Card for USPS First-day-of-issue ceremony for Emancipation Proclamation stamp
date: label: Date
content: 2013
name: label: Issued by
content: United States Postal Service, American, founded 1775
label: Designed by
content: Gail Anderson, American, born 1962
label: Subject of
content: President Abraham Lincoln, American, 1809 - 1865
notes: label: Caption
content: Gail Anderson is a New York based designer and partner at Anderson Newton Design. Since 1987, Anderson has worked in the field of design at design firms, advertising agencies, and publications. Her work has received awards from major design organizations, including the Society of Publication Designers and the American Institute of Graphic Arts (AIGA). In 2008 she received a Lifetime Achievement Medal from the AIGA. Anderson currently works as Creative Director at the School of Visual Arts Press and is on the Citizen Stamp Advisory Committee for the US Post Office. In 2013, the US Postal Service commissioned Anderson to design the commemorative stamp for the sesquicentennial of the Emancipation Proclamation. Anderson was only the second African American designer tapped to design a commemorative stamp, the first being Georg Olden who designed the Proclamation’s 100th anniversary stamp in 1963.
label: Description
content: This is an envelope (a) and insert (b) from the United States Postal Service celebrating the First-Day-Of-Issue Ceremony for the Emancipation Proclamation Forever Stamp. The envelope (a) is a rectangular white envelope with a straight-edge fold over the opening. The front has blue and red text in the lower left corner that reads “FIRST-DAY-OF-ISSUE / CEREMONY /UNITED STATES POSTAL SERVICE.” Above and below the text are parallel red lines at a slant. In the lower right corner is blue text that reads “Celebrate the / Art of Stamps / United States Postal Service.” Next to “United States Postal Service” is the Post Office logo in blue. In the upper right quadrant of the envelope is text stamped in black ink. It reads “First Day of Issue / EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION / January 1, 2013 * Washington, DC 20066 / FREEDOM.” Above the first line are three stars with a line of diamond shapes on either side. They form a decorative border on either side of “First Day of Issue.” There is a double line border on either side of the word “Freedom”. In the envelope’s upper right corner is a Forever stamp. The stamp has an off-white background and is covered in text in black and red ink that reads [HENCEFORWARD / SHALL BE / FREE / EMANCIPATION / PROCLAMATION / ABRAHAM LINCOLN / ***1863*** / FOREVER*** USA]. The phrase “Shall be free” and the name “Abraham Lincoln” are in red, the rest of the text is in black ink. The back of the envelope is blank. The insert’s (b) front has a black and white copy of the 1864 painting Lincoln’s Cabinet by Francis Bicknell Carpenter in the upper top third of the page. The rest of the page has a background in an off-white color with faint cursive writing, reminiscent of an old document. Superimposed over this background is black and red text. The text reads “EMANCIPATION PROCLAMATION / Emancipation Proclamation Reading and / Commemorative Stamp First-Day-of-Issue / Ceremony / Tuesday, January 1, 2013 – 9:00a.m. / National Archives Building, Washington, DC.” Below this text is a list of the officials present at the ceremony, organized into two columns. At the bottom left corner of the insert is the blue post office logo next to text “UNITED STATES / POSTAL SERVICE.” In the lower right corner is the light grey logo for the National Archives. The back of the insert has a white background with dense black text regarding the Emancipation Proclamation and how the design of the 2013 stamp honors its legacy. The top half of the page has the words EMANCIPATION / PROCLAMATION “ in large black text between two horizontal red lines.
place: label: Place depicted
content: United States, North and Central America
topic: label: Topic
content: African American
label: Topic
content: Advertising
label: Topic
content: Art
label: Topic
content: Design
label: Topic
content: Emancipation
label: Topic
content: Government
label: Topic
content: Graphic design
label: Topic
content: U.S. History, Civil War, 1861-1865
setName: label: See more items in
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture Collection
label: Classification
content: Decorative Arts, Craft, and Design
label: Classification
content: Memorabilia and Ephemera - Advertisements
creditLine: label: Credit Line
content: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of Gail Anderson
dataSource: label: Data Source
content: National Museum of African American History and Culture
identifier: label: Object number
content: 2020.11.38.1ab
objectType: label: Type
content: envelopes
label: Type
content: programs
objectRights: label: Restrictions & Rights
content: © United States Postal Service
label: Restrictions & Rights
content: Permission required for use. Proper usage is the responsibility of the user.
physicalDescription: label: Medium
content: ink on paper (fiber product) with adhesive
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (1a): 6 × 9 in. (15.3 × 22.8 cm)
label: Dimensions
content: H x W (1b): 8 1/2 × 5 1/2 in. (21.6 × 13.9 cm)