[press release] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
National Postal Museum Announces Nomination Process for Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award
Award To Recognize U.S. and International Philatelists

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum has announced the opening of the nominating process for the 2023 Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Award (SPAA). The Smithsonian award will recognize philatelists from the U.S. and international philatelic communities. The nomination process is open Jan. 19 through March 1. Award winners will be honored at a museum-hosted gala event in Washington, D.C., Nov. 4.

The SPAA was established in 2002 to honor and celebrate living individuals for outstanding lifetime achievement in the field of philately. This achievement may include original research that significantly advances the understanding of philately, exceptional service to the philatelic community or sustained promotion of philately to the benefit of current and future collectors.

The SPAA medallion is a 3-inch, gold-plated bronze disc depicting a sunburst with eight straight and eight wavy rays. Derived from the family coat of arms of James Smithson, founding benefactor of the Smithsonian, the sunburst became the Institution’s official seal June 3, 1966, and is incorporated into the official flag flown by Smithsonian facilities and Smithsonian-sponsored expeditions throughout the world. As such, it is a universally recognized symbol of enlightenment and learning that links the Smithsonian’s history with its future. The medallion is suspended from a grosgrain neck ribbon in Smithsonian blue and yellow.

Eligibility criteria and information about the entry and judging processes can be found on the museum’s website. Award winners will be approved by the Smithsonian Board of Regents, consisting of the chief justice of the United States, the vice president of the United States, three members of the United States Senate, three members of the United States House of Representatives and nine citizens.

About the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum
The National Postal Museum is devoted to presenting the colorful and engaging history of the nation’s mail service and showcasing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of stamps and philatelic material in the world. Through the preservation and interpretation of our postal and philatelic collections, the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum educates, challenges and inspires its audiences on the breadth of American experiences. It is located at 2 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C., across from Union Station. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). For more information about the Smithsonian, call (202) 633-1000 or visit the museum website at www.postalmuseum.si.edu.

[press release] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
National Postal Museum To Host Maynard Sundman Lecture
Lecture Focuses on Polar Philately and the Wilkes Antarctic Expedition

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum will host the 19th Maynard Sundman Lecture Tuesday, Nov. 1, at 4 p.m. ET online on Zoom. Admission is free, but reservations are required. The discussion, “Polar Philately and the Wilkes Antarctic Expedition,” will be presented by Hal Vogel [left], retired Army special operations and intelligence officer and professor emeritus at Rowan University in New Jersey.

In 1838, the U.S. Exploring Expedition (1838–42) began its examination of Antarctica in what would become this worldwide adventure’s most remembered legacy leading many to remember it as the “Wilkes Antarctic Expedition.” The expedition created what organized philately, including one of its specialties, polar philately, refers to as “archival mail,” or ordinary mail that serves as written testimony to aspects and personalities of an historical event. Unfortunately, although discoveries of this type of mail from polar expeditions do still occur, (archival) mail still is unknown from a number of the earliest expeditions. Mail from the Wilkes Antarctic Expedition only began to surface in the 1980s.

Using the postal history of this expedition as an example, Vogel’s talk will introduce the field of polar philately—its geographic scope, categories and periods—and examine how the intriguing mail of this exciting polar expedition helps document its highly historic events.

Vogel is a leading polar philatelist and the winner of this year’s American Philatelic Society’s Luff Award for Distinguished Philatelic Research.

He began collecting polar materials and studying polar history in the 1950s, when he began communicating with some of the last pre-World War II polar explorers. He continued this work while later pursuing his doctorate in polar studies in Antioch University’s Department of History and Geography.

While completing his degree, he began writing a research column for Ice Cap News, the publication of the American Society of Polar Philatelists (ASPP), and has written a column for every issue since 1974. Including the articles for the column, he has published more than 300 polar history, aerophilatelic, military postal history and polar philatelic articles in philatelic journals in the United States, Norway, Great Britain, Germany, France, Australia and New Zealand.

His most prominent publications are the books Essence of Polar Philately, edited by Alan Warren and published by ASPP in 2008, and Ahead of the Pack: Postal History Sampling of Heroic Age Polar Expeditions, written with Serge Kahn and published in 2015 by The Museum of Stamps and Coins of Monaco. The latter won the Academy of European Philately’s award for the best published philatelic work in Europe the same year. Vogel and Kahn are now working on the second edition.

