The United States Postal Service celebrated its 250th anniversary on Sunday and released some special stamps commemorating the milestone.
The Postal Service released a pane of 20 interconnected stamps showing a mail carrier’s route throughout the city. The “250 Years of Delivering Stamps” sheet paints the picture of mail carrier’s route as the city transitions from spring into winter from top to bottom. While the panes connect to form a bigger picture, each stamp shows the mail carrier hard at work, giving each pane its own story..
“They form this collage of delivering, showing that the Postal Service, our employees are throughout the community, and so that was really cool,” said John Hyatt with the Postal Service’s Southern California and Hawaii division.
The sheet of 20 stamps was released on July 23, just three days before the 250th anniversary of the service.
In addition to the special scene of mail delivery, the Postal Service also released a 32-page booklet titled “Putting a Stamp on the American Experience.” The booklet includes stamp designs throughout the Postal Service’s history — most notably, 20 Benjamin Franklin stamps.
The Benjamin Franklin stamps are a reproduction of a Benjamin Franklin stamp originally released in the 1800s. The timing is apt for the service’s anniversary, as Benjamin Franklin was the first American Postmaster General back in 1775 during the American Revolution.
Hyatt described the rest of the booklet as “going all the way back to the first commemorative stamps, and showing some of the variety and diversity of stamp subjects.” He explained the stamps in books capture “every aspect of American life and the people involved that made our country the great country we are.”
The postal service isn’t the only department celebrating a 250th anniversary this year. The Armed Services also celebrated their birthday this year, and the Postal Service released commemorative Armed Forces stamps for the occasion.
“They’re always working in commemorative stamps, and almost anything really is a commemorative stamp when you think about it,” he said.
And by those means, San Diego got its own feature — kind of — in the world of postage. A stamp collection titled “American Vistas” was released earlier this year, and while San Diego isn’t specifically named, the art draws inspiration from the city. According to Hyatt, the artwork for the two stamps was inspired by San Diego’s scenic coastline and mountains.
To celebrate the 250th anniversary of the Postal Service, the department is also selling special merchandise, including tote bags and stamp art. Additionally, the service opened the Stamp Encore Contest that allows anyone to pick their favorite stamp out of 25 panes and vote for it to be re-released next year. Voting is open through September 30.
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