PrintFOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Community Relations 202-268-4924
January 17, 2006
Stamp News Release No. 06-004
www.usps.com
U.S. POSTAL SERVICE COMMEMORATES BENJAMIN FRANKLIN'S 300TH BIRTHDAY BY ISSUING EDUCATIONAL STAMPS THIS SPRING
WASHINGTON - If Benjamin Franklin were alive today (Jan. 17), he would be 300 years old and probably the most accomplished person on the planet. To highlight the achievements of this remarkable American icon, the Postal Service will issue a set of four educational 39-cent commemorative First-Class stamps designed to give you the "scoop" on this genius who was a printer, scientist, statesman and the nation's first Postmaster General. The stamps will be issued later this spring in Philadelphia. You can use the stamps as "flash cards" to test your knowledge of Franklin, as text behind the pane provides highlights of his accomplishments.Benjamin Franklin, Printer
The image of the stamp honoring Franklin as a printer includes a portrait of him in a printer's smock by illustrator Michael Dooling; a copy of the Pennsylvania Gazette dated Sept. 25 through Oct. 2, 1729; the front of the 1733 edition of "Poor Richard's Almanack"; and a five-pound currency note printed by Franklin in 1760. The text on the back of the stamp sheet reads:
From his childhood apprenticeship in Boston to his career in Philadelphia as an adult, Benjamin Franklin enjoyed a lifelong association with printing. In addition to the Pennsylvania Gazette and "Poor Richard's Almanack," his presses also printed a wide range of materials, such as government pamphlets, religious tracts, currency and books.
Benjamin Franklin, Scientist
The stamp image honoring Franklin as a scientist includes a whimsical 19th-century Currier and Ives lithograph depicting Franklin and his son performing the legendary electricity experiment with a kite; a page from Franklin's 1769 volume "Experiments and Observations on Electricity" depicting water spouts and a "magic square"; a schematic drawing of Franklin's "three-wheeled clock" from the late 18th-century book "Select Mechanical Exercises" by James Ferguson; and a depiction of Franklin at a writing desk from a mural by Charles Elliott Mills at the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology in Boston, MA. The text on the back of the stamp sheet reads:
Remembered for the pursuits he called "philosophical amusements," Benjamin Franklin was intensely curious about natural phenomena. His observations and experiments in areas such as electricity and meteorology resulted in interesting inventions, including a heating stove, the lightning rod and an early electrical battery.
B. Free Franklin, Postmaster
The Continental Congress appointed Franklin as the first United States Postmaster General of the organization known today as the United States Postal Service. The stamp honoring Franklin as a postmaster includes a graphic device used by the "Boston Post-Boy" newspaper during the middle of the eighteenth century; a colonial postal cover from Marlboro, MD., on a 1775 letter to Philadelphia; a colonial-era date postmark; and a late 18th-century painting of Franklin by Charles Wilson Peale after a portrait by David Martin.
Text across the bottom of the stamp reads "B. Free Franklin, Postmaster," a reference to Franklin's personal franking signature. The text on the back of the stamp sheet reads: Benjamin Franklin was vital to the organization of the American postal system, serving as postmaster of Philadelphia and a Deputy Postmaster for the American colonies before being appointed Postmaster General by the Continental Congress in 1775. He marked postage-free letters with his unique personal signature: "B. Free Franklin."
Benjamin Franklin, Statesman
The stamp honoring Franklin as a statesman includes a detail from John Trumbull's famous painting of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, painted between 1786 and 1819; a copy of Franklin's 1754 "Join or Die" political cartoon urging colonial unity; the top of a printed copy of the Declaration of Independence; a pastel portrait of Franklin by Joseph-Siffred Duplessis, painted during the 1780s; and the French side of the 1778 Treaty of Alliance with France, which was negotiated and signed by Franklin. The text on the back of the stamp sheet reads:
Deeply involved in politics and civic life, Benjamin Franklin served in the Continental Congress and signed both the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution. Often considered America's first diplomat, Franklin negotiated an alliance with France and helped to secure a peace treaty with Great Britain.
Since 1775, the Postal Service and its predecessor, the Post Office Department, has connected friends, families, neighbors and businesses by mail. It is an independent federal agency that visits 144 million homes and businesses every day, six days a week and is the only service provider delivering to every address in the nation. The Postal Service receives no taxpayer dollars for routine operations, but derives its operating revenues solely from the sale of postage, products and services. With annual revenues of more than $69 billion, it is the world's leading provider of mailing and delivery services, offering some of the most affordable postage rates in the world. The Postal Service delivers more than half of the world's mail volume - some 212 billion letters, advertisements, periodicals and packages a year - and serves seven and a half million customers each day at its 37,000 retail locations nationwide. Its website, usps.com, attracts more than 21 million visitors each month.