Vogel is a former president of the ASPP and a member of many national and international philatelic organizations. He has held elected and appointed positions with several of them, including serving on the boards of the Universal Ship Cancellation Society, the Military Postal History Society and the Alaska Collectors Club.

A nationally accredited philatelic and literature judge since 1978, his own polar, military and aerophilatelic exhibits have won numerous awards, including the first grand award ever presented to a polar exhibit in a major competition. This past exhibition season, four of his exhibits received large gold medals, three grands and other specialty awards from at least six different shows.

The National Postal Museum’s Maynard Sundman Lecture Series was established in 2002 through a donation by Sundman’s sons, David and Donald. The Sundman lectures feature talks by authors and expert philatelists on stamps and stamp collecting.

The public can visit the museum’s website for additional information and registration instructions.

About the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum
The National Postal Museum is devoted to presenting the colorful and engaging history of the nation’s mail service and showcasing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of stamps and philatelic material in the world. It is located at 2 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C., across from Union Station. The museum is open daily from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). For more information about the Smithsonian, call (202) 633-1000 or visit the museum website at www.postalmuseum.si.edu.

[press release] [click on any of the pictures for larger versions]
Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum to Open Baseball Exhibition
“Baseball: America’s Home Run” Opens April 9

The National Postal Museum’s exhibition “Baseball: America’s Home Run” explores America’s national pastime through the unique lens of stamps and mail. On view Saturday, April 9, through Jan. 5, 2025, it invites visitors to explore exciting and memorable stories about how the game of baseball became an integral part of American history and tradition.

Featuring hundreds of U.S. and international stamps commemorating great players and historic moments, and drawing on original artwork and archival material from the U.S. Postal Service’s esteemed Postmaster General’s Collection, the exhibition approaches the story of baseball from a unique, worldwide perspective.

The display of stamps and mail will be complemented by dozens of objects loaned by other Smithsonian museums, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, law enforcement agencies and renowned private collections that have never before been on public display. These rare artifacts—exclusively shared with the public as part of the exhibition—showcase a treasure trove of historically significant game-worn uniforms, jackets and hats, game-used bats and memorabilia from America’s pastime.

The exhibition pays tribute to many of the game’s greatest legends, including Jackie Robinson, Roberto Clemente, Babe Ruth, Ty Cobb, Lefty Grove, Lou Gehrig and countless others. Of the more than 60 baseball stamps issued by the United States since 1939, the vast majority commemorate individual players. Many of these postal portraits feature specially commissioned artwork designed to mimic the look and feel of classic baseball cards and recall players whose achievements on and off the field made them household names. On display for the first time, original stamp art and production material from the Postmaster General’s Collection is paired with actual game-used artifacts as a powerful visual reminder that these players—whom most know of only from photographs and old footage—were once flesh and blood.

The lives and careers of some of baseball’s greatest players, including those from the Negro Leagues, are examined through the postage stamps that tell their stories. For a number of stamps, the museum is able to show the original artwork commissioned by the U.S. Postal Service, picturing various players along with the actual uniform they wore in the artwork, such as Jackie Robinson’s road uniform from the 1948 season. Uniforms and game-used bats of Babe Ruth, Joe DiMaggio and other great players from the 20th century will be on display.

These tributes are especially meaningful at the 75th anniversary of Robinson being called up to the Brooklyn Dodgers in 1947 as Major League Baseball’s first African American player and the 50th anniversary of Clemente’s death (1934–1972), who was born in Puerto Rico and played 18 seasons at right field for the Pittsburgh Pirates.

“We are proud to have Institution-wide cooperation from the Smithsonian, participation from the greatest organizations dedicated to the sport of baseball and support from businesses and private collectors who love the game,” said Elliot Gruber, director of the museum [left, at the press preview]. “I would like to offer special thanks to the lead sponsors of the exhibition—the Washington Nationals Ball Club, Heritage Auctions, Milwaukee Tool, the National Postal Museum Society, Ricos Products Co. and Smithsonian-published author Stephen Tsi Chuen Wong who also serves as honorary advisor to the exhibition, for their generous support.”

The exhibition will be presented in English and Spanish through a collaboration with the Smithsonian Latino Center, creating broad appeal to collectors of stamps and memorabilia, family audiences and baseball fans.

“The exhibition examines the mythologies of the game of baseball and the role postage stamps have played in creating and enforcing that mythology,” said Daniel Piazza, chief curator of the museum [right, at the press preview]. “We tell some of the lesser-known stories about the game of baseball through the medium of stamps and mail and explore fascinating details about the game in new and unique ways.”

