POSTAL SERVICE ANNOUNCES FIRST 30 STAMPS IN CELEBRATE THE CENTURY PROGRAM

Stamps commemorating the 1900s and 1910s to be unveiled one per day over 30  days in cities across the U.S.

WASHINGTON — The U.S. Postal Service today announced the first 30 postage  stamps to be unveiled as part of the Celebrate the Century program — an  unprecedented commemorative stamp and education program that will honor the  most memorable and significant people, places, events and trends of the 20th  century.

The 30 stamps commemorating the years 1900-1909 and 1910-1919 will be unveiled  one per day over 30 consecutive days — Jan. 5 through Feb. 3, 1998 — in  cities across the U.S.“Unveiling 30 stamps in 30 days is an unprecedented undertaking for the Postal  Service,” said Postmaster General Marvin Runyon. “This will set the stage for  the voting periods to follow where the public will have the opportunity to select which stamps will honor the latter decades of the passing century.”

The first stamp, “Immigrants Arrive,” honoring Ellis Island, will be unveiled  on Jan. 5 in the Great Hall on Ellis Island — in the shadow of the Statue of  Liberty. As part of the unveiling event, 50 people will be officially sworn in  as U.S. citizens by the U.S. Department of Immigration & Naturalization.

Each day thereafter, through Feb. 3, another stamp will be unveiled. All 30  stamps will be issued Feb. 3 at a special ceremony in Washington, D.C. The  stamps will be available at all post offices on two collectible sheets of 15  commemorative stamps each — one honoring the 1900s and one honoring the  1910s.

As is the case with Ellis Island, most of the stamps in the Celebrate the Century program will be unveiled in locations that have a historical relevance  to the subject matter. The stamps represent a wide variety of subjects, which   in addition to Ellis Island, include: Presidents Theodore Roosevelt and  Woodrow Wilson, environmentalist John Muir, inventor George Washington Carver, boxer Jack Dempsey, the Model T automobile, the Wright Brothers first flight, Crayola Crayons, Boy/Girl Scouts, the Teddy Bear, Panama Canal, Grand Canyon and the first World Series.

BACKGROUND ON CELEBRATE THE CENTURY

For the first time, the public, including school children, will be invited to  put their own stamp on history by voting on subjects that will be featured on  stamps. Spanning a two-year period, the Postal Service will issue sheets of  commemorative stamps heralding the most significant occurrences of each decade  of the 20th century.

“Through Celebrate the Century, Americans can save the past as they look  toward the future,” said Runyon. “U.S. postage stamps have long been integral  to the fabric of American life and they continue to be a source of learning  and pride for all Americans. Capturing history on stamps is a part of the  Postal Service’s proud heritage.

“What makes Celebrate the Century such a unique continuation of this heritage  is that, for the first time, the public will play a major role in determining  the stamp subjects that will become a permanent record of the passing  millennium,” he said.

Selecting the stamps

Stamps representing the years 1900-1949 have already been recommended by the  Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee, a group of citizens appointed by the  Postmaster General to review all stamp suggestions and make recommendations  for future stamps. However, stamp subjects representing the years 1950-1999  will be voted on by the public. Each decade ballot, beginning with the 1950s,  will be divided into five voting categories from which the public will be  invited to choose up to three specific subjects. The categories are: People &  Events, Arts & Entertainment, Sports, Science & Technology and Lifestyle. The  top 15 vote-getters will be commemorated on that decadeP2s sheet of  commemorative stamps.

Casting your vote

Ballots for each decade will be available at all post offices and special  Celebrate the Century events, as well as via a planned Web site. Everyone is  invited to vote. Voting periods for each decade will last about one month,  beginning with 1950s voting on Feb. 3. Independent accounting firms Booz Allen  and Gallup will tabulate votes.

A history lesson from stamps

The Postal Service, working in cooperation with the U.S. Department of  Education and 10 of the nation’s ;eading educational associations, has  developed one of the largest-ever independent cross-curricular programs. The  Celebrate the Century Education Series is expected to involve more than  300,000 classrooms of students across the U.S. in a comprehensive, in-class  curriculum program that will take students on a field trip through the decades  of the 20th century.

Designed primarily for students grades 3-6, the Celebrate the Century  Education Series is available to teachers free of charge. It includes in- school balloting for students as well as take-home projects for children to  discuss with their parents.

THIRTY STAMP UNVEILINGS IN THIRTY DAYS

To kick off the Celebrate The Century program, the 1900s and 1910s stamps will  be unveiled over a 30-day period — Jan. 5 – Feb. 3, 1998 — in cities across  the U.S.

Date Event (Decade) Location

Jan.

5 Ellis Island (1900s) Great Hall – Ellis Island, New York, N.Y.

6 Ash Can School (1900s) Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, Ohio

7 John Muir (1900s) John Muir National Historic Site, Martinez, Calif.

8 WEB Du Bois (1900s) WEB Du Bois Library, U. of Mass., Amherst, Mass.

9 Model T (1900s) Detroit International Auto Show, Detroit, Mich.

10 St. Louis WorldP2s Fair (1900s) Missouri Historical Museum, St. Louis, Mo.

11 First Flight (1900s) Wright Brothers Memorial, Kill Devil Hills, N.C.

12 Robie House (1900s) Frank Lloyd Wright Robie House, Chicago, IL

13 Teddy Bear (1900s) Bose Elementary School, Kenosha, Wis.

14 First World Series (1900s) Baseball Hall of Fame, Cooperstown, N.Y.

15 Pure Food & Drug Act (1900s) HookP2s Drugstore Museum, Indianapolis, Ind.

16 Gibson Girl (1900s) Fashion Institute of Technology, New York, N.Y.

17 Crayola Crayons (1900s) Crayola Interactive Museum, Easton, Pa.

18 Theodore Roosevelt (1900s) Mt. Rushmore National Park, Keystone, S.D.

19 Great Train Robbery (1900s) Tampa Theater, Tampa, Fla.

20 Federal Reserve (1910s) Federal Reserve Building, Washington, D.C.

21 Woodrow Wilson (1910s) Woodrow Wilson Museum, Staunton, Va.

22 Armory Show (1910s) Philadelphia Museum of Art, Philadelphia, Pa.

23 George Washington Carver (1910s) Main Post Office, Tuskegee, Ala.

24 Grand Canyon (1910s) Grand Canyon National Park, Grand Canyon, Ariz.

25 Construction Toys (1910s) Gilbert House ChildrenP2s Museum, Salem, Ore.

26 Child Labor (1910s) TBD, Washington, D.C.

27 Jack Dempsey (1910s) Manassa Opera House, Manassa, Colo.

28 Panama Canal (1910s) Museum of History-Balboa Park, San Diego, Calif.

29 Transcontinental Phone Line Elementary School Classrooms, San Fran., Calif.
(1910s) and New York, N.Y.

30 Jim Thorpe (1910s) State Capitol Building, Oklahoma City, Okla.

31 Charlie Chaplin (1910s) Los Angeles Cnty Museum of Art, L.A., Calif.

Feb.

1 Crossword Puzzle (1910s) TBD, New York, N.Y.

2 Scouting (1910s) Seattle Center, Seattle, Wash.

3 World War I (1910s) TBD, Washington, D.C.