Brown University’s campus. A special program, open to the public, will begin at 7pm honoring Ellen Kenner, Ph. D., clinical psychologist and host of the Rational Basis of Happiness on WHJJ Talk Radio 920am.
After a welcome from John Stanley, Curator of the Brown University Library’s Stamp Collections, Catherine Woodard, field assistant to the Providence Postmaster, will present a poster-sized blowup of the Ayn Rand stamp to Dr. Kenner. Dr. Kenner will speak on Rand's philosophy, her literary accomplishments and her ideas on happiness.
After the speaking program, the file "Ayn Rand, A Sense of Life" by Michael Paxton will be shown. The documentary file was nominated for an Academy Award in 1998.
The Ayn Rand stamp is the 1999 addition to the Literary Arts stamp series. It honors Rand as the author of The Fountainhead and Atlas Shrugged, as well as other novels, plays and nonfiction. Born Alissa Rosenbaum in St. Petersburg, Russia, Ayn Rand came to the U.S. in 1926 at the age of 21, and later became a U.S. citizen. She believed that a productive society is the result of individual freedom and effort. She died March 6, 1982.
Ayn Rand was also a stamp collector herself. She wrote an article for Minkus Stamp Journal with the title, "Why I like Stamp Collecting" in which she described stamp collecting as "a world for orderly, rational minds," and "a hobby for busy, purposeful, ambitious people."
Nicholas Gaetano, who also illustrated book jackets for several recent editions of Rand's books, illustrated the stamp art.
The 33-cent Ayn Rand stamp first-day ceremony will take place April 22, 1999, in New York City at the American Stamp Dealers Association Postage Stamp Mega-Event.
