Americana series

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.

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.