United States Postal Service® will issue the Walt Whitman stamp (Non-denominated priced at the 3-ounce rate) in one design, in a pressure-sensitive adhesive pane of 20 stamps (Item 120300). The stamp will go on sale nationwide September 12, 2019, and must not be sold or cancelled before the first-day-of-issue. With this stamp, the 32nd issue in the Literary Arts series, the Postal Service™ honors poet Walt Whitman (1819–1892) on the bicentennial of his birth.

The stamp features a portrait of Whitman based on a photograph taken by Frank Pearsall in 1869. In the background, a hermit thrush sitting on the branch of a lilac bush recalls “When Lilacs Last in the Door-yard Bloom‘d,” an elegy for President Abraham Lincoln. Whitman is considered by many to be the father of modern American poetry. The stamp artist is Sam Weber, and stamp designer is Greg Breeding. The words “THREE OUNCE” on this stamp indicate its usage value. Like a Forever® stamp, this stamp will always be valid for the rate printed on it.

Master of Ceremonies
Michael Gargiulo, WNBC Co-Anchor of Today in New York

National Anthem
Heather Knoch

Presentation of Colors

Welcome Remarks
Cynthia L Shor, WWBA Executive Director
Jeffrey Gould, WWBA Trustee

NYS Office of Parks, Recreation, and Historic Pres
Erik Kulleseid, Parks Commissioner
George Gorman, Regional Director

Official Stamp Dedication
Thomas J. Marshall
General Counsel and Executive Vice President United States Postal Service

Poetry Reading
Song of the Open Road
Darrel Blaine Ford, Walt Whitman Personator

Commentary on Walt Whitman
Professor David S. Reynolds Ph.D., Distinguished Professor
Graduate Center of the City University of New York.