20c Eleanor Roosevelt stamp

The 20-cent commemorative stamp honoring Eleanor Roosevelt was issued October 11, 1984, at Hyde Park, New York. The First Day Ceremony was held at Val-Kill, where Mrs. Roosevelt resided during the last years of her life.

Eleanor Roosevelt, wife of President Franklin D. Roosevelt, had a long and distinguished career of public service centering around the United Nations and human rights causes. During her husband's four terms in the White House, she became the country's most active first lady, fighting for measures to aid minorities and the underprivileged.

Following President Roosevelt's death in 1945, Mrs. Roosevelt was appointed a member of the US delegation to the United Nations and was instrumental in drafting the U.N. Declaration of Human Rights. She resigned from this post in 1952 but was reappointed in 1961. Mrs. Roosevelt remained active in public service until her death in 1962.

The stamp, which was designed by Bradbury Thompson of Riverside, Connecticut, featured a likeness of Mrs. Roosevelt modeled after a photograph taken by her physician, Dr. A. David Gurewitsch.

Bradbury was also the typographer and art director; modeler was Frank J. Waslick; engravers were Thomas R. Hipschen (vignette) and Robert G. Culin, Sr. (lettering). The intaglio process was used. The stamps were issued in panes of forty-eight.

Reference: Postal Bulletin (September 6, 1984).

Scott Catalogue USA: 2105
mint

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Museum ID: 1999.2004.375