Americana series

The Americana series was a series of United States definitive postage stamps issued between 1975 and 1981. Denominations ranged from one cent to five dollars. It superseded the Prominent Americans series, and was in turn superseded by the Great Americans series and the Transportation coils. The series consisted of twenty stamps issued in sheets, twelve issued in coils, and one produced especially for a booklet.

While the stamps were not part of the Bicentennial Series of stamps released from 1971-1983, their theme fit in well with the idea of looking back over two hundred years. For the series celebrated basic American concepts that have animated the nation's entire history, rather than individual heroes or heroines from any particular period. Unlike any previous definitive series, the Americana set did not contain a single image of a president (an omission that may perhaps reflect national disillusion in the wake of the recent Watergate scandal). Indeed, this was the first American definitive series in which no male human being appeared, and the two female figures in the set are purely allegorical, rather than representing actual women.

The preceding Prominent Americans series had been deliberately produced without basic design guidelines, resulting in widely diverse pictorial and lettering styles. In clear contrast, the Americana series strictly followed a uniform plan that dictated the appearance both of individual stamps and of stamps grouped together in blocks of four. Each denomination is framed on two adjacent sides by text (generally relating to American history or freedoms) which curves around one corner of the stamp. The twenty sheet-stamps are planned so that, in a group of four rising values, the curve cycles through the four corners: top left, top right, bottom left, and bottom right. Each of the five resulting blocks accordingly appears with text that completely surrounds its perimeter, forming a rectangular border with rounded corners.

All five blocks have themes: The first, "Roots of Democracy," the second, "Rights and Freedoms of the American People," the third, "Symbols of America," the fourth, "Pioneer America" and the fifth, "America's Light". (The framing plan was only partially carried out with the coil stamps of the series. Among the twelve stamps, only two blocks can be formed, and only one of these proves thematic.)

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