The history of women on US stamps begins in 1893, when Queen Isabella became the first woman on a US stamp. [1] Queen Isabella helped support Christopher Columbus's 1492 voyage, and 1893 marked the end of a year-long celebration of the 400th anniversary of that voyage. [1] [2] The first US stamp honoring an American woman honored Martha Washington, and it was issued in 1902. [3] [4] In 1907, Pocahontas became the first Native American woman (and the first Native American) to be honored on a US stamp. [5] In 1978, Harriet Tubman became the first African-American woman to be honored on a US stamp. [6] In 2001, Frida Kahlo became the first Hispanic woman to be honored on a US stamp, though she was Mexican not American. [7] [8]
Groups of women have also been honored on US stamps, for example Gold Star Mothers (1948) and "Women In Our Armed Services" (1952). [9] [10]
There are also generic, unnamed women who appear on US stamps, such as a woman marching with men for the National Recovery Act (1933). [11]
US stamps have also depicted female goddesses and allegories, such as personifications of liberty. [11]
This section needs expansion. You can help by adding to it. (November 2016) |
This list can be expanded with women stamps from here [12]
Women | Year | Notable for |
---|---|---|
Isabella I of Castile | 1893 | Queen of Spain and patron of Christopher Columbus |
Martha Washington | 1902, 1923, 1938 | First First Lady of the United States |
Pocahontas | 1907 | The Powhatan princess who saved the life of Captain John Smith |
Molly Pitcher | 1928 | The nickname of a woman, whose identity is not definitively known, who is said to have fought in the American Revolutionary War |
Susan B. Anthony | 1936, 1955 | American feminist, social reformer, and civil rights activist |
Virginia Dare | 1937 | First European child born on American soil |
Louisa May Alcott | 1940 | American author, best known for writing Little Women and Little Men |
Frances Willard | 1940 | American educator, reformer, lecturer, and women's suffrage supporter |
Jane Addams | 1940 | American social worker and reformer, the founder of Hull House in Chicago, a social welfare center |
Clara Barton | 1948, 1995 | Founder of the American Red Cross |
Juliette Gordon Low | 1948 | Founder of the Girl Scouts of the USA |
Moina Michael | 1948 | Initiated the Veterans of Foreign Wars fundraising drive selling red poppies in 1915 |
Betsy Ross | 1952 | American upholsterer credited with creating the first official flag of the United States |
Sacagawea | 1954, 1994 | Shoshone guide who assisted the Lewis and Clark Expedition of 1804 |
Amelia Earhart | 1963 | American pilot, first woman to fly solo nonstop across the Atlantic Ocean |
Eleanor Roosevelt | 1963, 1984, 1998 | American diplomat, writer, social reformer, and First Lady of the United States |
Mary Cassatt | 1966, 1988, 1998 | American painter best known for her works of mothers and children |
Lucy Stone | 1968 | Nineteenth century abolitionist and women's rights leader |
Grandma Moses | 1969 | American painter who took up painting at the age of 76 |
Emily Dickinson | 1971 | American poet who wrote more than 1,700 poems |
Willa Cather | 1973 | American novelist |
Elizabeth Blackwell | 1973 | American physician, the first female physician in the U.S. |
Sybil Ludington | 1975 | American-born heroine of the American Revolutionary War |
Clara Maass | 1976 | American nurse best known for having died as a volunteer for yellow fever medical experiments |
Harriet Tubman | 1978, 1995 | American abolitionist and social activist who was part of the Underground Railroad |
Emily Bissell | 1980 | American social worker and activist best known for introducing Christmas Seals to the United States |
Helen Keller | 1980 | American author and disability rights advocate |
Anne Sullivan | 1980 | American teacher best known for being the instructor and lifelong companion of Helen Keller |
Dolley Madison | 1980 | First Lady of the United States |
Frances Perkins | 1980 | American workers-rights advocate and fourth United States Secretary of Labor, the first female to hold a cabinet-level position in the United States government |