Special exhibition themes examine the game of baseball:

• “Creating Baseball” looks at early U.S. baseball-themed stamps and the myths they reflect about the origins of the sport. The Centennial of Baseball stamp gave tacit federal recognition to the now-discredited claim that Abner Doubleday invented baseball in 1839 at Cooperstown, New York. Similarly, a 1969 stamp honoring Anna “Grandma” Moses shows “July Fourth,” her painting of a small-town Independence Day baseball game, reinforcing misconceptions about the sport’s rural American origins, when it was, in fact, a big-city game that evolved from British antecedents.On the right, the June 12, 1939, opening of the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York, known as the “Cavalcade of Baseball,” was the first professionally marketed sporting anniversary in American history. Postmaster General and New York Yankees fan James A. Farley issued a postage stamp for the occasion. This is a pane of 50 autographed by Farley, on display in the exhibition.
• “We All Play Ball” examines baseball’s global spread in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. With modest equipment needs, baseball was played by American soldiers on military posts around the world and quickly adopted by local people. International baseball stamps will be complemented by memorabilia and military-issued equipment. Watching and playing baseball helped the Irish, Italians, Jews, Poles and other immigrant groups break down ethnic walls and show their determination to integrate into American communities. Europeans learned baseball in this country, but most Latino immigrants came already knowing and playing the game, making them one of baseball’s fastest growing audiences and comprising more than 25% of professional baseball players.
• “The Negro Leagues” takes its inspiration from U.S. Poet Laureate Donald Hall, who described a passion for baseball as “a kind of citizenship perhaps more authentic than anything which can be on a piece of paper.” However, African Americans were denied the opportunity to play Major League Baseball until 1947, so they formed their own professional leagues and teams—in the process reaffirming their Americanness to a country that refused to acknowledge their equality. On the right, a postal team player jersey. Baseball teams composed of postal clerks and letter carriers first appeared in large cities around the turn of the 20th century.
• “Legendary Playing Fields” explores the sense of community that accompanies the familiar surroundings of a favorite baseball park—whether it is a classic stadium like Wrigley Field in Chicago or a newer green cathedral such as Washington, D.C.’s Nationals Park. In the early years, stadiums were generally built on undesirable land in the worst parts of town. One of Washington’s earliest baseball grounds, Capitol Park, was located in an underdeveloped working-class Irish neighborhood dubbed Swampoodle for the tendency of its unpaved streets to flood. Coincidentally, this very plot of land is now the home of the National Postal Museum. “Baseball: America’s Home Run” explores the history of Capitol Park and other parks, including production material for the 2001 U.S. Postal Service’s stamp, Baseball’s Legendary Playing Field Issue, paired with signs, seats, architectural elements and other artifacts from the stadiums depicted on the stamps.

NPM Manager, Public Relations & Internal Affairs Marty Emery [left] speaks to the press during a pre-opening briefing, April 6 2022. A special website makes available the stories, themes and historical artifacts presented in the exhibition, and it provides multi-media storytelling by some of the most significant organizations and people associated with the game of baseball. Schedules and information regarding public programing and events associated with the exhibition are outlined as well, providing experiences for both on-site and online visitors.

The photographs here are by Juan Carlos Briceño and courtesy the National Postal Museum.

“Baseball: America’s Home Run”

In celebration of the iconic role of baseball in the American experience, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in Washington, DC, will open Baseball: America’s Home Run next month on April 9.

Celebrating Women’s History Month

From the depictions of prominent and remarkable women on American postage stamps to the role of women within the US postal system, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum’s website has something for everyone. A series of featured collections showcases the many and varied women celebrated on American stamps. Web visitors can learn more about the role of women in the history of America’s postal system, from famous aviatrix Amelia Earhart, to relatively unknown colonial postmaster Mary Katherine Goddard. Start exploring

Education and Visitor Services @ NPM

It should be no surprise that the first month of Spring—a season commonly associated with femininity—is also a time to celebrate women and their varied experiences. Whether it is Women’s History Month or not, NPM’s Department of Education & Visitor Services is always working to share the stories of women from postal and philatelic history. In this issue of Postmark, we have rounded up a few resources, educational materials, and upcoming events that promote just some of the fearless and fierce women from our collection. If you have any suggestions on other inspirational women for us to feature in future resources, please email us at NPMEducation@si.edu with an overview.

