About This Stamp
In 2023, the U.S. Postal Service issued Patriotic Block, a nondenominated, nonprofit-price stamp intended for bulk mailings by authorized nonprofit organizations and sold in self-adhesive coils of 3,000 and 10,000.
This stamp displays the components of the American flag — the stars and stripes — arranged in a four-quadrant block on a white background. The two identical quadrants at the top left and bottom right contain a white star on a blue field. The other two each hold three red stripes, which run vertically in the top right quadrant and horizontally in the bottom left.
Flags flown during the American colonial period often featured the British “Union Jack.” As resistance to British control grew, though, flags occasionally displayed symbols that announced a distinctively American identity, such as pine trees or snakes. Stars were scarce. During the War for Independence, the Continental Army sometimes carried a banner that featured horizontal red and white stripes, with a small version of the Union Jack in the upper left corner but no stars. The Continental Colors, as it was known, was also used on garrisons and as a naval ensign for the emerging nation.
On June 14, 1777, almost a year after it adopted the Declaration of Independence, the Continental Congress chose a design for the new country’s first flag. It resolved that “the Flag of the thirteen United States shall be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the Union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation.” The new flag thus recognized both the 13 separate states and their union. Over the years, many stories have been told about the significance of the colors and of the stars and stripes, but scholars haven’t found enough evidence to support any of them.
Carol Beehler designed the stamp with art direction by Antonio Alcalá.
Stamp Art Director
Antonio Alcalá
Antonio Alcalá served on the Postmaster General’s Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee from 2010 until 2011, when he left to become an art director for the U.S. Postal Service's stamp development program.
He is founder and co-owner of Studio A, a design practice working with museums and arts institutions. His clients include: the National Gallery of Art, Library of Congress, National Portrait Gallery, National Museum of Women in the Arts, The Phillips Collection, and Smithsonian Institution. He also lectures at colleges including the Corcoran College of Art + Design, SVA, Pratt, and MICA.
In 2008, his work and contributions to the field of graphic design were recognized with his selection as an AIGA Fellow. He has judged international competitions for the Society of Illustrators, American Illustration, AIGA, and Graphis. Alcalá also serves on the Smithsonian National Postal Museum and Poster House Museum’s advisory councils. His designs are represented in the AIGA Design Archives, the National Postal Museum, and the Library of Congress Permanent Collection of Graphic Design.
Alcalá graduated from Yale University with a BA in history and from the Yale School of Art with an MFA in graphic design. He lives with his wife in Alexandria, Virginia.
Stamp Designer
Carol Beehler
Graphic artist Carol Beehler specializes in the design of books, catalogues, magazines, brochures, and exhibition-related materials.
With a degree in graphic design from the Rhode Island School of Design, Beehler worked for many years at the Smithsonian Institution, first as a book designer at the Smithsonian Institution Press and then as art director for publications at the Freer and Sackler Galleries. She has also operated her own design practice and worked at Studio A, a graphic design firm in Alexandria, Virginia.
Beehler lives in Bethesda, Maryland, with her family. She has designed two stamps for the U.S. Postal Service: the 2023 Patriotic Block Nonprofit Org stamp and the 2024 Radiant Star Presorted Standard stamp.