The U.S. Postal Service on Tuesday unveiled a new series of Route 66 centennial postage stamps built from photographer David J. Schwartz’s decadeslong documentation of “the Mother Road,” according to the service and Schwartz’s account. The eight-stamp offering marks significant parts of the highway in each of the states the route passes through, with the USPS presentation tied to Route 66’s centennial and its evolution from a mid-century symbol of mobility to a preserved slice of roadside America.
Schwartz, who said he has been tempted by the culture of Route 66 for much of his life, described what he sees when he looks back on the highway’s changing landscapes. He said Route 66 starts in Illinois, then moves into prairie country before stretching “out west” to desert and mountain sections with hairpin turns. He called it “just an incredible journey” and said travelers get a “beautiful slice of America” as they move along the route.
USPS selected Schwartz for the stamp project in 2023, tying the stamp series to his personal effort to take the trips himself. Schwartz said his first taste of the road was delayed until 2004, after a planned road trip as teenagers in 1988 was blocked by his mother. He later studied photography, returned to the idea of Route 66 stamps about a decade ago, and ultimately began working on the project after USPS tapped him.
According to USPS art director Greg Breeding, the stamps’ images came into the project after Breeding found Schwartz’s photos when he was working on a graphic showing a map of the road. Breeding said the photographs felt immersive, describing them as “They’re as if you were there,” and he said that quality made them especially useful for postage stamps. Breeding also said the design choices aimed to present a “fresh look,” and he said the stamp blocks are devoid of people in part to avoid what he called “tourist trap vibes.”
Breeding and Schwartz described the stamps as a pairing of continuing roadside commerce and preserved relics along the highway. One example mentioned during the unveiling was the Conoco Tower Station and U-Drop Inn in Shamrock, Texas, described as an Art Deco structure with neon-adorned lights that come alive at dusk. In Yucca, Arizona, Schwartz photographed a dilapidated “Motel” sign in the harsh noon sun, which he said reveals desert desolation while also carrying “the enduring pulse of the open road.”
The presentation also highlighted a Route 66 scene in Illinois: a friend’s 1929 Model A Ford on the only remaining segment of Route 66 in Auburn, just south of Springfield, where the roadway is described as composed of hand-laid brick. Breeding said the aim was to create an image that would make viewers feel “as if they were there for the birth of Route 66,” while Schwartz said he is amazed the stamps will “travel all over the United States and end up in people’s mailboxes.”
Breeding said the USPS plate for the series will contain 16 stamps, with two of each host state represented, and it will include a ninth photo serving as selvage, or the image surrounding the stamp block. The ninth photo is described as an empty Arizona highway scene shot in 2023 near Seligman, Arizona, after Schwartz and his high school friend finally took a trip he had been pursuing for decades.
Schwartz also contrasted Route 66 with the interstate highways that bypassed much of the original route, saying the interstates are designed to move traffic quickly rather than follow the land’s contours. He said, “On Route 66, you’re actually part of the landscape as you move through it,” and he added that “You feel the land as you’re traveling.” He said he hopes the stamps inspire people to travel the road and to support “Mom and Pop businesses” so Route 66 remains active for another 100 years.