the philatelic communicatorwu30.org/tpc/20172.pdfvolume 51 second quarter 2017 issue 196 the...

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The Philatelic CommunicatorJournal of the American Philatelic Society Writers Unit #30

www.wu30.org Second Quarter 2017 Issue 196 Volume 51

Donna O’Keefe Houseman celebrated forty-fiveyears with Amos Media this year. During her decadesof professional editing, reporting, and writing for thestamp-hobby media, she has experienced a shift fromhandwriting and typewriters to computers and texts.She has witnessed publishing shifts in formats andincreased online outreach.Through all those changes, shehas provided engaging and rel-evant content. As a master ofthe Associated Press Style-book, she ensures integrity forthe philatelic message. Herbody of work has reachednearly every American stampcollector and dealer.

Currently, Donna is editorialdirector for the Amos Mediastamp group, consistingof Linn’s Stamp News and theScott postage stamp catalogs,which include the six-volume,worldwide Scott StandardPostage Stamp Catalogue, theScott Specialized Catalogue ofUnited States Stamps and Co-vers and the Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue ofStamps and Covers 1840-1940. She is the lead editorof the Scott Classic Specialized Catalogue of Stampsand Covers 1840-1940. She developed and editedthe Linn’s Handbook series and was instrumental inthe development of Linns.com and Zillionsof-Stamps.com.

Among her most rewarding philatelic editing pro-

jects were serving as editor of Linn’s U.S. StampYearbooks, Linn’s Handbook series and more thanfifty books where she worked with notable philatelicwriters, including George Amick, Michael Baadke,Dick Graham, Ken Lawrence, Steve Rod and others.Donna shared that she “enjoyed writing Linn’s

‘Philatelic Gems’ columns onthe world’s most intriguing andrarest stamps, a compilation ofthe columns resulted in a five-volume set of books ti-tled Philatelic Gems.” Thepride in her work is evident asshe reports that she is“privileged to serve as editor ofthe most respected worldwidestamp catalogs, the Scott cata-logs, and to work with a teamof talented and well-respectededitors in Linn’s and Scott.”She is grateful to Michael Lau-rence, former editor-publisherof Linn’s, for his guidance andfor challenging her.

Donna is a passionate collec-tor of the stamps of Ireland,

County Cork postal history and stampless covers andGreat Britain stamps used in Ireland. She is marriedto husband Rick and enjoys spending time with herfamily, gardening, watching basketball and walkingwith her poodle.Editor’s Note: Donna Houseman will be the speakerat the WU30 breakfast at APS StampShow on August6. See note on page 13.

Hall of Fame 2017 Continued on Page 3

Kaufmann, Houseman, Markovits and WoodwardChosen for 2017 WU30 Hall of Fame

Donna O’Keefe Houseman

Donna O’Keefe Houseman

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Volume 51 Second Quarter 2017 Issue 196 The Philatelic Communicator

The PhilatelicCommunicator

ISSN 0147-36456Vol51 No.2 Whole No. 196 2017

www.wu30.org

Writers Unit #30 publishes The Philatelic Communicator four times a year. A subscrip-tion to TPC is included with dues paid by members of the Unit. TPC is printed anddistributed by Wilcox Printing & Publishing, Inc., Madrid, Iowa.©2017 Writers Unit #30. Title page drawings by Peter Boylan.

Manuscripts are solicited on subjects of interest to writers, editors, and publishers of allforms of philatelic literature. All submissions for publication, without exception, aresubject to being edited. Electronic submissions are preferred. Opinions expressed in ThePhilatelic Communicator are those of the authors, and not necessarily of the Writers Unit#30, its officers, editor, publisher, or agents. Letters and e-mails received by the editormay be printed unless labeled “Not for Publication.” Every effort is taken to ensureaccuracy, but validity is not guaranteed. Some product names and images may be trade-marks or registered trademarks, and are used only for identification and explanation,without intent to infringe. All editorial matters must be handled by the editor.

