About This Stamp
The United States Postal Service released the 6-cent Wolf Trap Farm Park commemorative stamp on June 26, 1972, in Vienna, Virginia. This stamp covered the mail rate for postcards mailed within the United States to Canada and Mexico. Howard Koslow designed the stamp, of which 104 million were issued.
In 1966, the National Park Service established Wolf Trap Farm Park — now the National Park for the Performing Arts — in Vienna, Virginia, on land donated by Catherine Filene Shouse. Ms. Shouse had owned the property since 1930, having used it for decades as a retreat from the hectic life she lived in the Washington, D.C., area. In 1982, fire destroyed the Filene Center, Wolf Trap's outdoor venue, which the USPS featured on the 1972 stamp.
As early as 1632, according to manuscript records, wolves caused much damage in this region, and settlers offered rewards of tobacco to those who could trap wolves. An official land survey dated 1739 referred to the area as "Wolf Trap," the name used to this day.
Stamp Artist
Howard Koslow
Howard Koslow was commissioned to do paintings that can be seen at the U.S. Air Force Academy, the National Air and Space Museum, and the NASA Art Gallery, Kennedy Space Center, Florida. The National Park Service also commissioned him to create paintings for its historical art collections. Koslow's previous projects for the U.S. Postal Service include eight 1940s Celebrate The Century stamps (1999), four stamps featuring jazz/blues singers Mildred Bailey, Billie Holiday, Jimmy Rushing, and Bessie Smith (1994), and all of the stamps in the Lighthouse series: Mid-Atlantic Coastal Lighthouses (2021), Great Lakes Lighthouses (1995), Southeastern Lighthouses (2003), Pacific Lighthouses (2007), Gulf Coast Lighthouses (2009), and New England Coastal Lighthouses (2013). Koslow also designed a number of stamped cards including Carnegie Hall (1991), Ellis Island (1992), and the National Cathedral (1993). Howard Koslow died on January 25, 2016 at his home in Toms River, New Jersey. He was 91.