A Public Library Postage Stamp
For almost a decade I have promoted the issuing of a postage stamp by the United States Postal Service (USPS) to honor America's public libraries. This part of the Library History Buff Web site supports that endeavor. I invite you to join with me in promoting such a stamp.
You can promote a postage stamp celebrating America's public libraries by writing to your U.S. congressional representatives and by writing to the the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee of the USPS.
Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee
c/o Stamp Development
U.S. Postal Service
1735 North Lynn St., Suite 5013
Arlington, VA 22209-6432.
The USPS likes to issue stamps on
significant anniversaries. This year is the 275th anniversary of the
Library Company of Philadelphia founded by
Benjamin Franklin. It would have been a good year to honor
public libraries, but alas, it was not to be. The years 2008 and 2009 are
also good years to consider a stamp or stamps commemorating public libraries.
The year 2008 will mark the 175th anniversary of the founding of the
Peterborough Town Library
in New Hampshire, the world's first free public library supported by taxation.
The year 2008 also marks the 160th anniversary of the passage of the state
legislation which enabled the establishment of the Boston Public Library which
occurred four years later. The year 2009 marks the 150th anniversary of
the death of Abiel Abbot, the founder of the Peterborough Town Library as well
as several other libraries. The year 2009 also marks the 160th anniversary
of the passage. in New Hampshire, of the first statewide law enabling the establishment of free
public libraries. That
should be enough anniversaries even for the USPS. Although the USPS likes a four
year lead time on stamp subjects, they have been known to accelerate that time
line and a year or two delay isn't that much of a deal.
Why a public library stamp?
Each year the United States Postal Services issues 100 to 200 different postage stamps. These stamps are chosen from almost 50,000 suggestions from the public and the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee. A significant percentage of these stamps depict popular topics which encourage their purchase and retention without use. Another groups of stamps commemorate events, individuals, and institutions which have played an important role in the heritage of our country. Public libraries as a group have never been included in the last category. They deserve to be so honored because they are one of America's basic democratic institutions. Public libraries were made in America. Public libraries are an integral part of daily American life and have been for almost 175 years.
Other than the honor of it, the issuing of postage stamp commemorating public libraries would provide a significant opportunity to promote public libraries across the nation. There are several good examples of this.
In 1982 under the leadership of Elizabeth
Stone who was the President of the American Library Association, the library
community succeeded in getting a stamp issued which honored all of America's
libraries. The library community took advantage of the issuing of the
stamp to call attention to the importance of the library in America.
Many libraries across the nation participated in a
Second Day of Issue event in connection with the issuing of the
Library of Congress stamp in the year 2000. Something similar could be successfully promoted in
connection with the issuing of a public library stamp.
On
August 4, 2005 the USPS issued a Presidential Libraries stamp to commemorate the
50th anniversary of the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955. The USPS issued the
stamp simultaneously at the 12 official presidential libraries of the National
Archives plus the Gerald Ford Presidential Museum in Grand Rapids which is
separate for the presidential library in Ann Arbor. At each location there was a
first day of issue ceremony well covered by the media. It seems to me that if
the USPS can honor 12 libraries, most of which are less than 50 years old, it
could honor thousands of public libraries, many of which have already celebrated
their centennials.
In the year 2000 the USPS issued a stamp for pre-sorted standard mail based on one of the lions in front of the New York Public Library. The USPS has a stringent policy against honoring individual local institutions. Originally, the stamp was to be issued with out "The New York Public Library" under the lion, but the Library required it because the lion is trademarked. Ironically, because of its widespread use by bulk mailers, it is one of of the most prolific of all library stamps.
In
2005 I took matters into my own hands and created a public library postage stamp
from a picture of the Baraboo Public Library (WI) using the personalized postage
service of
PhotoStamps in cooperation with USPS. This
process, of course, results in only a small number of stamps.
My suggestion for the format of a public library stamp would be to use graphics similar to those of the America's Libraries and the Presidential Libraries stamps. In fact the America's Libraries stamp which was designed by Bradbury Thompson, one of the world's greatest graphic artists, could just be modified by replacing "America's" with "Public" and "Legacies To Mankind" with "Free To All". The stamp could be issued in a pane of 20 stamps like the Presidential Libraries stamp. On the back of the Presidential Libraries sheet of stamps there is information about the libraries. On the back of a new Public Libraries stamp information about the key events in the history of America's public libraries could be printed.
I would also push for a simultaneous First Day of Issue at every post office in the country, although not done often, it can be done. That way every community that wants to can have some kind of First Day of Issue of Ceremony. The alternative would be to have Second Day of Issue ceremonies like those used with the Library of Congress stamp in 2000. These ceremonies don't actually have to occur on the second day of issue. They can be spread out for several weeks.
Although the issuing of a stamp commemorating public libraries would provide a wonderful opportunity for libraries to celebrate their heritage, there are other opportunities for public libraries to use the postal system to promote significant events or anniversaries at the library. These include the creation of souvenir envelopes with special postmarks applied by the USPS.