Deadlines for receipt of copy by the editor:First Quarter: February 1 Second Quarter: June 1Third Quarter: September 1 Fourth Quarter: December 1

Lloyd de Vries, PresidentP.O.Box 1249, Washington Township NJ [email protected]

Ken Trettin Secretary-TreasurerPO Box 56, Rockford, IA [email protected] 641-756-3542

David E. Crotty, Vice PresidentP.O. Box 16115 Ludlow, KY [email protected] 859-462-6995

The Executive Committee includes the officers, Editor, and Immediate Past PresidentGene Fricks………...……………...………... [email protected]

The WU#30 Council includesErnest E. Fricks,……………………..……[email protected](2017)David A. Kent………………………….………[email protected](2017)Leonard Robert McMaster………..…[email protected](2017)Dane S. Claussen………………...………[email protected] (2015)Daniel C. Warren, M.D……………....………[email protected] (2015)

Writers Unit #30 Committee Chairs are:APS Rep. David CrottyAwards: Robert P. OdenwellerCritique Service: Dane S. ClaussenHall of Fame: Dane S. ClaussenHistorian: Steven J. RodNominating: Alan Warren

APS Writers Unit #30

Publications: Peter MartinPublicity: Ernest E. (Gene) FricksRecruiting: Lloyd de VriesSpecial Events: Kenneth TrettinUSPS Representative: Peter MartinWebmaster: Todd Ronnei

[email protected] #30 Breakfast: Lloyd de Vries

David Crotty

From the Editor

APS Manual of LiteratureExhibiting and Judging

This Manual is long awaited. Communication in thephilatelic world is most important since collectors andwriters live scattered across the world and most groupsmeet rarely. The communication literature comes inmany forms and the authors, John Hotchner and RichardDrews, have carefully identified these many elements.

It is going to take some time for most of us to poreover these pages and clearly understand the many waysthat the Manual expands and defines these literaturetypes and sets out the manner in which they are to bejudged.

We invite comment on this work in future issues ofTPC. It appears that the first time these criterion will beapplied will be at the next APS StampShow this August.Perhaps we can find a speaker for the WU30 Breakfastwho can help us understand this better.

1984 The PlayWith the onset of “Alternative Facts” and “Fake

News” that we mentioned earlier, the book 1984, writ-ten in wartime 1945, has become a best seller again. It ischecked out at most libraries. At the same time a playversion just opened in New York at the Hudson Theater.The reviewer found it “disturbing.” The emphasis is onthe main character whose job is to rewrite history to suitthe current and changing government storyline. His tor-ture scene, which I recall was only touched on in themovie, apparently is rather extensive.

This and the rather controversial settings for the re-cent Broadway production of Shakespeare's Julius Cae-sar make these old works much too current. Caesar gotpulled in a few weeks. No telling how long 1984 willlast.

Website and Newsletter ContestsThis editor could not find the sites in

www.stamps.org for the website and newsletter contestsduring a hunt for them in early spring. A note from JudyJohnson at APS gave me the address https://stamps.org/Club-Benefits (under Chapter Contests).

Microsoft SpellingI once lost the help of a proofer who so strongly ob-

jected to my letting the word “colour” be used in an arti-cle by a Canadian author about a Canadian group ofstamps.

On page 11 we review a Canadian catalog using theword “colour”. But on that page my MS spellcheckeraccepts the British spelling. In all other parts of this is-sue, here too, it marks that usage misspelled with theevil red underline. Somehow it knows.

Dave

David E. Crotty, EditorP.O. Box 16115Ludlow, [email protected]

Thomas P. Johnston, Associate Editor124 Bishopstone CircleFrederick, MD 21702-5123

The Philatelic Communicator Volume 51 Second Quarter 2017 Issue 196

Hall of Fame 2017 continued on Page 4

Patricia A. Kaufmann, a professional stamp dealer,is currently chair of the Board of Vice-Presidents ofthe American Philatelic Society. As an author andeditor, she has excelled in promoting Confederatephilately. For seventeen years, she served as co-editorand editor of The Confederate Philatelist and as edi-tor-in-chief of the Grand Award winning ConfederateStates of America Cat-alog and Handbook ofStamps and PostalHistory. Her prolificresearch and publica-tions have made her anesteemed spokespersonfor Confederate postalhistory.