Edith Wharton | 1980 | American novelist best known for her novels Ethan Frome and The Age of Innocence |
Rachel Carson | 1981 | American marine biologist, writer, and conservationist, best known for writing Silent Spring in advance of the environmental movement |
Edna St. Vincent Millay | 1981 | American poet |
Babe Didrikson Zaharias | 1981 | American multi-sport athlete |
Mary Walker | 1982 | American abolitionist, prohibitionist, prisoner of war, and surgeon, the only woman to receive the Medal of Honor |
Dorothea Dix | 1983 | American advocate for the indigent mentally ill |
Pearl S. Buck | 1983 | American writer and novelist, best known for the novel, The Good Earth |
Lillian Moller Gilbreth | 1984 | American psychologist and industrial engineer, a pioneer in the field of time-and-motion studies |
Abigail Adams | 1985 | First Lady of the United States |
Mary McLeod Bethune | 1985 | American educator, social activist, and founder of the Daytona Educational and Industrial Training School for Negro Girls, now known as Bethune-Cookman College |
Belva Ann Lockwood | 1986 | American politician, the first female candidate for President of the United States |
Margaret Mitchell | 1986 | American novelist and journalist, best known for the novel Gone with the Wind |
Sojourner Truth | 1986 | Born Isabella Baumfree, she was the first black woman to speak publicly against slavery. |
Julia Ward Howe | 1987 | Composer of "The Battle Hymn of the Republic". |
Mary Lyon | 1987 | Education pioneer who founded Mount Holyoke College. |
Evelyn Nesbit | 1989 | American chorus girl, artists' model, actress and controversial historical figure. |
Helene Madison | 1990 | A gold medalist in the 1932 Olympic Games in swimming. |
Marianne Moore | 1990 | Poet who won the Pulitzer Prize in 1951 for her Collected Poems. |
Ida B. Wells | 1990 | Civil rights activist who cofounded the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People. |
Hazel Hotchkiss Wightman | 1990 | Olympic gold medalist credited with doing more to build American and international women's tennis than any other player. |
Fanny Brice | 1991 | Singer and comedian who created the "Baby Snooks" radio character. |
Harriet Quimby | 1991 | First American woman pilot to fly the English Channel. |
Dorothy Parker | 1992 | Poet and short story writer |
Patsy Cline | 1993 | Popular American country singer |
Sara Carter and Maybelle Carter of the Carter Family | 1993 | Pioneers of American country music |
Grace Kelly | 1993 | American film actress |
Dinah Washington | 1993 | "Queen of the Blues" |
Clara Bow | 1994 | Silent film actress |
ZaSu Pitts | 1994 | Silent film actress |
Theda Bara | 1994 | Silent film actresse |
Nellie Cashman | 1994 | The "Angel of Tombstone", an anti-violence advocate who raised orphans and campaigned against public hanging |
Ethel Waters | 1994 | American jazz, swing, and pop singer and actress |
Bessie Smith | 1994 | American blues singer |
Billie Holiday | 1994 | American jazz and swing singer |
Mildred Bailey | 1994 | Native American jazz singer |
Ethel Merman | 1994 | American actress and singer of musical comedy |
Annie Oakley | 1994 | American sharpshooter |
Virginia Apgar | 1994 | Doctor who developed a newborn assessment method |
Ruth Benedict | 1995 | American anthropologist |
Mary Boykin Chesnut | 1995 | American Civil War author |
Phoebe Pember | 1995 | American nurse and hospital administrator for Confederate States military hospital |
Bessie Coleman | 1995 | First woman to earn an international pilot's license |
Alice Hamilton | 1995 | Pioneer in industrial medicine |
Marilyn Monroe | 1995 | American film actor |
Alice Paul | 1995 | Founder of National Women's Party and author of the Equal Rights Amendment |
Jacqueline Cochran | 1996 | Pioneer pilot who had more than 200 aviation records, firsts, and awards. She was the first woman to break the sound barrier |
Georgia O'Keeffe | 1996, 2013 | American-born abstract painter |
Dorothy Fields | 1996 | Popular songwriter of the 1920s and 1930s. She wrote the words for "On the Sunny Side of the Street" |
Lily Pons | 1997 | French-American operatic soprano and actress |
Rosa Ponselle | 1997 | American operatic soprano |
