About This Stamp
The U.S. Postal Service issued the Flags 24/7 stamps in 2008. Each of the four first-class stamps features a painting of an American flag flying at a different time of day: sunrise, noon, sunset, and night.
In 1942, Congress passed a resolution establishing a code of flag etiquette. The code states in part that the American flag should be displayed from sunrise to sunset every day, weather permitting, but especially on days of national importance like Memorial Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, and Veterans Day. Congress also decided that "when a patriotic effect is desired," the flag can be flown through the night if properly lit. Although compliance is voluntary, public observation of the code's measures is widespread throughout the nation.
Today the American flag waves proudly during the day outside government offices and schools, and it stands watch day and night over the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., and at other public and private sites around the country.
The image of Edwin Hubble is based on a photograph reproduced by permission of The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Art Director
Phil Jordan
Phil Jordan grew up in New Bern, North Carolina, and attended East Carolina University. After Army service in Alaska, he graduated from Virginia Commonwealth University with a degree in visual communications. He worked in advertising and in design at a trade association before joining Beveridge and Associates, Inc., where he provided art direction for corporate, institutional, and government design projects. A partner in the firm, he left after 18 years to establish his own design firm where he managed projects for USAir, NASA, McGraw-Hill, IBM, and Smithsonian Books, among others. He was Design Director of Air & Space/Smithsonian magazine for 15 years. His work appeared in numerous exhibitions and publications such as Graphis and Communications Arts. A past president of the Art Directors Club of Metropolitan Washington, he was an art director for the U.S. Postal Service from 1991 to 2014. A resident of Falls Church, Virginia, he is a retired glider pilot and a member of the Skyline Soaring Club.
Stamp Artist
Laura Stutzman
Laura Stutzman graduated from the Art Institute of Pittsburgh with a degree in Visual Communications. Her career began as a staff illustrator with the Pittsburgh Press in their promotion department. After moving to Washington, D.C., she worked as an illustrator in advertising and design until forming an illustration studio in 1984 with her husband Mark Stutzman, the artist of the Elvis Presley stamp (1993). Laura Stutzman's work has appeared in varied applications from print advertising for clients like National Geographic and CBS to a television animation for PBS. During her forty-year career, Stutzman's work has been featured in newspaper and magazine editorial publications for USA Today, the Washington Post, and an array of trade publications. With Random House, McMillan Publishing, Simon & Schuster, and Thompson/Gale, she has collaborated on book covers and fully-illustrated children's books. Stutzman has provided art for several U.S. Postal Service® stamps painted in her signature medium, gouache on board. Her first designs for the Postal Service, Flags 24/7 (2008), were followed by A Flag for All Seasons (2013). Most recently Stutzman designed and illustrated the stamp U.S. Flags (2022).