To the benefit of herreaders, Trish master-fully blends historyand philately. A life-long collector and sto-ryteller, she loves touncover the hiddenstories and human-interest connectionsfrom postal covers.“Human-interest sto-ries,” she explains,“attract both Confeder-ate specialists as wellas others who simplylove history and mightconsider taking upConfederate postal his-tory as a new area. Se-rious philatelic re-search is very im-portant to me as well—both stamp nuances and newdiscoveries in postal history. I find that being a dealeris very beneficial to that end, in that I see more mate-rial than the average collector and my network islarge.” She continues, “The most seemingly mundaneexample suddenly comes alive, speaking to us fromthe past.”

Trish has been section editor of The ConfederateStampless Cover Catalog. In addition, she has con-tributed to the 1986 New Dietz Confederate States

Catalog and annual updates of the Scott SpecializedCatalogue. She has written hundreds of philatelic re-search articles for The American Philatelist, TheAmerican Stamp Dealer and Collector, The Confed-erate Philatelist, The Congress Book, Kelleher’sStamp Collectors Connection, La Posta, SmithsonianMagazine, Way Markings, The SPA Journal, National

Postal Museum’s Aragoonline data base collec-tion and other publica-tions. Trish’s definitivepublished research on the3-cent 1861 PostmasterProvisionals resulted in anentirely new Confederatesection beginning with the2000 Scott SpecializedCatalogue and the CSACatalog.

She has received theAugust Dietz Award forresearch and writingtwice. In 2015, she re-ceived the CP(Confederate Philatelist)Writers’ Award for thebest article. She has wonnumerous exhibitor awar-ds, including Grand andReserve Grand Awards innational philatelic compe-titions for her Confederateand Classic Valentine col-lections. In 2016, she re-ceived the Elizabeth PopeAward for Lifetime Con-tributions to Philately.

Trish has held many positions in both professionaland volunteer philately, including auctioneer, Presi-dent of the Confederate Stamp Alliance, Chair of theAPS Dealer Advisory Council, and member of APScommittees, the CSA Authentication Service, Coun-cil of Postal Collectors and Council of Philatelists.

In addition to philately, Trish enjoys scuba diving,choral singing and church leadership roles. She ismarried to Capt. Darryl Boyer.

Patricia A. Kaufmann

Patricia A. Kaufmann receiving an award from John Hotchner

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Hall of Fame 2017 continued on page 5

which also won four large golds at the internationallevel. His special delivery exhibit received three in-ternational large golds. His one-frame exhibit, “TheDollar Values of the U.S. State Department Stampsof 1873-84,” won the Grand Award at the first na-tional one-frame competition in 1993; his exhibit ofthe 1908 Helmet of Mercury stamp won the Collec-tors Club single-frame competition in 2006.

In addition to exhibiting and writing, Bob servedas an officer of the Collectors Club of New York andthe Spellman Museum. He received recognition for

his philatelic contri-butions during hislifetime, including theBureau Issues Associ-ation’s HopkinsonMemorial LiteratureAward in 1960, thebest article award ofthe Collectors ClubPhilatelist in 1989and election to theBureau Issues Associ-ation’s United StatesStamp Society Hall ofFame in 2011.

Bob once describedhis passion for col-lecting and studyingphilatelic literature bynoting, “With a phila-telic library covering

approximately 2,500 shelf feet of space, with morethan 25,000 U.S. auction catalogues, and with morethan twenty drawers of philatelic notes, I am a truelover of philatelic literature and the information thatmakes it available to the collector and professional.”

Bob contributed to future philatelic investigationthrough his enormous collection of research papershoused at the APRL in Bellefonte. In addition to theWriters Unit Hall of Fame, the American PhilatelicSociety honors this “legendary philatelist” in 2017with induction into its Hall of Fame.

