The Scott Joplin Postage Stamp

1983 was a busy year... I note that as the Director of Symposia for the 2017 Scott Joplin International Ragtime Festival, Bill Edwards will present a Legends Panel of ragtime performers and authorities from the 1983 revived event: Dr. Edward Berlin, David Thomas Roberts, and David Reffkin. 1983 was a very important year in the festival’s history as it was the year Sedalia aggressively restored the festival tradition of 1974 and 1975. Since then, the community has sponsored the Joplin Festival annually for the past 35 years. However, I’m not blowing the dust from 1983 Festival ephemera this month. Instead, I decided to reminisce about the Scott Joplin U.S. postage stamp and the First Day of Issue Ceremony held at the beginning of the Festival on June 9, 1983 near the site of the original Maple Leaf Club. 10 years in the making... I must say that the stamp honor was a long time coming for Joplin and was the result of considerable effort on the part of many ragtime authorities, performers and enthusiasts. The campaign began in earnest in 1969 when a stamp honoring W.C. Handy was issued in Memphis. With the blues recognized, it seemed important to recognize ragtime and people in Sedalia took up the challenge. In 1973 as plans were being laid for the first Sedalia event, we submitted a proposal to the Citizen’s U.S. Stamp Advisory Council for a stamp honoring ragtime musi