Author: Larry Nix

The Philatelic Literature Review (PLR) is the official publication of the American Philatelic Research Library (APRL), but it predates APRL by many years.  In 1942 Daniel W. Vooys organized the Philatelic Library Association, and PLR was the official publication of that organization. Vooys edited PLR from 1942 to 1956 and again from 1963 to 1970. The early issues of PLR are divided into two series, one running from 1942 to 1949 and another from 1950 to 1970. In 1970 the Philatelic Literature Association merged with APRL, and it was at that point that PLR became a publication of the APRL. Charles Peterson was the first editor of PLR under the auspices of APRL. Vooys was instrumental in the founding of APRL and donated most of his personal collection to the library.  In memory of Vooys, the APRL has established the Daniel W. Vooys Fund, and those who contribute $5,000 to the fund become Daniel W. Vooys Fellows.  The 1955 cover above with the Philatelic Literature Association corner card is one of several in my collection. It contained a promotional piece and membership application for the Association.  It read in part: “Membership in the Philatelic Library Association and subscription for the Philatelic Literature Review costs only $1.00 a year.  There are no elaborate rules, no initiation fees, or other obligations of any kind.  Everyone interested in stamp collecting in any way is sure to find the Association helpful in their activities.  There is no better time than NOW to become a member.”  A subscription to the current PLR is $18, but you are still sure to find it helpful in your philatelic activities.

I recently acquired a March 20, 1900 thank you note from the Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh sent to H. E. Deats. Mr. Deats had donated the London Philatelist  Vols. 1-7 “from the American Philatelic Association”. I have previously written about the Pittsburgh library’s custody of the American Philatelic Association’s (now the American Philatelic Society) library. When I acquired the thank you note, I didn’t know anything about H. E. Deats. Through the wonder of the Internet and Google, I now know much. Hiram Edmund Deats (1870-1963) is a member of the APS Hall of Fame. According to his Hall of Fame entry he was “one of the foremost collectors of the 19th century” and he “formed an enormous philatelic library, a close second to that formed by John K. Tiffany.”  I found a detailed description of the Deats philatelic library on the Earl P. F. Apfelbaum, Inc. website which has a number of historic documents in its online “Philatelic Library“. That description was written by Alvah Davison in 1888. A large part of the Deats philatelic library went to the Free Library of Philadelphia in 1952. The rest was sold to private collectors through auction over a period of years. One of the major philatelic interests of Deats was revenue stamps. I found information about his interest in this area from a post at the “Philately of Today” blog.   Continue reading “The Library and Philatelic Connections of H. E. Deats”

What could be more fitting than a former railroad station serving as the home of the Railway Mail Service Library (RMSL). The RMSL is located in the historic Boyce, Virginia railroad station. According to the mission statement on its website the RMSL “is an archival collection of primary and secondary sources pertaining to en route distribution history. It also features many obsolete postal artifacts associated with this activity. These items are used to assist researchers interested in route agent, seapost, railway, and highway post office (RPO and HPO) operations, known as the Railway Mail Service/Postal Transportation Service (RMS/PTS).” The RMSL has every major book published about RMS/PTS. The library includes six types of original-source documentation in its collection: 1) photographs of HPO and RPO vehicles; 2) The Railway Post Office and Postal Transport Journal issues between 1905 and 1959; 3) oral recollections of former clerks on audio and video tapes, as well as movies about the RMS/PTS; 4) general orders describing weekly changes within several divisions; 5) general and standpoint schemes of mail distribution; and 6) schedules of mail trains/routes. These schemes and schedules are helpful in understanding how the network of mail transportation and distribution activities operated, as well as when routes began, ended, or underwent significant changes. The RMSL and its predecessors date back to the early 1950s, but it was incorporated in its current format in 2003. Frank R. Scheer is the Curator and driving force behind the RMSL. Scheer routinely makes presentations at meetings and events related to railway mail service around the country. Scheer can be contacted at  f_scheer@yahoo.com . The railway station housing the RMSL appeared on a special postmark (shown above) for the centennial of the Town of Boyce in October 2010.

My recent post about the Thomas Hales Collection of Civil War Patriotic Envelopes at the Postal History Foundation of Tucson, Arizona reminded me of a collection of Civil War envelopes at the Library Company of Philadelphia. That collection of Civil War envelopes is part of the John A. McAllister Collection of Civil War Era Printed Ephemera, Graphics, and Manuscripts. It consists of about 7,000 patriotic envelopes. As with the Thomas Hales Collection, most of the envelopes in the McAllister Collection are representative of the Union side of the Civil War. A  collection of around 300 of the envelopes are displayed as part of the Library Company’s online digital collection. The documentation of the McAllister Collection envelopes also makes use of William R. Weiss’ The Catalog of Union Civil War Patriotic Covers (Bethleham, Pa.: William R. Weiss, 1995). The Library Company of Philadelphia is the library founded by Benjamin Franklin in 1731.

Paul Nelson of the Postal History Foundation of Tucson, Arizona has contacted me in regard to an extraordinary donation of patriotic envelopes to the Foundation. It has received the Thomas Hale Collection of Civil War Patriotic Envelopes which consists of approximately 2000 different historic and colorful pieces of stationery. According to Paul, all are unused envelopes and most are from the Union states, although there are a few with Confederate designs. He indicates that the  freshness and brightness of this group of patriotic envelopes is unusual. The collection has  been stored for years in a family trunk. Many of the covers are hand colored and all are essentially in mint condition. The covers have been organized in the Foundation’s library based on the categories that were published in The Catalog of Union Civil War Patriotic Covers, by William R. Weiss (1995).

With 2011 being celebrated as the 150th anniversary of the beginning of the Civil War, and with the recent release of a new book, Patriotic Envelopes of the Civil War: The Iconography of Union and Confederate Covers by Steven R. Boyd, the subject matter of the Thomas Hale Collection should be of interest to many historians and philatelists. The Thomas Hale Collection of Civil War Patriotic Envelopes is available for study by appointment. Contact the librarian, Charlotte Cushman, at the Peggy Slusser Memorial Philatelic Library, at the Postal History Foundation, 920 North First Avenue, Tucson, AZ 85719. The phone, email addresses, and other information may be found on the Foundation’s website.