Robert Leslie Markovits

Throughout his life, Robert Leslie Markovits (1937-2015) researched and regularly published philatelicarticles. He was both an attorney and stamp dealer(Quality Investors Ltd), and at one time, Bob evenhad worked as a newspaper sports editor. However,his exhibits and publications have immortalized himin the hobby. His love of nineteenth- and early- twen-tieth century stamps and postal history are wellknown. He focused on “back of the book” issues andtheir use, including special delivery issues, the ten-cent registry stamp, officials, postal stationery, andnewspaper and periodical issues. He ventured to thefront of the book forBureau issues andseveral special inter-est stamps.

As an author, Bobhad written over onehundred scholarly ar-ticles, the “NumbersGame” column forThe Bureau Specialistand the definitivestudy United States:The 10 cents Registrystamp of 1911. Hecontributed to morethan a dozen periodi-cals, including theCollectors Club Phi-latelist, First Days,La Posta, Linn’sStamp News, Locals and Carriers Journal, UnitedStates Specialist, Postal History Journal, AmericanPhilatelic Congress Books, 1869 Times and PostalStationery. He compiled proof and essay price lists ofClarence Brazer and contributed to other publishedworks, including the Durland Standard Plate NumberCatalog. He entered the online world with a websiteon U.S. special delivery issues.

As a successful exhibitor, Bob won the Championof Champions, the top exhibiting honor in the UnitedStates, in 1999 with his “U.S. Officials 1873-1884,”

Robert Leslie Markovits

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APS Hall of Fame AnnouncementAs this issue of The Philatelic Communicator is be-ing prepared for press the American Philatelic Socie-ty announced that Robert Markovits, BarbaraMueller and Irwin Winberg had been chosen for theAPS Hall of Fame.


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Patrick Henry Woodward (1833-1917) brought thecrime detection of the United States Post Office De-partment to popular attention in1876 with a runaway bestseller.Guarding the Mails, or the SecretService, of the Post Office Depart-ment was written after Woodwardhad been named Chief of SpecialAgents, under Post Master GeneralMarshall Jewell, after havingserved as an agent from 1864 to1875 “in the detection, pursuit andcapture of depredators upon themails.”

The book was published byDustin, Gilman & Co. of HartfordCT, Woodward’s home base, intwo bindings: “in the finest import-ed silk-finished cloth, with elabo-rate design in black and gold” at$3; and “in sheep binding, librarystyle, sprinkled edges” at $3.50.The price brought the volumewithin reach of most Americans,and it was sold by traveling agents(via a ‘dummy book’ and subscrip-tion list, a publishing innovationperfected in Hartford).

The ‘true detective’ nature of theincidents described by Woodward,aided by the myriad woodcut illus-trations, established the postal ser-vice for much of the citizenry as ahighly professional and successfulpolice force. The book was so pop-ular that it went through severaleditions, and Woodward expandedit in 1886, under a new title: TheSecret Service of the Post OfficeDepartment, as exhibited in thewonderful exploits of SpecialAgents or Inspectors in the detec-tion, pursuit, and capture of depre-dators upon the mails, with a com-plete description of the many meansand complicated contrivances ofthe wily and unscrupulous to de-fraud the public; also, an accurate

account of the Famous Star Route Frauds, publishedby Winter & Company in Hartford, again by sub-

scription. Although Woodward wasno longer in the POD inspectionservice, he acknowledged the assis-tance of agents’ case notebooks.The appended chapter has providedfor 20th century researchers a goodsummation of the Star Route fraudsituation that had ended with a trialin 1883.

Sanford J. Durst, publisher ofphilatelic references, reprinted the1886 edition in 1978. Linn’s StampNews announcement of the reprintcredits Woodward with uncoveringan entire area of postal history un-known to most collectors. “Hailedas the ‘invisible agents’ of the gen-eral post office, [special agents]were among the most highly re-garded of all public officers, pre-cursors of the private eye” (RichardJohn, Spreading the News, 1995).In 2010, Kessinger Publishing is-sued another reprint. The Smith-sonian National Postal Museum in2014 opened one of its most popu-lar exhibits: Behind the Badge, TheU.S. Postal Inspection Service;Woodward’s work was used bycurators, along with JamesHolbrook’s 1855 book of agent ta-les, for interpreting the 19th centu-ry.