Women in the military | 1997 | This stamp honored the nearly 2 million women have served and are serving in the U.S. armed forces |
Mary Breckinridge | 1998 | Founder of the Frontier Nursing Service |
Mahalia Jackson | 1998 | American gospel singer |
Roberta Martin | 1998 | American gospel composer, singer, pianist, arranger, and choral organizer |
Sister Rosetta Tharpe | 1998 | American singer and guitarist |
Clara Ward | 1998 | American gospel singers |
Margaret Mead | 1998 | Famous anthropologist who studied child rearing, personality, and culture, mainly in the South Pacific |
Madam C. J. Walker | 1998 | African American who became one of the wealthiest women in the 1910s by developing and selling hair care products |
Ayn Rand | 1999 | Author of the novels The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged |
Patricia Roberts Harris | 2000 | Lawyer and political adviser; in 1977 she became the first African American woman named to a presidential cabinet |
Louise Nevelson | 2000 | Twentieth-century American sculptor who worked with wood, metals, and found objects |
Hattie Wyatt Caraway | 2001 | First woman elected to U.S. Senate |
Rose O'Neill | 2001 | American illustrator |
Lucille Ball | 1999, 2001, 2009 | American comedian and actress |
Frida Kahlo | 2001 | Mexican artist |
Nellie Bly | 2002 | American journalist best known for her 72-day trip around the globe |
Marguerite Higgins | 2002 | American reporter and war correspondent |
Ethel L. Payne | 2002 | American journalist, editor, and foreign correspondent |
Ida Tarbell | 2002 | American writer, journalist, and lecturer, famous as a muckraking reporter of the late 19th and early 20th centuries |
Zora Neale Hurston | 2003 | African American novelist in the Harlem Renaissance |
Audrey Hepburn | 2003 | Film actress and goodwill ambassador for UNICEF |
Mary Cassatt | 1988, 2003 | American artist known for her portraits of motherhood |
Agnes Lee and her daughter Peggy | 2002 | American author and, with her daughter, the subject of a photograph by American photographer Gertrude Käsebier featured on a US postage stamp |
Florence Owens Thompson | 1998 | American depression-era woman who was the subject of a photograph by American photographer Dorothea Lange entitled "Migrant Mother" which was featured on a US postage stamp |
Ida Pabst | 2002 | Daughter-in-law of Frederick Pabst (the German-American brewer for whom Pabst Brewing Company was named) and the subject of a portrait by American photographer Imogen Cunningham which was featured on a US postage stamp |
Agnes de Mille | 2004 | American dancer and choreographer |
Martha Graham | 2004 | American modern dancer and choreographer |
Wilma Rudolph | 2004 | Track and field star |
Marian Anderson | 2005 | Opera singer who was the first African-American to sing at the Metropolitan Opera |
Greta Garbo | 2005 | Actress of the silver screen |
Hattie McDaniel | 2006 | Singer and actress who was the first African-American to win an Oscar |
Frances E. Willis | 2006 | Diplomat |
Judy Garland | 2006 | Actress and singer, star of The Wizard of Oz |
Ella Fitzgerald | 2007 | Jazz singer |
Gerty Cori | 2008 | Biochemist |
Maria Goeppert Mayer | 2008 | Nuclear physicist |
Bette Davis | 2008 | American actress |
Martha Gellhorn | 2008 | Journalist who covered the Spanish Civil War, World War II, and the Vietnam War |
Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings | 2008 | Pulitzer Prize-winning author of The Yearling |
Mary Church Terrell | 2009 | Civil rights and women's rights activist |
Mary White Ovington | 2009 | Civil rights activist |
Daisy Bates | 2009 | Civil rights activist |
Fannie Lou Hamer | 2009 | Civil rights activist |
Ella Baker | 2009 | Civil rights activist |
Ruby Hurley | 2009 | Civil rights activist |
Mary Lasker | 2009 | Health activist and philanthropist |
Anna J. Cooper | 2009 | African-American scholar |
Vivian Vance | 2009 | American actress and singer |
Dinah Shore | 2009 | American singer, actress, and television personality |
Fran Allison | 2009 | American comedian, singer, and TV and radio personality |
Gracie Allen | 2009 | American vaudevillian, singer, actress, and comedian |
Harriet Nelson | 2009 | American singer and actress |
