Daily printout: Aug. 27

The Postal Service’s latest Literary Arts stamp was dedicated during a local ceremony on Aug. 21.

The 35th stamp in the Literary Arts series honors Sarah Orne Jewett (1849-1909), a foundational figure in American literary regionalism who published hundreds of short stories and 18 novels, as well as poetry and essays.

“This stamp is more than a tribute ― it’s an invitation to revisit Jewett’s writing and share a piece of literary history every time we send a letter” said Matthew Kirksey, the local postmaster who spoke at the ceremony at the Sarah Orne Jewett House in South Berwick, ME.

Jewett lived in South Berwick her entire life and drew on the town and its people to portray New England characters and culture.

Her best-known work, the critically acclaimed 1896 novel “The Country of the Pointed Firs,” has come to be seen as an American literary masterpiece.

After a 1902 accident ended her writing career, she continued to mentor younger writers, notably Willa Cather, whom USPS honored with a stamp in 1973. Jewett’s strong female characters have led to renewed interest in her work.

The stamp features an original portrait of the author with the Maine coast as background and a ray of sunshine, evoking a scene from her most famous work.

Illustrator Mark Summers based the artwork on an 1894 photograph. The stamp was designed by Ethel Kessler, an art director for USPS.

The 3-ounce stamp is available in panes of 20 at Post Offices and on usps.com.

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The Soldotna, AK, Post Office recently held a ceremony featuring last year’s Freshwater Fishing Lures stamps to honor the state’s outdoor heritage.

Postmaster Ramon Colón opened the event, which was held at the height of the region’s fishing season, by introducing a special pictorial postmark.

The postmark celebrates the annual Kenai River salmon run. Every year, the fish return to the river where they were born to spawn. The Kenai is well known for its abundance of king, sockeye, silver and pink salmon species from May to September.

“There’s no better place to honor this stamp than Soldotna on the Kenai River,” said Alaska District Manager Tim Bruno, who served as dedicating official. “The Kenai is legendary, not just in Alaska but around the world. People travel thousands of miles to fish here, but Alaskans know the truth. It’s not just about the catch. It’s about the experience, the wild landscape and the connection to something bigger than ourselves.”

Veterans and local first responders also received recognition during the ceremony, and an honor guard from the local Americal Legion and Veterans of Foreign Wars chapters dedicated an American flag in honor of the nation’s 250th anniversary.

The Postal Service issued the Freshwater Fishing Lures stamps on March 19, 2025.

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A traveling exhibition about the RMS Titanic has added a display honoring Oscar Scott Woody, one of five sea postal clerks who perished in the April 15, 1912, disaster.

“Titanic: The Exhibition” is in Charlotte, NC, through Sept. 7.

The Titanic’s postal clerks died while moving the mail under their care from the bowels of the British ocean liner to the upper deck for it to be loaded onto lifeboats.

“We don’t often think of postal workers in a sacrificial way,” Carrie Currie, executive director of the Person County Museum of History in Roxboro, NC, told a local news outlet.

Woody was a resident of Person County, and the museum loaned the show several items for the exhibit.

“In this case, [for] those five individuals — the two British and three Americans — it’s an unbelievable sacrifice for the countries that they represented.”

Woody was celebrating his 44th birthday with the other clerks in a private dining room when the British passenger liner hit the iceberg.

According to the National Postal Museum, 3,364 mailbags were aboard, noting that the clerks’ efforts to rescue the mail “forfeited any chance they may have had to escape the doomed ship.”

“Titanic: The Exhibition” is running through Sept. 7 at The Park Expo and Conference Center-Freedom Hall. The exhibition is offering discounts to all USPS employees with the code USPS20.

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