After 15 years with the USPOD,Woodward went on to positions ofresponsibility in Hartford (secretaryand treasurer of the Mather ElectricCo., secretary of the HartfordBoard of Trade, etc.) and wrote his-tories of Hartford insurance andbanking institutions.

We honor Woodward for havingwritten an influential work on theinspection service of the post officethat was also an early true crimebestseller.

Patrick Henry Woodward

Gravestone at Windham, CT


A Baker’s Dozen of Things I’ve Learned About WritingSteve Zwillinger

I’ve had the opportunity to do quite a bit of phila-telic writing over the past few years. I’ve learned asmuch about writing, I think, as I have learned aboutsubjects I write about. It seems the more I write, themore I know about writing. The more I know aboutwriting, the better my articles are. Some of the thingsI’ve learned are:

1. Capture thoughts when they come to mind.It pays to keep a notebook or smart phonehandy to capture thoughts or even ways ofphrasing something that comes to mind. Ideasand thoughts can be so fragile that sometimes,if they are not captured when youhave the chance, you may losethem for good. I carry a tinypocket notebook for writingdown ideas.

2. Stay focused on your subject.Virtually every topic has ele-ments of secondary and tertiaryimportance that can be writtenabout. Many subjects can easilylead into tangentially related are-as. Sometimes it’s great to have avehicle to be able to work insomething you’ve wanted towrite about. Resist these tempta-tions. Unless you’re writing a broad overviewof a subject, you are most likely working withan idea that can be expressed in a topic sen-tence. Focus on that. Writing an article ismore of an opportunity to serve your readersthan it is an opportunity to show how muchyou know.

3. Choose your title – don’t let an editorchoose it for you. A good title is worth a lot:it can be engaging and attract interest. Read-ers who might not otherwise look at yourwork with a ‘boring’ title might look if thetitle sings out to them. Sometimes a title cansimply describe what you’re writing aboutsuch as “A Baker’s Dozen of Things I’veLearned About Writing”.

4. Try ‘bookends’ for an article. Ideally theending of your article echoes the beginning.An article is stronger if the end is connectedto the beginning rather than appearing as astream of sequential ideas about a subject.

Having the closing refer back to the beginningor providing a resolution or summary of whatthe article opened with, makes for a more sat-isfying reading experience from the reader’sperspective.

5. Consider suggesting informational re-sources. Some readers will like what youwrote and want to learn more about the sub-ject. Make it easy for them: provide a refer-ence to additional sources so readers can fol-low up on the subject. If your goal is to edu-cate a reader, then helping a reader continue

to learn more about the subject ontheir own is a great success.6. Be selective in what youwrite about. Don’t confuse beingable to write about a particular top-ic with feeling like you shouldwrite about it. Unless you are aprofessional writer (and philatelicwriting is unlikely to provide a lotof support) be selective in whatyou write. Choose subjects thatinterest you and are fun to writeabout. Philately is a hobby; don’tmake it like work. If a subjectdoesn’t ‘sing’ to you perhaps you

should put it aside and choose a topic thatgives you greater pleasure

7. Doing it right is better than doing it fast.Unless you are working on a deadline, youdon’t have to finish your article immediately.Make it right, not fast. In the same way thateditors try to keep an inventory of material,it’s ok for you to have an inventory of piecesyou are working on and do not want to submitto an editor until you feel they are ready forpublication. Writing is not an assembly linewhere you have to finish one before you beginthe next.

8. Don’t be afraid of controversy. It’s ok ifinformed or opinionated (or both informedand opinionated) people disagree. It’s only bythe exchange of ideas that new thoughtsemerge and older thoughts are proved or dis-proved as the case may be. Besides, you maybe pleasantly surprised that what you think is

Dozen continued on page 7


Dozen continued from page 6

controversial is not and you have helped toestablish a consensus on your subject.

9. You can start small. You can start with anysize piece you are comfortable with. Fre-quently there is a progression in an author’swriting: Writing up a cover or cancellation or stamp Letter to the editor Short piece on a narrow topic Longer piece Very long article such as those that have

appeared in the American Philatelic Con-gress Year Books

Monograph for a societyAn author frequently finds a comfort level ina particular style or length of article. There isno hierarchy of writing, only different kindsand different lengths.

