The Young Philatelic Leadership Fellow who is sponsored by the American Philatelic Society Writers Unit #30, Cole Longcor, will make a brief presentation on his project at the YPLF event on Monday May 25th at 11 am. He will talk about the extensive research paper he is submitting to the Postal History Symposium.

His subject is the relationship between the expansion of mail systems and the development and growth of the territories/states in the Northwest territory along the Ohio River, sparked by an interest in the Northwest Territory issue (Scott 837) of 1938. It is titled, “The River Runs Through It” and examines the relationship between the Ohio River and the postal system in the three states of the Northwest Territory through which the river runs: Ohio, Indiana and Illinois.

“A mixed media approach is used,” Longcor said in his proposal to the symposium. It includes “investigating artifacts from personal and museum collections, analyzing Richard Helbock’s Post Office dataset, and reviewing past literature, including sources from Marietta College Legacy Library’s Special Collections and philatelic publications.”

Longcor has a BA in journalism and political science from Marietta College and a MA in Public Affairs Reporting from the University of Illinois Springfield. He has worked for NPR Illinois and Capitol News Illinois and has been published by papers such as The Chicago Sun-Times.