National Library Week: Libraries = Communities for Sharing

One of the most important goals for any library including the American Philatelic Research Library is that of sharing our resources with our community of library users, in this case philatelic researchers. We do this first by making our resources accessible to those users through borrowing, photocopying, scanning and providing research. In conjunction with this type of resource sharing we also have a responsibility to share what we don’t need or require for our collection with the philatelic community.

National Library Week: Libraries = Tips from Our Community

Now that you’ve been introduced to the staff here at the American Philatelic Research Library, we thought as part of National Library Week we would next ask some of the staff to share what tips they could pass along to assist patrons and researchers to the APRL with our services and resources. In working with the resources every day and assisting patrons with their research, our staff have discovered some useful “tips of the trade” they would like to share with our philatelic “community.”

National Library Week: Libraries = Strong Communities of Staff

On this second full day of National Library Week, here at the American Philatelic Research Library (APRL) we now move our focus to the dedicated and resourceful people who make up our “community” as the staff of the APRL, those who serve the research and resource needs of our members and the global philatelic community. The APRL is staffed by three full-time personnel and two employees who split time in the library.

Resource of the Month – Universal Postal Union Publications

This month’s highlighted resource is a series of documents housed in the Government Documents section on the first floor of the public space of the American Philatelic Research Library. By way of introduction to these important international resources, in 1863 the United States Postmaster General Montgomery Blair organized a conference in Paris to discuss the state and future of international postal relations. Delegates from 15 European and American countries met and succeeded in establishing a number of general principles governing international postal relations and services. But the scope and necessary authority of their decisions remained limited and they were not able to come to a consensus regarding an overarching and binding set of international postal agreements.

New Resources at the APRL, March 2019

Abacus Auctions. Bernie Manning’s Queensland postal history, the “Tamiami” Colonies postal history & postmarks: April 7, 2019 (Glen Waverley, Victoria, Australia: Abacus Auctions, 2019). [NS Manning, Bernie]

Afinsa Portugal. Especializado, Selos postais e marcas pre-adesivas Portugal, Acores, Madeira (Porto, Portugal: Afinsa Portugal ; Instituto de Expertizacao de Filatelia Portuguesa (INEXFIP), 2011). [G6690 .A1 A257s 2011]

Resource of the Month – Amrhein’s Philatelic Literature

As a librarian and bibliophile who has worked in a number of different libraries in the last 25 years, one of the things that has always been of keen interest to me in this profession is exploring the history of a particular subject through its literature. Philately, more so than many other hobbies, has a rich and extensive bibliographic history of notable publications, some of which even pre-date the formation of philatelic organizations such as the American Philatelic Society.

New Resources at the APRL, February 2019

Abacus Auctions. Abacus Auctions [auction house] (Glen Waverly, Victoria [Australia]: Abacus Auctions, [2018-2019]).[AUCTION Abacus]

Abacus Auctions. The Ginger Meggs scenic letter cards, Colin Riddell’s Cocos postal history, William Pate’s New Guinea postal history: March 3, 2019 (Glen Waverly, Victoria [Australia]: Abacus Auctions, 2019).[NS Meggs, Ginger]

New Resources at the APRL, January 2019

Aloni, Zvi. The Alexander collection, Milestones in the postal history of the Holy Land (Eretz Israel Museum, Tel Aviv ; The Alexander Museum of Postal History & Philately, 2008). [IP70068]

American Philatelic Research Library. Manual of philatelic headings used by the American Philatelic Research Library ([Bellefonte, Pennsylvania]: American Philatelic Research Library, [2018-]). [Online]

New Resources at the APRL, December 2018

Bodin, Richard. Swedish armed forces’ & military volunteers’ postal history in wars and abroad: a display at the Royal Philatelic Society London (London, UK: Richard Bodin, 2015). [IP69958]

Criswell, Grover C. Criswell’s compendium 1987: being a compendium of historical items and covering paper money, old stocks and bonds, autographs, postal history, army-navy-marine items, slavery material, customs items, books-reference works, CSA coins, medals, seals, & papers (Ft. McCoy FL: Grover C. Criswell III, Criswell’s Publications, 1987). [IP69959]

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Resource of the Month – Facit Specialized Scandinavian Catalog

As many collectors and experienced philatelists are well aware some of the more specialized stamp catalogues provide a greater level of detail when it comes to the stamps and other philatelic items for a specific country. Two of the most common and oft used here in the library are the Michel specialized catalogues of Germany and the Yvert-Tellier and Maury catalogues for France and French Colonies.

One of the lesser known specialized catalogues, but certainly not to the collectors of Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Finland and Iceland are the Facit specialized catalogues. Recently in answering a question regarding the specific engravers of a variety of Scandinavian issues, the Facit Frimararkskatalog Special 2015 catalog [G6910 .A1 F142s 2015] came in very handy in identifying the engravers for the requested issues.

Continue reading “Resource of the Month – Facit Specialized Scandinavian Catalog”