| Name | Value |
|---|---|
| Date of Issue | August 8, 2013 |
| Year | 2013 |
| Quantity | 2,500,000 |
| Denomination |
First-Class Forever Commemorative
|
| Denomination Value | $0.46 |
| Perforation or Dimension | 1.225 x 1.56 in./31.12 x 39.62 mm |
| Series | Made in America - Building A Nation |
| Series Time Span | 2013 |
| Issue Location | Washington, DC 20066 |
| Postal Administration | United States |
On August 8, 2013, in Washington, DC, the Postal Service™ will issue Made in America ~ Building a Nation (Forever® priced at 46 cents) First-Class mail® commemorative stamps in 12 designs in a pressure-sensitive adhesive (PSA) pane of 12 stamps. The stamps will go on sale nationwide August 8, 2013.
“The world is moved along, not only by the mighty shoves of its heroes,” social activist Helen Keller wrote in 1908, “but also by the aggregate of the tiny pushes of each honest worker.” The Made in America: Building a Nation stamps honor the courageous workers who helped build our country. Each stamp says "USA | Building a Nation".
The sheet features 12 stamps in three rows of four. Eleven of the 12 stamp images were taken by photographer Lewis Hine, a chronicler of early 20th-century industry.
In the top row are an airplane maker, a derrick man on the Empire State Building, a millinery apprentice, and a man on a hoisting ball on the Empire State Building. In the middle row are a linotyper in a publishing house, a welder on the Empire State Building, a coal miner, and riveters on the Empire State Building. (The coal miner stamp is the only one of the 12 that does not feature a Hine photograph. The image is from the Kansas Historical Society.) In the bottom row are a powerhouse mechanic, a railroad track walker, a textile worker, and a man guiding a beam on the Empire State Building.
There are five different sheets available. Each one contains the same stamps, but is anchored by a different selvage photograph. Three of the five selvage photographs were taken by Hine. The Hine images include two Empire State Building iron workers and a General Electric worker measuring the bearings in a casting. The fourth selvage photograph is the same image of the coal miner that appears in the stamp pane. The final selvage photograph, taken by Margaret Bourke-White, depicts a female welder.
Derry Noyes was the project’s art director and designer. The Made in America: Building a Nation stamps are being issued as Forever® stamps in self-adhesive sheets of 12.