Commemorative Stamps for 2008

The United States Postal Service has released a list of the commemorative stamps to be released in 2008. Below are the new stamp descriptions and approximate release times.

Bette Davis
Born on April 5, 1908
Died on October 6, 1989

On the 100th anniversary of Bette Davis' birth, the United States Postal Service is honoring her with a commemorative stamp. This will be the 14th stamp in a series called The Legends of Hollywood. Miss Davis is a 10 time Academy Award nominee and a two time winner. Her Best Actress Oscars were for her roles in Dangerous in 1935 and Jezebel in 1938. Miss Davis' birth name was Ruth Elizabeth Davis. The Bette came from Balzac's novel "Cousin Bette."

Flags of Our Nation

A launching of a multi year series will start in 2008. This series will include a 60 stamp set consisting of the Stars and Stripes as well as all the state flags including the District of Columbia and territories. Starting in June, ten stamps will be issued. These stamps will include the Stars and Stripes, and state flags of Alabama, Alaska, American Samoa, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Colorado, Connecticut and Delaware.

In the fall of 2008, a series of stamps with the state flags of District of Columbia, Florida, Georgia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Kansas will be released.

Year of the Rat

Slated to be released in January of 2008 is the Year of the Rat stamp. Chinese, Korean, Vietnamese, Tibetan and Mongolian people around the world will celebrate the Lunar New Year and the Year of the Rat beginning February 7, 2008. The rat is the first of twelve animals associated with the Chinese lunar calendar. Those born in the Year of the Rat are said to be industrious, adaptable and ambitious. The Year of the Rat will end on January 25, 2009.

Charles W. Chesnutt

Born June 20, 1858
Died November 15, 1932

The 31st honoree in the Black Heritage Stamp series is Charles W. Chesnutt. He was best known for his novels and short stories exploring racism and other social themes. He was the first African American fiction writer to earn national acclaim for his work depicting the African American experience before and after the Civil War.

Chesnutt was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Fayetteville, North Carolina, which became a major setting of Chesnutt's fiction. The pioneering writer is recognized as a major innovator and singular voice among turn-of-century literary realists who probed the color line in American life. This stamp is slated for release in January 2008.

Other commemorative stamps will include:

Alzheimer's Awareness

Baseball
Featuring a tribute to the song "Take Me Out to the Ball Game"

Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings
Best known for her Pulitzer Prize winning novel The Yearling and her memoir Cross Creek.

American Scientists:
Theoretical physicist - John Bardeen - who co-invented the transistor.

Biochemist - Gerty Cori

Astronomer- Edwin Hubble

Chemist - Linus Pauling

American Journalists:
Martha Gellhorn - who covered the Spanish Civil War, World War II and the Vietnam War.

John Hersey - Hiroshima, describing what happened when the U.S. dropped an atomic bomb on the Japanese city.

George Polk - killed covering postwar Greece.

Ruben Salazar - first Mexican American journalist to have a major voice in mainstream media.

Eric Sevareid - CBS broadcast journalist.

Sources:
www.wikipedia.com
http://www.usps.com/communications/newsroom/2007/sr07_084.pdf