Katharine Hepburn | 2010 | American actress |
Kate Smith | 2010 | American contralto singer |
Mother Teresa | 2010 | Albanian-born Indian Catholic nun canonized as a Catholic saint in 2016, best known for her life devoted to charitable work |
Julia de Burgos | 2010 | Puerto Rican pro-independence poet |
Carmen Miranda | 2011 | Portuguese-born Brazilian-American samba singer, dancer, and actress |
Selena | 2011 | American Tejano singer |
Celia Cruz | 2011 | Cuban-American singer |
Oveta Culp Hobby | 2011 | First secretary of the US Department of Health, Education and Welfare, first commanding officer of the Women's Army Corps |
Helen Hayes | 2011 | American actress |
Maria Goeppert Mayer | 2011 | German-born American theoretical physicist |
Greta von Nessen | 2011 | Swedish-born American industrial designer |
Barbara Jordan | 2011 | American politician and a leader of the Civil Rights Movement |
Elizabeth Bishop | 2012 | American poet and short-story author |
Gwendolyn Brooks | 2012 | American poet, author, and teacher |
Denise Levertov | 2012 | British-born American poet |
Sylvia Plath | 2012 | American poet and author |
Édith Piaf | 2012 | French singer |
Isadora Duncan | 2012 | American dancer and choreographer |
Katherine Dunham | 2012 | American dancer and choreographer |
Lady Bird Johnson | 2012 | First Lady of the United States |
Rosa Parks | 2013 | Civil rights activist |
Lydia Mendoza | 2013 | Latin music legend |
Althea Gibson | 2013 | Tennis player |
Shirley Chisholm | 2014 | Politician - first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Congress |
Janis Joplin | 2014 | Singer and songwriter |
Julia Child | 2014 | Chef, author, television personality |
Joyce Chen | 2014 | Chef, author, television personality |
Edna Lewis | 2014 | Chef, author |
Maya Angelou | 2015 | Poet, author and civil rights activist |
Flannery O'Connor | 2015 | Writer |
Ingrid Bergman | 2015 | Actress |
Sarah Vaughan | 2016 | Singer |
Shirley Temple | 2016 | Actress, later businesswoman and diplomat |
Dorothy Height | 2017 | Civil rights and women's rights activist |
Lena Horne | 2018 | Singer, dancer, actress and civil rights activist |
Sally Ride | 2018 | Astronaut, engineer, physicist |
Gwen Ifill | 2020 | Journalist; first African-American woman to host a major political talk show: PBS's "Washington Week in Review" in 1999 [13] |
Chien-Shiung Wu | 2021 | Nuclear physicist |
Edmonia Lewis | 2022 | Sculptor; first African-American and Native American sculptor to earn international recognition [14] |
Eugenie Clark | 2022 | American ichthyologist |
Nancy Reagan | 2022 | First Lady of the United States |
Anna McNeill Whistler | 1934 | Mother of American-born painter James Abbott McNeill Whistler |
Blanche Scott | 1980 | Inventor and pioneering aviator |
Ethel Barrymore | 1982 | American film actress |
Lila Acheson Wallace | 1998 | American magazine publisher and philanthropist; co-founder of Reader's Digest |
Lynn Fontanne | 1999 | English actress |
Neysa McMein | 2001 | American illustrator and portrait painter |
Enda Ferber | 2002 | American author of novels, short stories, and plays |
Barbara McClintock | 2005 | American genetecist |
Katherine Anne Porter | 2006 | American author and journalist |
Margaret Chase Smith | 2007 | American Congresswoman and Senator from Maine, the first woman to serve in both houses of the US Congress |
Harriet Beecher Stowe | 2007 | American author and abolitionist, best known for writing Uncle Tom's Cabin |
Josephine Baker | 2008 | American-born French dancer, singer, and actress |
Philately is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps. For instance, the stamps being studied may be very rare or reside only in museums.
A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage. Then the stamp is affixed to the face or address-side of any item of mail—an envelope or other postal cover —which they wish to send. The item is then processed by the postal system, where a postmark or cancellation mark—in modern usage indicating date and point of origin of mailing—is applied to the stamp and its left and right sides to prevent its reuse. Next the item is delivered to its addressee.
