Welcome to new leaders
Welcome to the APRL’s new Board of Trustees! Our new president, Melanie Rogers, was elected at Great American Stamp Show and introduces herself and her goals to the readership in this issue. Please be sure to read her column this month and share your feedback. Kathy Johnson, newly elected treasurer of the APS Board, will also serve as APRL treasurer. We also welcome Charles Epting (our new secretary), Murray Abramson, and Casey Jo White to the board. You’ll notice that the new makeup of the board is younger than ever before, which in my opinion speaks to the dedication of these younger philatelists to preserving and sharing the great body of philatelic literature that we are caretaking here at the APRL.
I also want to warmly thank the outgoing members of the Board of Trustees. Hugh Lawrence, Kristin Patterson and our president, Ken Grant, have offered years of dedicated service to the APRL, and celebrated many wins with us, not the least of which was the final payments of the building mortgage, leaving us free and clear with a beautiful library and APS headquarters.
Daniel W. Vooys
Vooys talk
This issue visits a towering figure in the philatelic literature world, who barely needs an introduction: Daniel W. Vooys. Vooys put this journal in motion and was its editor for many years, even before it was the official publication of the American Philatelic Research Library. The library itself owes a great debt to Vooys for its creation, as does the wider world of philatelic literature. In his honor, the Vooys Fellow distinction was created for today’s philatelists who dedicate $5,000 over a five-year period to the APRL. The last recognition of Vooys Fellows in this journal occurred in 2019; since then, in 2021 and 2022, the number of Vooys Fellows has skyrocketed.
This issue recognizes and thanks several of the Vooys Fellows who joined us in 2021 and 2022. The fourth quarter issue will recognize the rest. We asked them to share what the APRL has meant to them, and why they chose to support its missions here.
We also share more about the man himself in an article by Brian Birch, which you can read here. Along with a biography about Daniel Vooys and his philatelic achievements, Birch discusses Vooys’ love for indexes. The Philatelic Literature Review was created to publish lists, indexes and bibliographies of publications, and to review new publications, as Birch explains. But the APRL has a wonderful, unpublished resource in its archives: Vooys’ card index, well over 20,000 entries filing books and articles by subject.
Also in this issue
Many of you know David Beech from the pages of this journal. The importance of his life work of preserving and making accessible philatelic literature and philatelic history cannot be overstated. In this issue, Abhishek Bhuwalka asks David many insightful questions, adding greatly to the details David has shared in previous interviews. It may be preaching to the choir, but I found his statements about philatelic literature to be highly insightful. Thank you to both Abhishek and David for sharing so freely.
We also welcome back Ron Lesher, who revisits an oldy-but-goody, Stamp Hunting, in a review for the modern audience.
Finally, Ray Pietruska graciously offers insights into the Rossica Society of Russian Philately and some important resources for collecting Russian material that you might not know.
Help needed
We are looking to add more philatelic literature reviewers to our roster. We rely on the time and efforts of volunteer book reviewers. I would like to say a special thank you to Giorgio Migliavacca and Alan Warren, who are our star reviewers and contribute most of the reviews you see in these pages. However, we would be glad to welcome others into the fold. If you are interested in volunteering on a regular basis, or have a single book (or other resource) in mind to review, please contact me at [email protected] or (814) 933-3803 (ext 207) and I will be glad to discuss the parameters.
I will also point out that far more than books alone are eligible for review - we would be glad to publish a review of a podcast, online resource, lecture, exhibit, or any material that seriously contributes to the literature of our hobby writ large. Thank you for your consideration.
Feedback matters
How often do you get direct, face-to-face feedback on your work? For me, the long week spent at Great American Stamp Show, though tiring, was worth every minute. I got to meet many PLR readers in person – and convinced some folks to write for future issues of the journal, to boot.
There are important questions I like to ask when I meet a reader of the PLR (or of The American Philatelist). Is this publication meeting your needs as a reader and researcher? What are we doing well? What improvements would you like to see?
I will put these questions to you, and invite you to correspond with me at [email protected], or to write a letter to the editor at [email protected]. Remember, the best way to ensure that the PLR is a valuable, must-keep publication is to give me feedback. I will always appreciate hearing from you.