The American Philatelic Society held its first Volunteer Work Week in three years this July. On the library side, it was clear the need for help was great. The American Philatelic Center’s Morse Building was packed with materials from the Trenchard collection, which had been donated months before and included 50 pallets of boxes. By the time the volunteers arrived, half of that remained to be processed.
On the library’s second floor, with guidance from archivist Marian Mills, I spent time processing other auction catalogs that had been donated by APS members or sent directly to theAPRL by the auction houses themselves.
My takeaways from this activity:
- There are a massive number of firms that have conducted auctions since the start of organized philately.
- Looking at auction catalogs over time is a way to see trends in publication design – in terms of fonts, colors, layouts, etc.
- Auction houses also release an array of materials besides catalogs, including press releases, prices realized, historical references related to specific auctions and year-end reports of sales.
- I learned to distinguish between all the Harmer auction houses in London and New York, as well as the various partners they have had.
- Space limitations have resulted in the library storing one-two copies of most catalogs.
- I was delighted to see names of collectors who I personally know on name sales.
At the start, I learned how to search for and read auction house entries in the David Straight Memorial Philatelic Union Catalog. I used the Advanced Search option, which allowed entry of the auction house name in the keyword field as well as specifying the Material Type of auction house. The search also allowed the selection of the library of interest, which was APRL in this case. I feel gratified that I can now easily search for specific catalogs online.
After searching for the catalogs, I helped to organize the catalogs into piles based on whether the library needed them or not and whether they were the first or a second copy of a catalog. I focused on this activity for at least four of my days there; at least 100 catalogs remained to be vetted.
Another activity I did was indexing articles from The Congress Books from 2014-2021. This involved work on my laptop adding entries to a spreadsheet. These entries consisted of each article’s title, author(s), date of publication, language, page numbers and keywords. There are specific keywords that could be used for geographical terms and philatelic terms. This is important for consistency in the catalog.
I would like to share some recommendations to those who would like to make donations to the library:
- Either search for your item in the David Straight online catalog or email [email protected] to ask if they already have the material – this will save you the cost of postage and time to pack and send the item if it is already in hand. This helps the library team, saving them from having to process a duplicate of an item already in hand.
- If you have more than 10 boxes of materials to donate, please include some funding to help support the manpower needed to do the processing. This will help speed up the process for the library, whose team can get your treasured items into the hands of fellow collectors sooner.
- If you live close to the APC, consider volunteering to help process what you donate or donations of other collectors. The library has a four-person staff and could truly benefit from your time. Volunteer Work Week is one week per year – the need extends year-round.
If you are on the fence about coming to volunteer, I would like you to consider the following:
- It’s an opportunity to travel away from home.
- State College is a small airport, so it may be a good way to get back in the groove of air travel.
- There is lots of flexibility in terms of where to volunteer and what activities to pursue.
- If you go to stamp shows regularly, it’s a different scene than shows – introverts can thrive here.
- It may be a way to get your spouse involved with the hobby or you could plan a joint trip where your spouse picks some activities of interest too.
- It’s different from Summer Seminar in that it is more “heads down and work” as opposed to socializing.
At the end of the week, I felt I had a greater understanding of how the library operates and the challenges faced in processing large donations. I also appreciated the in-person interactions, because I generally work from home. Nick Miller from the education department did a great job putting together some events during the week, including a happy hour at Big Spring Spirits next door to the APS headquarters. It was an opportunity to meet some fellow volunteers and staff including Taisia Osipova, who puts together and distributes the weekly e-newsletter.
Going forward, I am able to stay connected to the library by creating index entries at home. It will be a pleasant endeavor during the long, snowy winter in Chicago!