Object Details
Description
On March 31, 2010, in Santa Fe, New Mexico, the Postal Service issued a 44-cent stamp commemorating Bill Mauldin, one of America's favorite cartoonists. During World War II, readers got a knowing laugh from Mauldin's characters Willie and Joe, who gave their civilian audience an idea of what life was like for soldiers. After the war, Mauldin became a popular and influential editorial cartoonist.
Terrence W. McCaffrey, art director of the US Postal Service, designed the stamp. McCaffrey chose to honor Mauldin through a combination of photography and an example of Mauldin's art. John Phillips, a photographer for Life magazine, took the photograph of Bill Mauldin in Italy on December 31, 1943. Mauldin's cartoon, showing characters Willie and Joe, is used courtesy of the 45th Infantry Division Museum in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma.
Ashton Potter printed 20 million stamps using the offset process with microprint 'USPS,' issuing them in a pressure-sensitive pane of twenty stamps.
Reference: Postal Bulletin (February 25, 2010)
Credit line
Copyright United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.
Date
March 31, 2010
Object number
2010.2009.73
Type
Postage Stamps
Medium
paper; ink / lithographed
Place
United States of America
See more items in
National Postal Museum Collection
Data Source
National Postal Museum
Topic
Art & Photography
U.S. Stamps
Link to Original Record
Record ID
npm_2010.2009.73