On January 3, the APS staff returned to work, revitalized by the extended holiday break. Joining us remotely from New York was Jeff Stage, returning to the APS staff as senior editor after three years away. On January 10, a full week of work later, graphics specialist Chad Cowder, Jeff, Gary and I sent the pages you are reading to the printer.
The February AP is both Jeff’s first and Gary’s last as part of the APS editorial team. On our calls, Gary tends to characterize the January Stamp Catalog issue, not this issue, as his “swan song,” his last hurrah with editorial. This is certainly not true. We built the February issue, the March issue, and bits and pieces of many future issues together – you will recognize his touch many more times in these pages.
What makes a legacy?
Look at The American Philatelist issues published under Gary’s leadership over the past year and a half. You’ve seen new features (“For Further Learning” sidebars, the Catalog Reference Hub, and more) sharing resources that enhance readers’ understanding of their collections and how the APS can help them grow. Themed issues such as the Auction Issue, the Buyers Guide, the Philatelic Research issue and the Stamp Catalog issue were carefully designed to take collectors’ knowledge to the next level and to remove the mystery of how these important aspects of the hobby work.
If there is one thing that Gary stands for professionally, it’s that knowledge and experience should be shared, not locked away. Every new idea and concept tested in the magazine was in a spirit of community. It can seem that success in the philatelic world is bound together with years of experience, money, and the right connections. Gary threw open the gates to everyone.
On a more personal note, Gary has been unendingly generous with his time and knowledge. He is constantly challenging “the way we’ve always done things” and encouraging that same creativity and thoughtfulness in the rest of us at the APS. I can only thank him for his steady mentorship and be glad that our long conversations will continue.
Charting a new course
Smoothly and gently we are making the shift to a new editorial staff. Thank you to Jeff for diving right into the deep end and relearning the APS editorial ropes, especially from a distance, requiring tech solutions to print problems. As for myself, the support of my colleagues here and your support have meant the world to me. I have considered it a great honor to have a hand in building today’s The American Philatelist. It is an even greater honor to shape the future of The American Philatelist.
Postal censorship around the world
Some themed issues of The American Philatelist are full-issue extravaganzas, planned from tip to toe to be all-encompassing guides to one topic or another. Other themed issues are intended to be light touches – two articles and go, with plenty of space for articles that touch on non-theme topics. February’s “Postal Censorship Around the World” was intended to be such a “light” issue. Yet fate had other plans.
The cornerstone of this issue is by Dann Mayo, “Collecting Postal Civil Censorship.” When most people think of censorship, they think of censored military mail, perhaps including redacted dates and locations to obscure troops movements. Civil censorship, as Dann points out, is conducted usually during wartime upon the general population for national security purposes. For collectors, only a few wartime events produced 95 percent of the civil censorship covers available – but there are over a dozen smaller events for which covers can be found. I consider this a thorough primer on civil censorship, including errors, forgeries, odd uses, and a case study.
Quite by chance, a few months ago I received a phone call: Ron Klimley was writing an article on Polish martial law and censorship during the early 1980s, and would the AP be interested? The timing was perfect. Ron’s article “Martial Law & Censored Mail in Poland 1981-1982” brings together a time in Poland’s history in which a dissatisfied population, buoyed by the Solidarity labor union movement, went head to head with the Communist Polish government, resulting in a short period of martial law and the monitoring of civilian mail. Whereas Dann Mayo’s article is censorship writ large, Ron dives into a specific case study, where the goal was intimidation of the people.
Next is a brief study from Gary Loew, whose specific interest in the King George V Silver Jubilee omnibus issue and its widespread usages has resulted in an endless variety of stories with postal history significance. “Civil Censorship and Civil Unrest – A Cyprus Case Study” shows examples of censorship of the Communist Party and Greek Orthodox church by the British government to quash the civil unrest in Cyprus.
Finally, on the theme of censorship, we have an unusual take: Marjory Sente’s “The ‘Censored’ Mail of the Ogontz School for Young Ladies,” which follows another type of censorship entirely – one not systematically endorsed by a government during war or civil unrest, but done institutionally to control the correspondence of young women attending a Pennsylvania boarding school in the early 1900s. This is a different kind of censorship, although not the sort that would be immediately obvious from looking at a cover.
