WASHINGTON, DC—A best-selling author and a noted physician are receiving one of the nation’s highest honors as new additions to the Postal Service’s Distinguished Americans stamp series.

James Michener, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author of more than 40 books and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom, and Dr. Edward Trudeau, a legendary American physician who devoted himself to researching and treating tuberculosis, appear on postage stamps now available at the online Postal Store (www.usps.com/shop) and in Post Offices nationwide.

“The Postal Service is proud to recognize these two American legends in literature and medicine on stamps,” said Stamp Services Executive Director David Failor. “James Michener and Dr. Edward Trudeau have made outstanding contributions to this nation and throughout the world. They deserve this high honor.”

The Distinguished Americans series began in 2000 and has honored some of our nation’s greatest citizens, including Claude Pepper, Jonas Salk, Harriett Beecher Stowe and Wilma Rudolph.

Michener won the Pulitzer Prize for fiction in 1948 for his book, Tales of the South Pacific, which was based on his observations while serving as a lieutenant in the U.S. Navy during World War II. The book was the basis for the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical South Pacific, which became an Oscar-winning movie musical in 1958.

Following the success of Tales of the South Pacific, Michener traveled the world to research more than 80 nonfiction articles and book reviews for Reader’s Digest, Life magazine, Saturday Evening Post, the New York Times, and many other newspapers and magazines.

Michener, who was raised in Doylestown, PA, wrote several novels in the 1970s about American history and culture, including Centennial (1974), dramatizing the settlement of the West with a particular focus on Colorado; Chesapeake (1978), covering nearly five centuries of history on the Maryland eastern shore; Space (1982), dealing with the history of the American space program; and Texas (1985), spanning four centuries of history.

In 1977, President Gerald R. Ford awarded Michener the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

From 1979 to 1986, he was a member of the Postal Service’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee. A noted philanthropist, he was passionate in his support of education, young writers, and the arts. Michener died in Austin, TX, in 1997.

Born in 1848 in New York, Edward Trudeau was both a son and a grandson of physicians. He spent his early years abroad, receiving an education at the Lycée Bonaparte in Paris. In 1865, he returned to the United States and secured an appointment to the U.S. Naval Academy. Soon after, he gave up his appointment to care for his brother, who was gravely ill with tuberculosis. The experience shaped the rest of his life.

After his brother died, Trudeau pursued medical studies, graduated from the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York in 1871 and began practicing medicine. Then, at age 25, he received a diagnosis of pulmonary tuberculosis, most likely contracted from his brother.

His illness did not deter him from pursuing medical practice as a phthisiologist, a physician who specializes in tuberculosis care. In the mid-1880s, he established the Adirondack Cottage Sanitarium (renamed the Trudeau Sanatorium after his death in 1915). He organized the Saranac Laboratory for the Study of Tuberculosis, the first American institution dedicated to tuberculosis research. Renamed the Trudeau Institute, the laboratory continues to study infectious diseases.

In an article for the New York Times, a former patient wrote that Trudeau had “brought…not only the presence of a genial doctor but the kinship of a fellow sufferer. This was the bond that brought him so close to all his patients. He was not merely an outsider fighting for them; he was an insider fighting with them…”

The James Michener stamp is 59 cents for the new First-Class Mail letter two-ounce price. The Edward Trudeau stamp is 76 cents for the new First-Class Mail letter three-ounce price. Both stamps are available now in Post Offices, on usps.com, and by calling 800-STAMP-24.

Artist Mark Summers of Waterdown, ON, created both stamps based on photographs. Summers is noted for his scratchboard technique, a style distinguished by a dense network of horizontal lines etched with exquisite precision. He also created art for previous issuances in the Distinguished Americans series:  Joseph W. Stilwell (2000), Claude Pepper (2000), Hattie W. Caraway (2001), Edna Ferber (2002), Wilma Rudolph (2004), Jonas Salk (2006), Albert Sabin (2006), Margaret Chase Smith (2007) and Harriet Beecher Stowe (2007).

James Michener Philatelic Fact Sheet

Philatelic Products

There is one philatelic product available for this stamp issue:

• 107761, First-Day Cover, $0.97

How to Order First-Day Covers

Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

Information Fulfillment
Dept 6270
U.S. Postal Service
PO Box 219014
Kansas City, MO  64121-9014

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark

Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, by telephone at 800-STAMP-24, or at the Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

James A. Michener Stamp
Postmaster
Special Cancellations
PO Box 92282
Washington, DC 20090-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by July 11, 2008.

Edward Trudeau Philatelic Fact Sheet

Philatelic Products

There is one philatelic product available for this stamp issue:

• 110261, First-Day Cover, $1.14

How to Order First-Day Covers

Stamp Fulfillment Services also offers first-day covers for new stamp issues and Postal Service stationery items postmarked with the official first-day-of-issue cancellation. Each item has an individual catalog number and is offered in the quarterly USA Philatelic catalog. Customers may request a free catalog by calling 800-STAMP-24 or writing to:

Information Fulfillment
Dept 6270
U.S. Postal Service
PO Box 219014
Kansas City, MO 64121-9014

How to Order the First-Day-of-Issue Postmark

Customers have 60 days to obtain the first-day-of-issue postmark by mail. They may purchase new stamps at their local Post Office, by telephone at 800-STAMP-24, or at the Postal Store website at www.usps.com/shop. They should affix the stamps to envelopes of their choice, address the envelopes (to themselves or others), and place them in a larger envelope addressed to:

Edward Trudeau Stamp
Postmaster
Special Cancellations
PO Box 92282
Washington, DC 20090-9998

After applying the first-day-of-issue postmark, the Postal Service will return the envelopes through the mail. There is no charge for the postmark. All orders must be postmarked by July 11, 2008.

# # #

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.