Yosemite 1¢ Stamp. Circa 1934

Yosemite National Park, California

1¢ stamp, green, El Capitan, Yosemite National Park, California

The stamp was released on July 16, 1934, at post offices in Yosemite National Park and Washington, DC. The first-day sales at Yosemite exceeded 250,000 stamps with more than 26,000 covers canceled. The stamp features a photograph by Ansel Adams that shows the rock formation "El Capitan" in Yosemite National Park.

The vertical one-cent stamp is printed with green ink and required eight different printing plates to print 80 million stamps.

The park, famous for its waterfalls plunging thousands of feet into Yosemite Valley, was established in California in 1890.

1934 National Park Stamps

The U.S. Interior Department designated 1934 as National Parks Year. The US Postal Service issued a series of 10 stamps to promote national parks and encourage domestic tourism. The stamps were the first American commemoratives that were not connected to a historical event, technological achievement, or exposition — including the first US postage stamp designed by a woman.

Described as "the greatest campaign ever launched by the federal government to promote the scenic wonders of the United States," the national park stamps became one of the most recognized series of US stamps. Despite being in the middle of the Great Depression, over one billion of the 10 national park stamps were printed in under two years.

This stamp series along with the WPA Posters of the time both personified the "See America First" campaign, where the message evoked local travel as patriotic and a cornerstone of national identity.