PHILATELY PORTRAITURE

JACK PERLMUTTER

A commemoration of Cosmos Club explorers and discoverers

This 1969 stamp commemorates John Wesley Powell’s first descent of the Colorado River on his 1,000-mile journey by longboat to survey and map uncharted regions of the American West.

The membership of the Cosmos Club reflects the traditional, but just as often eclectic, exploratory and discovery achievements of some of the world’s finest and most intellectually curious minds. The humble postage stamp, a frequently overlooked form of artistic expression, celebrates these achievements by some of our Club members.

Stamps often reflect some of the finest melding of traditional art and design, particularly those that commemorate the accomplishments of individuals by depicting the portraits of exceptional explorers, discoverers, and achievers. At last count, some 28 former and current members of the Cosmos Club are recognized on stamps from a number of different countries.

Each nation has its own criteria for postal recognition and/or commemoration, and those criteria can vary substantially. About 40 years ago, the US Postmaster General established a 13-member Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee to assist in the selection of postage stamp subjects. The process is extremely difficult since only a limited number of commemorative postal items can be issued annually. The members of the Committee reflect a wide range of educational, artistic, historical, scientific, and other professional expertise, and they review more than 50,000 stamp subject proposals annually. The Committee also is responsible for recommending to the Postmaster General, not only the subjects for stamps, but the actual design and the artist, as well. About a dozen criteria are relied on by the Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee in determining the eligibility of subjects for commemoration on US stamps. Among those criteria relating specifically to selecting an individual to be featured on a stamp are the following:

It is a general policy that US postage stamps primarily will feature American or American-related subjects.

Commemorative stamps honoring individuals usually will be issued on or in conjunction with significant anniversaries of his or her birth, but no postage stamp will be issued sooner than 10 years after the individual’s death. The only exception to the 10-year rule is the issuance of stamps honoring deceased US presidents, who may be honored with a memorial stamp on the first birth anniversary following death.

Stamps shall not be issued to honor religious institutions or individuals whose principal achievements are associated with religious undertakings or beliefs.

Listed here are the names of those members of the Cosmos Club who have been honored by postal commemorations from various countries. These stamps were identified in part and selected with the expert advice of New York philatelist Hugh McClellan Kellogg. A few of these individual stamps have been reproduced here to illustrate the intricate and beautiful artwork involved, and pay tribute to all the explorers and discovers of the Cosmos Club.

Stranded near the North Pole with six other men from 1881-1884, Adolphus W. Greely survived to contribute significant astronomical, meteorological, and tidal data.		(US stamps courtesy of the US Postal Service.)
John V. Atanasoff, a mathematician and physicist, began developing the first binary computer in 1937. This Bulgarian stamp honors his pioneering work in the computer field.

UNITED STATES STAMPS

Chief Justice Oliver Wendell Holmes, known as “The Great Dissenter” for his eloquent opinions disagreeing with his colleagues, served on the Supreme Court from 1902-1932. Pictured here with Matthew Henson, his navigator and translator, Admiral Robert E. Peary reached the North Pole on April 6, 1909, on his eighth attempt.

William J. Bryan (CC 1913-1924), lawyer
Adolphus W. Greely (CC 1887-1935), army officer
Ludlow Griscom (CC 1933-1959), ornithologist
Oliver W. Holmes (CC 1905-1918), jurist
Herbert C. Hoover (CC 1921-1934), mining engineer
Samuel P. Langley (CC 1880-1906), astronomer
Sinclair Lewis (CC 1921-1951), writer
Walter Lippman (CC 1916-1974), journalist
Robert A.Millikan (CC 1917-1932), physicist
John B.Moore (CC 1887-1947), lawyer
Robert E. Peary (CC 1904-1907), explorer
John W. Powell (founding member), geologist
Walter Reed (CC 1893-1902), surgeon
Augustus Saint-Gaudens (CC 1904-1907), sculptor
Vilhjalmur Stefansson (CC 1920-1931 & 1941-1962), explorer
William A.White (CC 1922-1944), editor
Harvey W.Wiley (CC 1883-1930), chemist

CANAL ZONE STAMPS

George W. Davis (CC 1881-1885), army officer
William C. Gorgas (CC 1914-1920), surgeon
John F.Wallace (CC 1904-1921), engineer
Sydney B.Williamson (CC 1915-1928), engineer

FOREIGN STAMPS

John V. Atanasoff (CC 1957-1995), physicist
Leo Baekland (CC 1912-1942), chemist
Albert A.Michelson (CC 1918-1929), physicist
Leo S. Rowe (CC 1901-1946), political scientist
Albert Sabin (CC 1983-1993), physician
Wernher von Braun (CC 1958-1960), engineer
Fred L.Whipple (CC 1959-2004), astrophysicist

Jack Perlmutter (CC ’62) is a professor of art and former Fulbright senior research scholar. His artwork is featured in the permanent collections of over 120 galleries and museums around the world.

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