More of the March newsletter is here.

[press release]
National Postal Museum Appoints New Chairman to Its Council of Philatelists
Charles F. Shreve To Lead Council

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum has announced the appointment of Charles F. Shreve as chair of its Council of Philatelists. The council provides the museum with philatelic advice, advises on engagement with the global philatelic community, promotes and advocates for the museum’s mission, purpose and programs to the nation and helps build the financial base of the museum. Members are appointed by the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents.

“Charles Shreve’s leadership was pivotal in helping the National Postal Museum create the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery, the finest collection of philatelic exhibitions in the world,” said Elliot Gruber, director of the museum. “He assumes chairmanship of the museum’s Council of Philatelists at a crucial time as the museum re-imagines its atrium level galleries and public spaces, as well as our strategic commitment to develop and launch new digital engagement experiences.”

Shreve has served on the museum’s Council of Philatelists since 2001. He is a life-long professional philatelist who has made a career of his hobby for more than four decades. In the early 1980’s he developed an innovative style of describing and presenting stamps in luxuriant auction catalogues, which allowed him to be counted among the premier auctioneers of high-quality U.S. and International stamps and postal history. In 1993 he founded Shreves Philatelic Galleries, and the firm quickly rose to a leading position in the international philatelic marketplace. In 2007 he sold his firm to an international auction company based in London and became an independent consultant for high end collectors. In 2012 he joined Robert A. Siegel Auction Galleries as director of their International auctions. In his career Charles has been involved in the sale of nearly one billion dollars’ worth of rare philatelic material.

Charles maintains numerous memberships in the hobby, including being a life member of the American Philatelic Society, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society and the American Stamp Dealers Association. In addition, Charles is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society of London.

Shreve succeeds Donald Sundman as chair of the museum’s Council of Philatelists. Sundman served as chair since 2003 and will continue serving as a member of the council. “Don Sundman has been a central guiding force for the National Postal Museum,” said Gruber. “His dedication and passion to the National Postal Museum has been instrumental in broadening the reach of the museum within the global philatelic community.”

Other members of the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists are listed on the museum’s website.

About the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum
The National Postal Museum is devoted to presenting the colorful and engaging history of the nation’s mail service and showcasing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of stamps and philatelic material in the world. It is located at 2 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C., across from Union Station. The museum is currently open Friday through Tuesday, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. For more information about the Smithsonian, call (202) 633-1000.

RSVP Jodi Chase to receive the registration link.

[press release]Click here for more information.

[press release]
National Postal Museum Announces Appointments to Council of Philatelists

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum announces the appointments of Ann Dunkin, Scott Guthrie, Yamil H. Kouri and Edmund “Edi” Truell to its Council of Philatelists.

The Council of Philatelists provides the National Postal Museum with philatelic advice, advises on engagement with the global philatelic community, promotes and advocates for the museum’s mission, purpose and programs to the nation and helps build the financial base of the museum. Members are appointed by the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents.

Ann Dunkin
Ann Dunkin is a Chief Strategy & Innovation Officer focused on state and local government at Dell Technologies. Prior to joining Dell, Ms. Dunkin was the Chief Information Officer for the County of Santa Clara, located in the heart of California’s Silicon Valley, the 15th largest county in the United States. Prior to joining Santa Clara County, Dunkin served in the Obama Administration as the chief information officer of the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). Prior to her time in Washington D.C., she was the chief technology officer for the Palo Alto Unified School District. She joined the School District after a long career at Hewlett Packard in a variety of leadership roles focused on engineering, research & development, information technology, manufacturing engineering, software quality and operations.

Dunkin’s collecting interests include United States stamps and airmail postal history. She specializes in the U.S. second airmail issue and the U.S. 75th Anniversary Universal Postal Union (UPU) issue. The 10-cent value of the UPU issue depicts the former Post Office Department headquarters, currently the headquarters of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Ms. Dunkin is a published author, most recently of the book Industrial Digital Transformation, and sought-after speaker on the topics of technology modernization, digital transformation and organizational development. Following the 2020 presidential election, she served on the EPA Agency Review team for the Biden-Harris transition team. She currently serves on the OptimEyes.io Board of Advisors, the Winter Simulation Conference Board of Directors, the Agile Government Leaders (AGL) Board of Directors and the Georgia Tech President’s Advisory Board.

