16 National Parks Get Their Own Stamps
Show your love for national parks on your envelopes. Artwork is from existing art or photos such as Art Wolfe’s photo of a bison on the Yellowstone stamp.
Show your love for Yellowstone and other national parks on your envelopes.
On June 2, 2016, the U.S. Postal Service will celebrate our national parks with a first-day-of-issue ceremony for its 16 new national park stamps at the world’s largest stamp show in New York City.
The artwork featuring the 16 national park sites is from existing art or photographs. For instance, Seattle-based photographer Art Wolfe’s image of a bison landed on the Yellowstone stamp.
“Rising at dawn and braving the -30°F temperatures, I was able to catch the first rays of the morning sun,” he told the U.S. Postal Service. “The bitter cold of a long winter’s night had left the animals encased in a mantle of thick frost. I had scouted the area the day before and had seen the herd of bison. They had bedded down there all night and now were standing and trying to shake off the cold as the sun came over the horizon. These are the serendipitous moments I wait for as a photographer.”
The Grand Canyon stamp’s image is from the chromolithograph-on-canvas, “The Grand Canyon of Arizona from Hermit Rim Road” by artist Thomas Moran (1837–1926) from the collection of Grand Canyon National Park in Arizona. Tom Till of Moab, Utah, took the photo at Arches National Park in Utah for the Arches stamp. Grand Teton’s stamp features an oil-on-canvas painting by Albert Bierstadt.
The text on the other side of the 16-stamp page talks about the importance of our national parks.
“Each year, millions of people seek out the more than 400 sites in the national park system, where they find endless opportunities for adventure, education and fun,” it reads. “With the enthusiastic support of visitors, our parks will continue to delight and inspire all Americans and impart a profound legacy for generations to come.”