10. Have a reviewer. It is very difficult to proofyour own work. Don’t rely upon an editor toproof your work. Frequently a proof readerchecks for spelling and grammar. You wantsomeone whose judgement you respect inraising questions about possible redundancy,logical flow, word choice, sequence ofthoughts and if sufficient evidence is providedto buttress your points. The higher the qualityarticle you provide, the greater the likelihoodit will be published, and the greater the likeli-hood you may be asked to write again. In mycase, I ask an adult son whose judgement Irespect to provide an editorial review of virtu-ally everything I write for publication. I’mtempted to show before and after versions ofthis column but I might be embarrassed. I pre-fer to print the good version. Also, it’s a goodidea to put the article aside when you finishand return to it a few days later with a fresheye. I find that I usually replace pronouns orvague words with specific (in this case I re-placed several instances of ‘it’ with ‘article’in my final review.)

11. Make it easy for your editor. Use a grammarchecker and spell checker. Make your submis-sion as professional as possible. Include aheader or footer with your name and the pagenumber. If the journal is printed infrequently,you can even include as part of the header orfooter the month and year in which you sub-mit it so the editor will know how long he or

she has had it. Some editors work with multi-ple journals so you can also include a refer-ence to the group or journal for which you arewriting. When I sent this piece to the editormy header read “Writer’s Unit – Zwillinger -June 2017 - page 7”. Because I prefer to havea clear distinction between header copy andtext, I use a different font and type size. Senda cover note providing full contact infor-mation and offering to make changes if theeditor thinks they are needed.

12. Build a relationship with the editor. Youwant to get to know the editor of the journalin which you wish to publish. You can writequery letters to introduce yourself and discusswhat you would like to write. If you attend astamp show or society meeting where the edi-tor is going to be present, meet him or her. Ifyou don’t know him, perhaps one of yourfriends does and can introduce you. The editordetermines what gets printed and when it getsprinted. For some publications, the editor canrequest an article if he knows a writer whocan handle the task. If you want to writemore, working with an editor is key. You mayeven be able to write a regular column if youwish. There is no disadvantage to building aneffective working relationship with your edi-tor.

13. Use illustrations. If it’s hard to say in words,try using a photo, illustration, diagram, or oth-er visual guide for interpreting an item. Usejust about anything that helps communicate orfurther explain a point you are trying to make.

Philatelic writing is a subset of professional or tech-nical communication. These types of writing addressthe presentation and expansion of a central idea,strengthened with details and examples. The skills inone are transferrable to the other. Write. Enjoy it.Seeing your words in print is satisfying. The moreyou write, the more you know about writing. Themore you know about writing, the better your articleswill be.

Additional Resource: I found the Wikipedia entry“Wikipedia: Writing better articles” to be a very goodguide for writing articles. Even though it is targetedto Wikipedia, it applies to almost all articles.Steve [email protected] 1


APS Manual of Literature Judging and Exhibiting,compiled by Richard E. Drews and John M. Hotch-ner. Available at no cost via download as a PDF filefrom the American Philatelic Society websitewww.stamps.org.

The guidelines for judging literature were relegat-ed to a 4-page supplemental chapter in the 6th editionof the Manual of Philatelic Judging. The guidelineshave now metastasized into a 34-page behemoth re-leased in April 2017. The new manual appeared with-out announcement on the APS website and its intro-duction was not communicatedto the literature judges as of thetime of this review. However, itis a known fact that extensiverevision and expansion of theguidelines were in the making.

As with the 7th edition of thephilatelic judging manual, thisnew booklet is important forjudges as well as for authors,editors, publishers, webmastersand others involved with thepreparation and communicationof philatelic information. Thesenew literature guidelines incor-porate some of the new featuresof philatelic exhibiting—eightmedal levels, use of points, anda new evaluation form for feed-back. New guidelines includeemphasis on submitting a synop-sis with literature competitionentries, major expansion of“literature” into electronic media, changes in appren-ticing to become a literature judge, and suggestionsfor changes in new types and numbers of literaturecompetitions.