Stamp collecting is the collecting of postage stamps and related objects. It is an area of philately, which is the study of stamps. It has been one of the world's most popular hobbies since the late nineteenth century with the rapid growth of the postal service, as a stream of new stamps was produced by countries that sought to advertise their distinctiveness through their stamps.
The postal and philatelic history of Canada concerns postage of the territories which have formed Canada. Before Canadian confederation, the colonies of British Columbia and Vancouver Island, Prince Edward Island, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick and Newfoundland issued stamps in their own names. The postal history falls into four major periods: French control (1604–1763), British control (1763–1841), colonial government control (1841–1867), and Canada, since 1867.
Postal service in the United States began with the delivery of stampless letters whose cost was borne by the receiving person, later encompassed pre-paid letters carried by private mail carriers and provisional post offices, and culminated in a system of universal prepayment that required all letters to bear nationally issued adhesive postage stamps.
Indian postal systems for efficient military and governmental communications had developed long before the arrival of Europeans. When the Portuguese, Dutch, French, Danish and British conquered the Marathas who had already defeated the Mughals, their postal systems existed alongside those of many somewhat independent states. The British East India Company gradually annexed the other powers on the sub-continent and brought into existence a British administrative system over most of modern-day India, with a need to establish and maintain both official and commercial mail systems.
A commemorative stamp is a postage stamp, often issued on a significant date such as an anniversary, to honor or commemorate a place, event, person, or object. The subject of the commemorative stamp is usually spelled out in print, unlike definitive stamps which normally depict the subject along with the denomination and country name only. Many postal services issue several commemorative stamps each year, sometimes holding first day of issue ceremonies at locations connected with the subjects. Commemorative stamps can be used alongside ordinary stamps. Unlike definitive stamps that are often reprinted and sold over a prolonged period of time for general usage, commemorative stamps are usually printed in limited quantities and sold for a much shorter period of time, usually, until supplies run out.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Cuba.
The Columbian Issue, also known as the Columbians, is a set of 16 postage stamps issued by the United States to commemorate the World's Columbian Exposition held in Chicago during 1893. The finely-engraved stamps were the first commemorative stamps issued by the United States, depicting various events during the career of Christopher Columbus and are presently much valued by collectors.
The postage stamps and postal history of Israel is a survey of the postage stamps issued by the state of Israel, and its postal history, since independence was proclaimed on May 14, 1948. The first postage stamps were issued two days later on May 16, 1948. Pre-1948 postal history is discussed in postage stamps and postal history of Palestine.
The Stamp Specialist is the title of a series of books on philatelic research written and edited for the advanced collector of postage stamps.
August Dietz was a philatelist, editor and publisher, who specialized in the study of mail and postal history of the Confederate States of America.
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of the Philippines.
Presidents of the United States have frequently appeared on U.S. postage stamps since the mid-19th century. The United States Post Office Department released its first two postage stamps in 1847, featuring George Washington on one, and Benjamin Franklin on the other. The advent of presidents on postage stamps has been definitive to U.S. postage stamp design since the first issues were released and set the precedent that U.S. stamp designs would follow for many generations.
The postal history of Puerto Rico began around 1518, at least for official mail, when Spain adopted general postal regulations; although the first documentation of Spanish postal regulations specific to the Caribbean was 1794. The first postage stamps were issued 168 years ago for Puerto Rico and Cuba in 1856. Postage stamps just for Puerto Rico followed, and later postal cards and telegraph stamps were issued. United States postal administration began in 1899 and the last stamps specifically for Puerto Rico were issued in 1900. They were superseded by U.S. stamps, which are still used today on the island as it remains a territory serviced by the United States Postal Service (USPS).
This is a survey of the postage stamps and postal history of Hawaii.
Puerto Rico topics have been featured on the stamps of Spain and of the United States. Spanish stamps are found at Postage stamps and postal history of Puerto Rico.
The history of Virginia through the colonial period on into contemporary times has been depicted and commemorated on postage stamps accounting for many important personalities, places and events involving the nation's history. Themes are particularly rich in early American and new nation history, historical landmarks, and Virginia-born presidents.
World Stamp Show-NY 2016 was an international exhibition of stamp collecting held at the Jacob K. Javits Convention Center in New York City from May 28 to June 4, 2016. It was the first international stamp show to be held in New York since FIPEX in 1956.