[press release] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
Mitchell “Mick” Zais, a former U.S. Deputy Secretary of Education, is now the chair of the 
Publications subcommittee of the American First Day Cover Society. Publications is a part of the Education Department of the AFDCS, which is chaired by Michael Lake.
Zais was also briefly Acting Secretary of Education in 2021 and has served as South Carolina Superintendent of Education and president of Newbury College. Before that, the West Point graduate had reached the rank of Brigadier General in the United States Army.
He has often told the story of how he was able to skip a required geography course at the U.S. Military Academy because of the knowledge he had gained from stamp collecting. Today, he specializes in the first day covers of the Army stamps of the Army-Navy Series of 1936-37 (Sc. 785-789).
Mick was elected to the AFDCS Board of Directors, beginning in January 2023. He served as president of the American Philatelic Society from 2016 to 2018, resigning to avoid a conflict of interest with his federal appointment.
“I look forward to working with our team at AFDCS to bring useful and important publications to our members,” said Zais. “Most exciting is the recent permission acquired by the Society to re-print the Mellone first day cover catalogs.”
The AFDCS has published books, handbooks, and catalogues on everything from the basics of FDC collecting to making cachets, from FDCs of the 1909 commemorative issues to those of the 1988 Cats issue. A complete list can be found on its website in the Marketplace section. The Education Department of the AFDCS also has a YouTube Channel and produces videos on various facets of FDC collecting.
The AFDCS, a not-for-profit educational organization, sponsors the annual Philip H. Ward, Jr., Memorial Award for Excellence in First Day Cover Literature, exhibit awards, and is a co-sponsor of the Great American Stamp Show, which includes the Americover first day cover exhibition and announcement of the results of its annual cachetmaking contest. Its journal, First Days, is a perennial gold-medal winner in philatelic literature competitions.
For more information about the AFDCS, visit www.afdcs.org, e-mail afdcs@afdcs.org or write the AFDCS at Post Office Box 27, Greer, SC 29652-0027.