Ms. Dunkin holds a Master of Science and a Bachelor of Industrial Engineering, both from The Georgia Institute of Technology. She is a licensed professional engineer in the states of California and Washington.

Scott Guthrie
Scott Guthrie has been collecting since childhood and focuses on the U.S. Classic Period, Great Britain Line Engraved Issues, and British Commonwealth. His specialty is the U.S. 1-cent Franklin, 1861—1867. He is a member of the Royal Philatelic Society London, U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, Great Britain Philatelic Society and American Philatelic Society.

A computer scientist by training, Scott is executive vice president of Microsoft’s Cloud and AI business. He is a graduate of Duke University and lives with his wife and two children in Seattle, Washington.

Yamil H. Kouri
Yamil H. Kouri, Jr. has been a stamp collector since early childhood and became interested in postal history in the late 1970s. He has written close to 200 articles and monographs on postal history, most of them consisting of original research. They have covered a wide variety of subjects, primarily dealing with the maritime and military mail of Spain, former Spanish colonies, Cuba, the United States and several European countries. He has written or co-authored six books, most recently Spanish Colonial and Mexican Mail in the United States, which was published in early 2021.

Kouri is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society, numbered member of the Real Academia Hispánica de Filatelia e Historia Postal, member of the European Academy of Philately and belongs to more than twenty philatelic organizations in the United States, Latin America and Europe. He was the president of the Postal History Society (United States), and is now a member of the board of the American Philatelic Congress, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society and chairman of the board of the Spellman Museum of Stamps & Postal History. He is the former president of the Cuban Philatelic Society and past editor of its journal, The Cuban Philatelist. He has served as vice-president of the American Philatelic Society and is currently the vice-president of the Federación Interamericana de Filatelia (FIAF). On many occasions he also represented the United States as FIAF delegate.

A frequent public speaker on a wide range of philatelic and postal history themes, he has made nearly a hundred presentations at various clubs, societies, symposia, institutions, meetings and exhibitions. In 2019 he signed the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society’s Roll of Distinguished Philatelists and in 2020 he was invited to sign the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists by the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain.

When he is not engaged in philately, sports or family activities, he works as an oncologist and hematologist in the Boston area.

Edmund Truell
Edmund “Edi” Truell has been running third party funds since the age of 16. He qualified as a Chartered Financial Analyst while studying Economics at Durham University. He was credit trained at Bankers Trust LBO group where he structured and advised major LBOs and infrastructure projects.

Edi created and ran a series of innovative entities, including Hambros European Ventures, Duke Street Capital private equity and Duchess debt funds, as well as Pension Insurance Corporation; Disruptive Capital Finance and the London Lancashire Pension Partnership / London Pensions Fund Authority (“LPFA”).

In 2014 he was voted Pricewaterhouse Coopers LLP’s “Entrepreneur of the Year” and is a former special economic advisor to the Mayor of London (Boris Johnson). While chairman of the LPFA, Edi was the architect of the merger for £260bn of public sector funds into seven “superpools” and is the Founder of the Pension SuperFund, the UK’s first Defined Benefits pension consolidator.

Edi is Trustee and Founder of the Truell Conservation Foundation; and formerly Director of Galapagos Conservation, Charles Darwin Foundation – the first debt for nature swap. He is also the former Chair of the UK Strategic Investment Advisory Board.

Other members of the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists are listed on the museum’s website.

About the Smithsonian’s Board of Regents
The Smithsonian Institution was created by Congress in 1846 as “an establishment for the increase and diffusion of knowledge.” Congress vested responsibility for the administration of the Smithsonian in a Board of Regents, consisting of the Chief Justice of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, three members of the United States Senate, three members of the United States House of Representatives and nine citizens.

About the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum
The National Postal Museum is devoted to presenting the colorful and engaging history of the nation’s mail service and showcasing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of stamps and philatelic material in the world. It is located at 2 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C., across from Union Station. As a public health precaution due to COVID-19, all Smithsonian museums and the National Zoo are temporarily closed to the public. For more information about the Smithsonian, call (202) 633-1000 or visit the museum website at postalmuseum.si.edu.

Some links from this PDF are at the bottom. Arrows to scroll the PDF are in the frame at the bottom.

Mothers Day YouTube video link

Open House RSVP email

Email link for RSVPing for Medicine on Stamps Zoom seminar