On January 3, 2009, in Anchorage, Alaska, the US Postal Service issued a 42-cent Alaska Statehood commemorative stamp to honor the 50th anniversary of Alaska's statehood. Phil Jordan, Falls Church, Virginia, designed the stamp.
Comprising more than 570,000 square miles of land, Alaska is the largest of the fifty states. The state's name derives from an Aleut word meaning "great land." The stamp features a photograph by Jeff Schultz, Anchorage, Alaska, of a dogsledder. Schultz took the picture in 2000 near Rainy Pass in the Alaska Range. The text on the stamp reads "1959 ALASKA."
Banknote Corporation of America/SSP, Browns Summit, North Carolina, printed 30 million stamps in the offset process with microprint "USPS."
