About This Stamp
The Postal Service issued a 34-cent Thanksgiving stamp in a self-adhesive pane of 20, in Dallas, Texas, on October 19, 2001. The stamp, designed by Richard Sheaff of Scottsdale, Arizona, and illustrated by Margaret Cusack of Brooklyn, New York, went on sale nationwide October 20, 2001.
The U.S. Thanksgiving holiday, observed on the fourth Thursday of November, stems from a rich history of celebrations. The best known of these celebrations is the first harvest festival at Plymouth, Massachusetts, where in autumn 1621 colonists and Native Americans gathered for a three-day feast to offer thanks for a bountiful harvest. In 1863 President Abraham Lincoln issued a Proclamation of Thanksgiving, marking the beginning of national recognition of an annual Thanksgiving holiday in the United States. The Thanksgiving stamp is part of the Holiday Celebrations series.
Ashton-Potter (USA), Ltd., printed 69 million stamps in the offset process with microprinting "USA."