Centennial Oil Stamp Issue
Petroleum commemorated with 120 million stamps in 1959.
A centennial oil stamp commemorating the birth of the U.S. petroleum industry was issued on August 27, 1959, by Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield, who proclaimed: “The American people have great reason to be indebted to this industry. It has supplied most of the power that has made the American standard of living possible.”
As the sesquicentennial of the first U.S. well drilled to produce oil approached in 2009, a special committee sought U.S. Postal Service approval for a commemorative stamp. The committee and petroleum historians twice petitioned for a special stamp similar to one issued for the petroleum industry’s 1959 centennial of America’s first oil well. (more…)
