SANTA ROSA, Calif. — The post office is celebrating the creator of "Peanuts" with special stamps.
The United States Postal Service will commemorate the 100th birthday of Charles Schulz with Forever stamps of his famous characters.
Ten different designs on each sheet of 20 stamps will feature the "Peanuts" gang, including Charlie Brown, Lucy, Franklin, Sally, Pigpen, Linus, Snoopy (with Woodstock), Schroeder, Peppermint Patty, and Marcie.
(NOTE: The video in the player above is from an interview in the 1990s with "Peanuts" creator Charles Schulz by our sister station KARE.)
"Peanuts" debuted as a comic strip in 1950. In the 1960s, the cartoon became a worldwide phenomenon when it was featured in television specials, a Broadway show and numerous products. By the time Schulz announced his retirement in 1999, "Peanuts" was syndicated in more than 2,600 newspapers around the globe.
Schulz wrote nearly 18,000 "Peanuts" strips, with the last one published on Feb. 13, 2000, the day after he passed away from complications of colon cancer at the age of 77.
His 100th birthday would have been Nov. 26, 2022.
The stamps will be released to the public during an event Sept. 30 at the Charles M Schulz Museum & Research Center in Santa Rosa, California.
The price of a first-class mail Forever stamp increased to 60 cents in July.