ILLINOIS/WISCONSIN — The U.S. Postal Service celebrated writer, philosopher and naturalist Henry David Thoreau during the bicentennial year of his birth with a new Forever stamp.
The stamp art is an oil-on-panel painting of Thoreau’s face based on a famous 1856 daguerreotype by Benjamin Maxham. On the right side of the stamp is Thoreau’s signature of his last name. Below the signature is a branch of sumac leaves. Sam Weber Brooklyn, NY, was the stamp artist. Art director Greg Breeding of Charlottesville, VA, designed the stamp.
“Thoreau was one of the great thinkers in this country’s history on a wide variety of subjects, and the expression on his face in the stamp image captures his introspective and inquisitive nature,” said postal spokesperson Sean Hargadon. “Thoreau encouraged everyone to lead more thoughtful and considered lives.”
With his personal example of simple living, his criticism of materialism, and the questions he raises about the place of the individual in society and humanity’s role in the natural world, Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862) continues to inspire readers to assert their independence, reinterpret his legacy, and ask challenging questions of their own.
Thoreau’s essays, journals, and books offer a rich trove for the thoughtful reader, and every generation finds its own touchstones in his work. His writings about politics and civil disobedience influenced major 20th century activists, his observations about nature anticipated ecology and other sciences, and he has been hailed as a founding father of the environmental movement. As attuned to inward-looking individualism as he was to the tiniest details of the thriving world around him, Thoreau put down hardy roots — and his life still yields its perennial blooms.
To learn more about the artist and the stamp, visit http://about.usps.com/news/welcome.htm.
The Postal Service receives no tax dollars for operating expenses and relies on the sale of postage, products and services to fund its operations.
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