National Postal Museum Announces Launch of Centralized Gateway to World’s Greatest Philatelic Research

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum announces the launch of the GlobalPhilatelicLibrary.org website, a centralized information gateway to the world’s greatest philatelic research. Founding partners include the National Postal Museum and Smithsonian Libraries in Washington, D.C., the Royal Philatelic Society London and the American Philatelic Research Library in Bellefonte, Pa.

On Feb. 15, 1888, American Philatelic Association President John K. Tiffany wrote to Edward Denny Bacon, secretary of the then Philatelic Society London, regarding a joint indexing project. He said, “…I consider the project as utterly impossible of any practical execution...” One hundred and twenty-four years later the project has become a reality.
This ambitious project has become a present-day reality thanks to the inspiration and dedication of the founding partners. The website establishes a single destination—a responsive centralized gateway—by which philatelists around the world can search, locate and access philatelic research from partner libraries in real time, from any computer. Searchable listings of books and publications, as well as resource locations and access, are now just a click away, providing invaluable resources to those doing philatelic research.

• World-class collection of printed, electronic and other media
• Access and support for beginners, hobbyists, specialists, writers and postal historians
• International collaboration and cooperation with philatelic libraries and museums around the world
• Anthology of fascinating, informative and sometimes even scandalous articles written throughout the past century about philately and some of the people involved in its history

“A large part of the philatelic information I have acquired was discovered incidentally while searching for something else,” said Thomas Lera, Winton M. Blount Research Chair at the National Postal Museum. “  I hope other philatelists, scholars and researchers will push open the doors of the new global philatelic library to find the answers to their questions and uncover new ones in the process as well.”

Other contributing philatelic research libraries include The Collectors Club Library in New York, Greene Foundation (Canada), Oslo Filatelistklubb Bibliotek (Norway), Philatelistische Bibliothek Hamburg (Germany), Postal History Foundation in Tucson, Ariz., Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library in Denver, National Philatelic Society (United Kingdom) and Western Philatelic Library in Sunnyvale, Calif.

“All involved with this project should be congratulated,” said Alan Holyoake, internationally known philatelist. “  The introduction of a centralized gateway must be one of the most important developments ever to have taken place within the ‘philatelic’ world. I fully expect this centralized gateway to rapidly allow philatelists from around the world to not only enhance their knowledge but also establish relationships and friendships with others around the globe.”

Confederate Stamp Alliance and Smithsonian National Postal Museum Scholarship

The Smithsonian National Postal Museum (NPM) and The Confederate Stamp Alliance (CSA) are pleased to announce a scholarship for original research and analysis relating to the design and/or printing of a specific Confederate stamp issue(s), the Confederate Post Office Department, or any aspect of Confederate postal history. The scholarships are available to PhD’s, or doctoral candidates engaged in dissertation research, advanced graduate students, and/or other scholars.  The awardee can use the funds to spend an uninterrupted block of time doing research in the NPM library, other Washington DC libraries, or libraries with Confederate States archives on their projects.

Nearly 150 years after the Civil War, collectors of Confederate postal history are still attempting to understand many of the unusual and unique items that were used to convey mail during those difficult years. The study, research and collecting of the Confederate general issue stamps, Postmaster Provisional stamps from more than 55 southern cities, hand-stamped rate markings from more than 770 southern cities, manuscript markings, patriotic covers, express mail, prisoner-of-war mail, blockade-run mail, and many other aspects of postal history have captured the interest many. Research projects and collections have focused on particular cities, particular stamps, particular markings, general Confederate postal history, soldier's mail, prisoner-of-war mail, and numerous other specialized and general areas of interests. Although it is estimated that less than one-half of one percent of the Confederate philatelic items (1 out of every 200) have survived for our research, enjoyment and collecting interests today, many spectacular items do exist and new finds are continuing to be made.

 The result of the research will be publication in The Confederate Philatelist.

Applications can be submitted any time during the year for this scholarship and notification will be within a month after receiving the application. The scholarship, for a sum of up to $2,000, will be a contribution towards expenses including travel costs for a trip(s) to Washington DC or library with Confederate States archives. Publication must occur within a year after receiving the scholarship.

 Applications should include:

• an outline of the subject to be studied, time frames for completion, and how it relates to the applicant's previous philatelic or postal history research;>
• intentions as to publication of the results after completion of the study;
• an accurate costing of the trip(s), including places and organizations to be visited and collection to research; and, 
• a short curriculum vitae (including personal details, collecting interests, previous publications and philatelic achievements).

In evaluating submissions, the NPM and CSA award committee will rely on the following criteria:

• What is its significance for our understanding of the history of postage stamps or the postal system?
• How original is its argument?  Is the proposal well written?
• How imaginative is its use of primary sources (e.g., archival materials and professional journals)?
• How do the NPM’s collection, archives and/or library support the research?

 The application should be sent or emailed to:

Winton M. Blount Chair in Research
2 Massachusetts Avenue NE
MRC 570 PO Box 37012
Washington DC 20013-7012

npmresearchchair@si.edu