whether spotlighting the talents of entertainment icons or documenting changing social attitudes and expectations, these posters now serve a greater purpose than publicity and promotion. They are invaluable pieces of history, preserving memories of cultural phenomena that otherwise might have been forgotten. The stamp pane was designed by Carl Herrman of Carlsbad, CA.

The stamp images depict movie posters that promoted:

• The 1921 silent film The Sport of the Gods.
• The first screen appearance of Duke Ellington in the 1929 film Black and Tan.
• Princess Tam-Tam, a French film issued in 1935 that was one of four movies to star Josephine Baker.
• 1929’s Hallelujah, one of the first major-studio films to feature an all-black cast.
• The 1945 short Caldonia, which highlighted the talents of singer, saxophonist and “jump blues” bandleader Louis Jordan, and is often cited as a precursor to today’s music videos.

The Art of Disney: Imagination
With the help of some of Walt Disney’s famous animated characters, these four stamps, scheduled to be the fifth and final in the Art of Disney series, illustrate the theme of imagination. Art director Terrence McCaffrey of Leesburg, VA, joined a design team that included artist Peter Emmerich of Yonkers, NY, and creative director Dave Pacheco of Burbank, CA, to create four stamps featuring:

• Mickey Mouse as Steamboat Willie.
• Princess Aurora and her helpers Flora, Fauna and Merryweather from Sleeping Beauty.
• Pongo and one of his pups from 101 Dalmatians.
• Mowgli and Baloo from The Jungle Book.

Olympic Games
Next July, the Postal Service continues its tradition of honoring the spirit of athleticism and international unity inspired by the Olympic Games. The stamp will be issued to coincide with the games of the XXIX Olympiad, which will be held from Aug. 8 through Aug. 24, 2008 in Beijing, China. The stamp, designed by Clarence Lee of Honolulu, HI, features a drawing by artist Katie Doka, also of Honolulu. The image depicts a gymnast surrounded by ribbon-like design elements. In the upper right corner of the stamp, the denomination is surrounded by a graphic element that resembles the ink mark created by a Chinese “chop,” a carved wooden stamp often used for signatures or seals. The five Olympic rings appear in the lower left corner. The design direction was coordinated by art director Carl Herrman of Carlsbad, CA.

Take Me Out to the Ball Game
One of the most popular baseball songs of all time, “Take Me Out to the Ball Game” celebrates its 100th anniversary in 2008 on postage late next summer. For decades, the song’s catchy chorus has been part of the musical tradition at ballparks around the country, especially during the seventh-inning stretch. The song was born on a New York City train in the summer of 1908, when passenger Jack Norworth — an actor, singer and songwriter who had never attended a major-league ball game — penned the words after seeing a sign about an upcoming game at the Polo Grounds.

The stamp image is based on a circa-1880 “trade card” from the personal collection of art director Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, AZ. The original card shows a baseball scene and contains words promoting a product made by a Michigan company. The stamp art shows the same scene but replaces the product-related words with “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the stamp denomination, notes from the music, and the words “United States of America.”

Charles and Ray Eames
In recognition of their groundbreaking contributions to architecture, furniture design, manufacturing and photographic arts, designers Charles and Ray Eames will be honored next summer with a pane of 16 stamps designed by Derry Noyes of Washington, DC. If you’ve ever sat in a stackable molded chair, you’ve experienced their creativity. Perhaps best known for their furniture, the Eameses were husband and wife as well as design partners. Their extraordinary body of creative work — which reflected the nation’s youthful and inventive outlook after World War II — also included architecture, films and exhibits. Without abandoning tradition, Charles and Ray Eames used new materials and technology to create high-quality products that addressed everyday problems and made modern design available to the American public.

American Treasures: Albert Bierstadt
img src="/news/national-releases/2007/sr07_084r.jpg" alt="American Treasures: Albert Bierstadt" width="193" height="124" align="left">Add the beauty of Yosemite to your mail with the eighth issuance in the American Treasures series next August. Art director Derry Noyes of Washington, DC, chose “Valley of the Yosemite,”an 1864 oil-on-paperboard painting by Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902). It belongs to the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. “Valley of the Yosemite” shares the freshness and immediacy of the plein air field sketches Bierstadt used in composing a much larger painting titled “Looking Down Yosemite Valley.”

