The Educators stamps form one five-stamp group within the 1940 Famous Americans series, which contains 35 stamps across seven occupational groups.
Series structure
The seven groups are Authors, Poets, Educators, Scientists, Composers, Artists and Inventors, with five people in each group. The issuing institution in 1940 was the U. S. Post Office Department, not the later United States Postal Service.
How to identify the Educators group
Use the Smithsonian National Postal Museum category record to confirm each subject, denomination and issue date. Do not expand the group to 50 stamps or combine it with later education-themed issues.
What the design communicates
The coordinated engraved portrait format makes the group useful for studying how a federal stamp series organized public memory by profession. Historical interpretation should remain separate from claims about print quantity or rarity.
Collector value
Condition, gum, centering, faults, exact issue and comparable completed sales determine collector value. A listed price, old age or educational importance does not prove a market premium.
Sources and update note
Issue facts and current postal rules should be checked against the linked primary sources. Prices, inventory, services and policies can change.
The five Educators stamps
The group consists of 1-cent Horace Mann and 2-cent Mark Hopkins, both issued March 14, 1940; 3-cent Charles W. Eliot and 5-cent Frances E. Willard, both issued March 28; and 10-cent Booker T. Washington, issued April 7. The coordinated engraved portrait design uses the Lamp of Knowledge, with green, red, purple, blue and brown assigned by denomination. These are five of the 35 Famous Americans stamps issued by the U. S. Post Office Department.