Post Office Murals Forever stamps feature five government-commissioned artworks created between 1936 and 1941. USPS issued the 10-stamp pane on April 10, 2019; each mural design appears twice, with its city and state printed beneath the image.
The five murals at a glance
| Mural | Year | Artist | Location identified on stamp |
|---|---|---|---|
| Kiowas Moving Camp | 1936 | Stephen Mopope, with work by members of the Kiowa Six in the lobby series | Anadarko, Oklahoma |
| Mountains and Yucca | 1937 | Kenneth Miller Adams | Deming, New Mexico |
| Antelope | 1939 | Olive Rush | Florence, Colorado |
| Sugarloaf Mountain | 1940 | Judson Smith | Rockville, Maryland |
| Air Mail | 1941 | Daniel Rhodes | Piggott, Arkansas |
1. Kiowas Moving Camp
Stephen Mopope, one of the Kiowa Six, designed this scene of Plains Indian life. Mopope, James Auchiah and Spencer Asah painted a larger group of 16 tempera murals directly on the plaster walls of the Anadarko Post Office lobby. The stamp reproduces a detail rather than the whole multi-part installation.
2. Mountains and Yucca
Kenneth Miller Adams painted the Deming mural in oil on canvas. It depicts the Cookes Range north of the post office, with yucca and other regional plants placing the landscape firmly in southwestern New Mexico.
3. Antelope
Olive Rush used tempera to show a herd of pronghorn, commonly called American antelope. The original mural remains associated with the Florence, Colorado, Post Office lobby.
4. Sugarloaf Mountain
Judson Smith’s oil-on-canvas landscape depicts the Maryland peak near Frederick. The Rockville building where it was first installed later became a police station, an important location detail for anyone trying to find the original work.
5. Air Mail
Daniel Rhodes painted a postal scene in which a letter carrier helps pilots load mailbags onto an airplane. The oil-on-canvas mural hangs in the Piggott, Arkansas, Post Office, where USPS held the first-day ceremony for the stamp issue.
Are these all WPA murals?
The phrase “WPA murals” is often used loosely for Depression-era public art, but the history is more specific. Federal art programs included the short-lived Public Works of Art Project and the Treasury Department’s Section of Painting and Sculpture, later called the Section of Fine Arts. The Treasury Section commissioned more than 1,000 murals for federal buildings between 1934 and 1943. Calling the set “New Deal-era post office murals” is the clearest umbrella description.
Stamp issue specifications
| Issue date and city | April 10, 2019, Piggott, Arkansas |
|---|---|
| Format | Pressure-sensitive pane of 10 |
| Design count | 5 designs, each appearing twice |
| USPS item number | 571100 |
| Art director and designer | Antonio Alcala |
| Postage status | Forever; valid for the current 1-ounce First-Class Mail letter rate |
How to identify the complete pane
- Look for 10 stamps and two examples of every mural.
- Check the printed city and state beneath each artwork.
- Confirm the header reads Post Office Murals and the item number is 571100.
- Remember that the stamp shows only a selected view of each much larger mural.
Official sources
The USPS mural history and dedication report documents the five works, artists, locations and federal art background. Production specifications appear in Stamp Announcement 19-14.