Latin Jazz
The rich musical heritage of Latin jazz is celebrated on a stamp being released in August featuring a bold, graphic design by San Francisco-based artist — and Latin jazz fan — Michael Bartalos. Eager to capture the upbeat, energetic and romantic spirit that characterizes the musical genre, Bartalos, under the art direction of Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, AZ, created a tropical evening scene that depicts three musicians playing bass, piano and conga drums. The design conveys the multicultural aspects of the music, its percussive and improvisational nature, and of course its rhythmic complexity.

Alzheimer’s Awareness
Extra attention will be paid to the most common form of dementia among older people in September when the Postal Service issues the Alzheimer’s Awareness stamp. Art director Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, worked with illustrator Matt Mahurin of Northport, NY, to draw attention to the importance of the caregiver for those who have Alzheimer’s disease.

Nature of America: Great Lakes Dunes
The 10th issuance in the Nature of America educational series — Great Lakes Dunes — illustrates the beauty and complexity of another major plant and animal community in the United States. To illustrate the diversity of species associated with Great Lakes dunes, artist John Dawson of Hilo, HI, working under the art direction of Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, depicted more than 27 different kinds of plants and animals in his colorful acrylic painting. The scene itself is imaginary as a dense grouping of plants and animals was necessary to illustrate as many species as possible on the stamp pane. Even so, all of the species could be encountered at or near Sleeping Bear Dunes National Lakeshore in Michigan, the area featured on the pane. All of the species and their interactions are appropriate and were recommended by scientists.

Holiday Nutcrackers

Four eye-catching nutcracker designs — Santa, or “Father Christmas,” — a king, a captain, and a drummer — add colorful, humorous touches to 2008 winter holiday cards, letters and packages.

The nutcrackers were custom-made for the U.S. Postal Service by Glenn Crider of T.R.C. Designs, Inc., of Mechanicsville, VA. Crider based the characters on sketches and notes provided by Sally Andersen-Bruce of New Milford, CT, who later photographed the completed nutcrackers for the stamps under the art direction of Derry Noyes of Washington, DC.

2008 Christmas Stamp
Working from a detail of a painting titled “Virgin and Child With the Young John the Baptist” by the Italian master Sandro Botticelli, designer Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, AZ, created the Postal Service’s 2008Christmas stamp. The painting, tempera and oil on wood, dates to around 1490 and is now in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. It presents one of the most common figural groups in religious art. Botticelli’s beautifully rendered figures capture the tender relationship between mother and child and at the same time suggest Mary’s foreknowledge of Christ’s fate. The facial expression of John the Baptist, seen standing to the side in a prayerful gesture, also suggests a heightened awareness.

Stamp Image Reproduction instructions

High-resolution images of the stamps are available for media use only at:
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2008stamps/downloadcenter.htm

Please feel free to reproduce the image under the following guidelines.
1. Must be in full color (if publication is in color).
2. If reproduced within 75 - 150% of actual size, must have a bar through the denomination.
3. Must have the following printed: [copyright sign] © 2007 USPS Used with permission. All rights reserved.

• When reproducing the Rubin Salazar image that is included in the American Journalists stamps, please include the following:

Ruben Salazar, from the Los Angeles Times Photographic Archive (Collection 1429), Department of Special Collections, Charles E. Young Research Library, UCLA

• When reproducing the Hallelujah stamp image that is included in the Vintage Black Cinema stamps, please include the following:

Hallelujah art © Al Hirschfeld, licensed by the Margo Feiden Galleries Ltd., New York.

# # #

Please Note: For broadcast quality video and audio, photo stills and other media resources, visit the USPS Newsroom at http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.

For reporters interested in speaking with a regional Postal Service public relations professional on this issue, please go to http://about.usps.com/news/media-contacts/usps-local-media-contacts.pdf.

A self-supporting government enterprise, the U.S. Postal Service is the only delivery service that reaches every address in the nation, 151 million residences, businesses and Post Office Boxes. The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses, and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations. With 32,000 retail locations and the most frequently visited website in the federal government, usps.com, the Postal Service has annual revenue of more than $65 billion and delivers nearly 40 percent of the world’s mail. If it were a private sector company, the U.S. Postal Service would rank 35th in the 2011 Fortune 500. Black Enterprise and Hispanic Business magazines ranked the Postal Service as a leader in workforce diversity. The Postal Service has been named the Most Trusted Government Agency for six years and the sixth Most Trusted Business in the nation by the Ponemon Institute.

Follow USPS on Twitter @USPS_PR and at Facebook.com/usps.