Prominent Americans series

Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., 15¢
Original 5¢ Washington design, 1966	Washington gets a shave, 1967

The Prominent Americans series is a set of definitive stamps issued by the United States Post Office Department (and later the United States Postal Service) between 1965 and 1978.

It superseded the Liberty issue of 1954, which by the mid-1960s had become somewhat dated, for instance in its focus on political figures. This was the first U. S. omnibus definitive series in which Benjamin Franklin did not appear at or near the beginning: on the ½¢ or 1¢ stamp. The values of the new series included figures from all walks of life, each depicted in a different style by a different designer, presumably in a quest for wide diversity—a significant departure from the uniformity of concept that had marked previous definitive issues. That portraits of two women appear in the series (Elizabeth Blackwell and Lucy Stone) represented a small but significant step toward gender equality in U. S. Stamp history: no previous definitive set had included more than one prominent female (Martha Washington in the issues of 1902, 1922 and 1938; Susan B. Anthony in the Liberty series). This was also the first definitive issue to include a stamp devoted to an African-American, with Frederick Douglass portrayed on the 25¢ denomination.

The stamps appeared one by one from 1965 on, and the basic designs had all been issued by 1968; tagged versions made their first appearances gradually through 1973, and coil and booklet version of the 15¢ were issued in 1978 in response to a first-class rate change.

The 5¢ Washington was originally excessively shaded around the lower part of the face, so much so that it has come to be known as the "dirty face" or "unshaven" Washington. Originally appearing in February 1966, it was superseded by a lightened version in November 1967.^[1]^[2] The $1 Eugene O'Neill stamp was notable for its repeated use by Theodore Kaczynski, the Unabomber, who habitually used them on his mail bombs.^[3]

Highly diverse lettering and drawing styles mark the Prominent Americans series.

Stamps of the series:^[4]

1¢ green - Thomas Jefferson, third President of the United States
1¼¢ light green - Albert Gallatin, fourth Secretary of the Treasury, founder of New York University, scientist, diplomat, member of the Senate and of the House of Representatives
2¢ dark blue gray - Frank Lloyd Wright, architect, with Guggenheim Museum
3¢ violet - Francis Parkman, historian
4¢ black - Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
5¢ blue - George Washington, first President of the United States
6¢ gray brown - Franklin Delano Roosevelt, 32nd President of the United States
6¢ dark blue gray - Dwight Eisenhower, 34th President of the United States
7¢ bright blue - Benjamin Franklin, politician, political theorist, diplomat, first U. S. Postmaster General, inventor, founder of the predecessor of the University of Pennsylvania and journalist
8¢ violet - Albert Einstein, physicist
8¢ black, red blue gray (sheet) - Dwight Eisenhower
8¢ claret (coil and booklet) - Dwight Eisenhower
10¢ lilac - Andrew Jackson, seventh President of the United States
12¢ black - Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motor Company, shown with the Ford Model T
13¢ brown - John F. Kennedy, 35th President of the United States
14¢ gray brown - Fiorello LaGuardia, 99th Mayor of New York City
15¢ claret - Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr., Supreme Court Justice
16¢ light brown - Ernie Pyle, World War II journalist
18¢ purple - Elizabeth Blackwell, physician
20¢ olive - George C. Marshall, Chief of Staff of the Army, Secretary of State and Secretary of the Treasury
21¢ olive - Amadeo Giannini, founder of the Bank of America
25¢ rose lake - Frederick Douglass, abolitionist (born a slave), political activist, author and orator
30¢ reddish lilac - John Dewey, educational reformer, philosopher and psychologist
40¢ bluish black - Thomas Paine, political activist, political theorist and author
50¢ magenta - Lucy Stone, abolitionist, suffragist and political activist
$1 dull purple - Eugene O'Neill, playwright and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature
$5 gray black - John Bassett Moore, jurist

Notes

↑ Arago: 5-cent Washington by Roger S. Brody, May 18, 2006
↑ Arago: 5-cent Re-engraved Washington by Roger S. Brody, May 18, 2006
↑ http://www.apnewsarchive.com/1996/Agent-Unabomber-Used-O-Neill-Stamp-When-He-Wanted-to-Kill/id-6e1a5de95f55ec2046a52637dab01691
↑ Designs of the Prominent Americans Issue · 1965-1978 by 1847 usa.com

References

Smithsonian National Postal Museum: Prominent Americans Issue (1965–1978)

Preceded by Liberty Issue	US Definitive postage stamps 1965 - 1978	Succeeded by Americana series

Postage stamps of the United States

Stamps	1918 Curtiss Jenny airmail stamps Inverted Jenny 1869 Pictorial Issue 1930 Graf Zeppelin stamps All Aboard! 20th Century American Trains Americana series Bicentennial Series Black Jack Breast cancer research stamp Celebrate the Century CIA invert Columbian Issue Comic Strip Classics Dag Hammarskjöld invert Distinguished Americans series Federal Duck Stamp Five cents John Kennedy Fourth Bureau issue Great Americans series Hanukkah stamps Hawaiian Missionaries Liberty Issue Lost Continental Nature of America Nixon invert Norse-American Centennial Oklahoma Statehood Stamps Overrun Countries series Pan-American invert Presidential Issue Prominent Americans series Series of 1902 Statue of Liberty Forever stamp Trans-Mississippi Issue Transportation coils U.S. Parcel Post stamps of 1912–13 US Regular Issues of 1922–31 Washington Bicentennial stamps of 1932 Washington-Franklin Issues Western Cattle in Storm Z Grill

Provisional stamps	Alexandria "Blue Boy" Postmaster's Provisional Gallery of U.S. Postmasters' Provisional Stamps, 1845–47 New York Postmaster's Provisional St. Louis Bears

Related	American Bank Note Company Artists of stamps of the United States Clair Aubrey Houston Commemoration of the American Civil War on postage stamps Postage stamps and postal history of the Confederate States List of fictional characters on stamps of the United States History of United States postage rates History of Virginia on stamps Homer Lee Bank Note Company List of people on the postage stamps of the United States List of United States airmail stamps Presidents of the United States on U.S. postage stamps Raising the Flag at Ground Zero Territories of the United States on stamps U.S. space exploration history on U.S. stamps United States Postal Service Women on US stamps

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Prominent Americans series

See also

Notes

References