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Catalog Data

Depicts:
Mary Edwards Walker, American, 1832 - 1919  Search this
Medium:
paper; ink (multicolored); adhesive / photogravure
Type:
Postage Stamps
Place:
United States of America
Date:
June 10, 1982
Description:
A 20-cent commemorative stamp honoring Dr. Mary Edwards Walker, Civil War surgeon and advocate of women's rights, was issued June 10, 1982, at her birthplace, Oswego, New York. The First Day of Issue ceremony was held at the Oswego High School.
Dr. Mary Walker (1832-1919) was the first woman awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor. The medal was awarded in 1865. After becoming the second woman in the U.S. to earn a medical degree (Elizabeth Blackwell was the first), she volunteered for the Union Army, serving near the front lines as a field surgeon for several years. In addition to treating wounded soldiers, she often crossed the lines to treat civilians affected by the war. On one such occasion, she was captured by Confederates and spent four months as a prisoner of war. Walker devoted much of her life to advocating for women's rights, including dress reform. In 1917, Walker's medal was one of more than nine hundred that the U.S. Army rescinded, but she defiantly refused to return it. President Jimmy Carter reinstated the medal in 1977.
The stamp was designed by Glenora Richards of New Canaan, Connecticut, and modeled by Ronald C. Sharpe. It was printed in the photogravure process, with fifty stamps per pane.
Reference:
Postal Bulletin (May 13, 1982).
mint
Topic:
Military & Policing Forces  Search this
Health & Medicine  Search this
Women's Heritage  Search this
U.S. Stamps  Search this
Credit line:
Copyright United States Postal Service. All rights reserved.
Object number:
1999.2004.259
See more items in:
National Postal Museum Collection
Data Source:
National Postal Museum
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/hm8421c3894-b11f-4e69-9f51-a9c246ad0bd4
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:npm_1999.2004.259