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SGAS PROPOSES A STAMP TO HONOR Important News...Please read the SGAS News Release below. On
behalf of the Society for German-American Studies, SGAS President, Dr. Don Heinrich Tolzmann, has submitted a proposal to the Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee of the U.S. Postal Service requesting a U.S. Postage Stamp
in honor of the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first Germans in America at Jamestown, Virginia in 1608. As sixty million Americans claim German ancestry and constitute the largest ethnic
element in the U.S., this stamp which has been proposed would also be of great interest nationally. Please support this proposal for a commemorative stamp by writing to:
Ms. Cindy Tacket, Chairperson SGAS News Release ... Cincinnati, Ohio GERMAN HERITAGE STAMP REJECTED Without explanation, the U.S. Citizens Stamp Advisory Committee rejected the request for a commemorative stamp honoring the arrival of the first Germans in America at Jamestown, Virginia in 1608. Although it normally takes three years to obtain approval of a stamp request, the Stamp Committee took only three months to review (CRITERIA STAMP SUBJECT SELECTION) and reject the proposal for a stamp honoring the first Germans in America. The German heritage stamp had been enthusiastically supported by German-American organizations and newspapers from coast to coast. Lately those who have written letters in support of the stamp have received answers that the idea had been rejected, but we have heard that it is important that the Stamp Advisory Committee keeps receiving requests. So if you wish to support this effort and have not yet written a letter, it would help if you sent one. Please follow this link for a sample letter. If you receive a letter informing you that the stamp has been rejected, you can write: Mr. James C. Tolbert, Jr., It was suggested to us that a postcard mail-in campaign in other cases has been effective. According to Don Heinrich Tolzmann, president of the Society for German-American Studies, which initiated the request to the Stamp Committee, German-Americans should contact their congressional representatives (here is a list and the address of the current ones), as the Stamp Committee only makes recommendations to the Postmaster General, and request that the stamp be approved. "We need to emphasize that German-Americans form one-fourth of the population with some sixty millions, and that they have contributed enormously in the past and present to this country, and that their contributions deserve full recognition, especially the arrival of the first Germans in this country in 1608," according to Tolzmann. "Many German-Americans from across the country have called, and are upset and angered by the swift rejection without explanation by the Stamp Committee," stated Tolzmann. for further information: Frances Ott Allen, Publicity Director |
