Category: Libraries

On Sunday, I visited the Western Philatelic Library in Sunnyvale, California with volunteer Roy Texeira. Click on the image to view a slideshow of photos from my trip, and watch for a more detailed report in the 2nd quarter issue of the Philatelic Literature Review.

This guest post was written by Scott Tiffney, APRL Reference Assistant.

While I was attending SANDICAL on behalf of the APS back in February, Bill O’Connor afforded me the opportunity of visiting the San Diego County Philatelic Library at its new location in Poway, CA. The SDCPL had its genesis in 1923 but its actual appearance came in the late 1970’s through the revenues of the annual SANDICAL show and under the leadership of the newly formed San Diego Philatelic Council. The SDCPL has grown over the years to include an extensive collection of over 7,000 books, catalogs, monographs, journals, and other ancillary items. Staffed part-time six days a week by volunteers from area stamp clubs with Don Hager as the current Librarian, the SDCPL is believed to be the only philatelic library open to the general public and members in Southern California. While Don and the other volunteers are still in the process of acclimating the collection to its new location, the library’s catalog can currently be accessed via a .pdf file on its website: SDCPL Catalog.

One very unique and inspiring aspect of SDCPL’s history occurred fairly recently and was articulated by Bill O’Connor at the annual SANDICAL awards banquet in February. It concerns a new SANDICAL award, the Ralph M. Armington Memorial Award. Ralph M. Armington was a long time volunteer with the SDPCL. He was a retired Navy Chief and lived in San Diego in his retirement. Ralph was never married, and had no close family members. Over the years he volunteered tirelessly at the last three locations of the SDCPL. He did not drive, but was able to manage a very difficult bus schedule, often taking up to two hours to make his weekly shifts at the library. Upon his untimely death a short time ago, very little was known of his personal life outside of his volunteering at the SDCPL. Ralph died alone but left the largest portion of his estate to the SDCPL and a smaller portion to a San Diego area Children’s Hospital. His generous donation will enable the SDCPL to continue its mission of providing not only a place where the general public and members can meet and conduct research, but his gift will also enhance the stamp collecting hobby in Southern California for years to come.

While I was in Dallas for the Special Libraries Association Leadership Summit at the beginning of this month, I had the opportunity to visit the Wineburgh Philatelic Research Library, located in the Special Collections Department at the University of Texas at Dallas’ Eugene McDermott Library.

The WPRL was founded in 1976 by Harold Wineburgh and today is an active collection supported by an endowment. In addition to books and journals, the collection also includes the records of the Texas Philatelic Association. (The finding aid for this collection is available online.) The North Texas Chapter of the American First Day Cover Society meets at the WPRL.

Paul Oelkrug, Coordinator for Special Collections, gave me a tour of the WPRL and the rest of the Special Collections. Besides philately, a major strength of the collections is the history of aviation, a nice complement. Some items from the aviation collections are available in digital format on the Treasures @ UT Dallas repository.

You can search the WPRL holdings in the UT Dallas library catalog, and they are also included in WorldCat. The library is open to the public from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Monday through Friday, and the second Saturday of the month from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Click below to view a slideshow of my photos from the visit:

This post was written by Neil Coker, APRL Reference Assistant.

While on a road-trip around Lake Ontario, I had the opportunity to pay a visit to the Harry Sutherland Philatelic Library, one of the partner libraries in the Philatelic Union Catalog hosted by the APRL. One of the directors, Charles Verge, gave me a tour of the library and of the Vincent Graves Greene Philatelic Foundation, which share offices. The library is just north of downtown Toronto in a small office building. Their main focus is on Canada and BNA literature, for which they have a large selection with its own cataloging system!

Due to good communication between our libraries, and various stages of “spring cleaning” at both locations, we were able to supply each other with materials that were duplicates for one library but needed at the other. This included books, auction catalogs, back issues of journals and philatelic exhibition programs. I was able to “smuggle” several boxes across the border, and brought even more back home. So be sure whenever you donate material that we already own, we try our best to find a good home for it!

While I was in Portland to represent the APS at PIPEX in May, I visited the Northwest Philatelic Library and met with its new president, Orlie Trier.

The library is in the basement of the Oregon Stamp Society clubhouse. I was there during library open hours just prior to a meeting, and the library was bustling. In between helping library users, Orlie showed me the library’s call number system. It is a homegrown system, but remarkably similar to the modified Library of Congress call number system used by the APRL. Most items are shelved by geographic area, with the rest shelved by subject. In the photo, Orlie and I are standing in front of the library’s strong air mail collection. The NPL’s catalog of books and journals can be searched online.