Symbols of the Season

A new tradition for the holidays

It was September 1962, and the Post Office Department needed some stamp art fast. The decision had just been made to grant the public’s request for a first-ever holiday stamp — something festive to adorn Christmas cards and other holiday packages. The stamp was supposed to debut in November, so time was precious.

Jim Crawford, then head of the art department, quickly sketched a wreath, candles and “Christmas 1962.” He asked specialists at the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (then in charge of printing stamps) to make sure that everything was spaced appropriately for the stamp size, since he’d been working too quickly to space it himself. The engravers, however, assumed that the stamp design given to them was ready for printing. So, it printed — cramped typography and all. This gaffe bothered Crawford for years.

Regardless, the stamp was quite successful. Initially, the Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) printed 350 million stamps — the largest number for a special stamp at that time — and they sold out quickly. The first stamps were printed as panes of 100. Due to overwhelming sales and demand, the BEP then reprinted the stamps. Their use of shorter paper for the reprints resulted in the creation of rare panes of 90 stamps.

By the end of the year, 1 billion stamps had been printed and a new holiday tradition was born.

‘Tis the season for controversy

Of course, the success of the first — and future — holiday stamps wasn’t without controversy. In 1962 a quirky postal regulation allowed people to mail unsealed envelopes at a 3-cent rate. The Post Office Department had created its first holiday stamp at the standard 4-cent rate, however, without drawing attention to the fact that people would be paying more to mail their unsealed holiday cards.

And then there were the complaints that the religious origins of Christmas had been ignored, so the first Madonna and Child artwork appeared on a holiday stamp in 1966. Protests soon arose from the American Civil Liberties Union and the American Jewish Congress. The group Protestants and Other Americans United for Separation of Church and State even initiated a lawsuit, claiming that the design had a pro-Roman Catholic bias. The case fell through, but since 1970, the Postal Service has consistently issued two categories of holiday stamps: contemporary and religious.

For the most part, religious holiday stamps have been reproductions of existing masterpieces picturing the Madonna and Child. Doing so has allowed the Postal Service to bring the work of ancient masters into the public eye. One obvious exception is the 1977 Washington at Valley Forge stamp, issued during America’s bicentennial celebration and featuring J.C. Leyendecker’s image of George Washington kneeling in prayer.

Holiday stamps, despite the controversy over artwork, were initially produced because they could generate solid revenue. Requests for such a stamp had been pouring in for years, so the Postal Service knew there was an immediate market. In addition, with millions of Christmas cards mailed every year, it made a lot of financial sense to create a mail-use stamp specifically for them. But the lawsuit in 1966 changed the idea of holiday stamps from a business decision to a cultural expression.

Special stamps, special sizes

In 1986, the Postal Service thought it was making a budget-savvy move when it began issuing holiday stamps in definitive (instead of commemorative) size — printing twice as many stamps for the same price. But the public wasn’t happy. They complained the size was too small to adequately display the design and that the numbers and typography were hard to read. The Postal Service and the BEP developed a new size: 50-percent larger than regular definitive stamps. Moving forward, all special-issuance stamps, including the Love series, would fall within these size parameters.

Other special holidays

 In 1996 the Postal Service issued its first Hanukkah stamp, with artwork by Hannah Smotrich. Israel loved the stamp design so much that Israeli postal officials decided to reproduce it themselves — a surprise joint issue. Usually, joint issuances are joint decisions: The two groups reach agreements before the stamps are designed. But in this case, the U.S. stamp was reproduced almost exactly, except for the country designation under the denomination. (Ironically, the American public thought that the first Hanukkah stamp design looked more like a birthday stamp, because the candles weren’t part of an official menorah.)

Since this first stamp design, the Hanukkah stamp has been redesigned twice: in 2004 and then, most recently, in October 2009.

After receiving letters from both the public and the creator of Kwanzaa, Dr. Maulana Karenga, the Postal Service issued its first Kwanzaa stamp in 1997. Creating the artwork was artist Synthia St. James, whose book The Gifts of Kwanzaa was also released in 1997. New Kwanzaa stamps were issued in 2004 and then again in October 2009.

Perhaps the most controversial special holiday stamp is Eid, which was first issued September 1, 2001. The stamp, which features the work of calligrapher Mohamed Zakariya, honors the two most important festivals in the Islamic calendar. Although the stamp had been in the works for three years before its release, the Postal Service received letters of protest in 2001 and from time-to-time still receives strong complaints relating to the stamp. Eid, however, is the holiday stamp that’s resulted in the most thank-you letters — largely from members of the American Muslim community.

Continuing the tradition

The stamps in the holiday series continue to be much-anticipated releases each year, gracing both holiday cards and collectors’ albums. Check out the galleries where you can see stamps from 1962 to present day.