About This Stamp
Commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Presidential Libraries Act of 1955, the U.S. Postal Service honors Presidential Libraries and their place in American history with this 2005 stamp issuance. Built through private funds and maintained and operated by the National Archives and Records Administration, libraries in the Presidential Library system come into being after a President leaves office, at which point all administration papers fall under the stewardship of the Archivist of the United States. There are currently 11 libraries in the Presidential Library system, which house the materials generated during the administrations of Presidents Herbert Hoover, Franklin Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Dwight Eisenhower, John Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson, Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Ronald Reagan, George H. W. Bush, and Bill Clinton. In late 2005, a 12th library was added when the Richard M. Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda, California, became part of the Presidential Library system.
The Postal Service chose the Seal of the President of the United States to feature on the Presidential Libraries stamp. In keeping with a true democracy, the honor of using the seal attaches to the office and not to the individual. For a brief time, elected Presidents are charged with the weighty responsibility of using the seal wisely. Just as the library does, the seal testifies to a President’s legacy, and it is affixed to the most important documents in the libraries’ collections.
Art Director & Designer
Howard E. Paine
A member of the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee before being named an art director in 1981, Howard E. Paine supervised the design of more than 400 U.S. postage stamps. After three decades as an art director for the U.S. Postal Service, he retired in 2011.
For more than 30 years Paine was an art director for the National Geographic Society, where he redesigned National Geographic magazine, developed the children’s magazine, National Geographic World, and designed Explorers Hall. A popular lecturer, he has spoken at Yale University and New York University, among others, and presented programs for the National Park Service and the Smithsonian Institution. A judge for numerous art shows and design competitions, Paine also taught magazine design at The George Washington University.
Paine had been a stamp collector since childhood. In 2000, he designed the catalog for Pushing The Envelope: The Art of the Postage Stamp, an exhibit of original stamp art at the Norman Rockwell Museum in Stockbridge, Massachusetts.
Howard Paine died on September 13, 2014.