Also in this issue
From Michael Heller and in collaboration with the United States Philatelic Classics Society, we are pleased to bring you the latest installment in a series about classic U.S. philately, “Fractional Postal Rates During the U.S. Stampless Period.” I’d like to extend my gratitude to our friends at the American Numismatic Association for providing a photograph to illustrate this article. In this article Michael demonstrates the close connection of coin collecting and philately and the benefits of understanding both together.
For many collectors a cover’s contents are a rich starting point to dive into personal and social history, using archives to discover what happened next. In Wayne Youngblood’s “Collecting Coast to Coast” column, he returns to the “bottom drawer” to emphasize the importance of reading those letters inside the covers we collect. In just a few examples, he shows how context can elevate a very simple, perhaps boring cover to something worth a place of honor in your collection.
Finally, I will point you to “Digital Archives and Philatelic Information: A Case Study” by A.M. LaVey. Originally published in the 4th quarter 2021 issue of the Philatelic Literature Review, this article is of particular note to readers of The American Philatelist because it proves what some have already discovered: that digitized philatelic and postal history primary resources are abundant. But many are not digitized and archived as such. In his case study, LaVey found that even a digital collection that was 75 percent philatelic material did not categorize its stamps and covers in useful ways.
As you read this column, it is not too late to subscribe to the Philatelic Literature Review and receive the 1st quarter issue of 2022, which is a joint issue with the January Stamp Catalog Special Issue. The 1st quarter issue will continue the theme, offering additional resources to those you saw in last month’s issues. Subscribe at stamps.org/library. New PLR subscribers in January and February will receive all 2022 issues and the 4th quarter 2021 issue.
Reflections on literature awards
The APS is proud to support original research in The American Philatelist and Philatelic Literature Review. Out of the literature exhibitions held at SESCAL and Chicagopex in 2021, we heard the good news that several authors who had entered articles we published in The American Philatelist won literature awards.
Congratulations to Peter Schwartz and Calvin Mitchell for “Re-Evaluating a Philatelic First: The Earliest Depiction of Black History on U.S. Stamps” [February 2020 AP] which was awarded the grand award at SESCAL 2021 and large gold at Chicagopex.
Congratulations to Charles DiComo for “A Noteworthy Precancel on Lancaster Watch Company’s Advertising Covers” [February 2021 AP], awarded the gold at SESCAL and Chicagopex.
Finally, congratulations to Paul Holland for “Franklin D. Roosevelt as a Stamp Collector” [October 2020 AP] and “Pre-production Items for Chad’s 9-Color Engraved PHILEXOCAM Souvenir Sheets” [April 2021 AP] which was awarded, respectively, the gold and large vermeil at SESCAL.
As Dann Mayo said in his concluding statements in “Collecting Postal Civil Censorship”: “With all the advances over the past fifty years, civil censorship is still a developing area of study. There are still things to be found.” We hear this same refrain so many times over from our authors. Can you show me a field of philately with nothing left to discover, no opportunities for research, that couldn’t benefit from fresh eyes?
As you read this issue, allow yourself to be reinvigorated, to ask questions, and look at your collections with fresh eyes. I welcome your feedback – please contact me at (814) 933-3803 ext. 207 or by email at [email protected].
Call for writers
The American Philatelist depends on our members, who provide much of the content of this magazine. I’d like to encourage more members to join our roster of philatelic writers for The American Philatelist, Philatelic Literature Review, and stamps.org website. If you have an idea, please send your article idea, an outline and a brief description of what would make it interesting to our audience. The editorial team considers articles on any philatelic topic, but is especially interested in topics on U.S. and worldwide modern (late 20th and 21st century) philately. Send your proposal by email to [email protected] or mail to The American Philatelist, c/o Article Submission, 100 Match Factory Place, Bellefonte, PA 16823. For more information about APS writing guidelines, visit aps.buzz/writeap.
Please keep your feedback coming and share your views. Remember: if you wish to see an always-improving American Philatelist, you – our readers and APS members – must become a part of this exciting journey. Reach out with your questions, concerns, and suggestions. Write a letter to the editor ([email protected]) More importantly, volunteer to participate. This is your American Philatelist. Susanna’s email is [email protected]. Letters by regular mail are always welcome and will be responded to in kind.