This last item includes holding competitions everytwo years instead of annually, limiting the categories,alleviating the burden of literature competitions byusing two geographically close national shows, andintroducing one-time competitions in a specialty areaby larger societies when they hold one of their nation-al conventions. The reality is that annual literatureevents have dropped from six national venues to thecurrent two: APS StampShow and Chicagopex. Themost dramatic change is the expansion of electronicmedia beyond CDs and DVDs to include websites,

message boards, and blogs. For example a societywebsite could supplement its journal by publishingtimely updates, auctions, convention news, and in-dexes to the printed or electronic journal. The newguidelines continue to exclude show programs andclub newsletters as their critiques are already coveredby the APS Chapter Activities Committee.

The criteria for evaluation continue unchangedfrom the previous form for treatment: originality, sig-nificance, and research; technical matters; and pro-duction. However, the elements of the criteria are dis-

cussed in greater detail in thenew manual. There is also ex-panded discussion of the catego-ries to clarify the eligible entries.These cover handbooks and mon-ographs including compendiums;society periodicals and journals;catalogs (general, specialized,auction); philatelic articles andcolumns; and electronic media.There are suggestions on howwebsites can play a role in ac-cessing and updating by meansof supplemental information.

Many topics covered in detailin this new manual include therole of the literature chief judge,the new expanded medal levelsand associated points, the re-quirements of a WSP show toreceive permission to hold litera-ture competitions, apprenticing tobecome an accredited literature

judge and chief judge, and the role of the APS Com-mittee on the Accreditation of National Exhibitionsand Judges (CANEJ) in administering all aspects ofliterature competitions/exhibitions. New emphasis isprovided on the responsibilities of the literature ex-hibitor and the preparation and submission of a syn-opsis with the entry form.

Rich Drews and John Hotchner are to be com-mended for clarifying and enhancing the process ofliterature competitions. As with philatelic (frame) ex-hibits, there are new categories that will take time forjudges to get used to. I believe APS literature judgingseminars are planned to help both exhibitors andjudges to learn how to improve communication mediaand to evaluate them in a positive manner.

Alan Warren

APS Manual of Literature Judging and ExhibitingRichard Drews and John M. Hotchner


ReviewsPrint & ElectronicReviews in TPC are indexed atwww.wu30.org Journal page.Searchable by Google.

Aspects of American Postal HistoryCompiled and edited by Peter Martin. 224 pages, 8 ¾ by

11 ¼ inches, hardbound, La Posta Publications, Freder-icksburg, VA, 2016. $65 plus $5 shipping in the UnitedStates, from La Posta Publications, PO Box 6074, Freder-icksburg, VA 22403.

Sixteen different authors have contributed articles to thisfascinating monograph. Many of thenames will be familiar to readers of LaPosta, the quarterly journal of Ameri-can postal history, as their bylines haveappeared there as well. The wide varie-ty of topics revealed in this book notonly invites the reader to browse butalso to pick it up from time to time toinform oneself of a new subject.

The well-known dealer, author, andpostal historian of the ConfederateStates of America, Patricia Kaufmann,corrects previous errors regarding thedates that the original six states seced-ed and then joined the Confederacy.She also confirms the specifics of an-other ten states and territories that alsojoined.

John Hotchner offers a primer onhow to go about collecting auxiliarymarkings on covers, and shows over adozen unusual examples that reflect the requirements ofpost office operations. Michigan postal historian Paul Pe-tosky profiles the post offices that operated on DrummondIsland, Mich., over the years. The island is located in LakeHuron near Michigan’s Upper Peninsula where it bordersCanada.

Christine Sanders shares her unusual collection of U.S.stamps and covers that were cancelled on Christmas Day,December 25. She begins with the stampless period andcontinues to the end of the 19th century. She provides a lotof postal history details along the way. Social history isthe underlying theme of Jesse Spector’s analysis of twocovers that stimulated him to explore slavery in America.

Eric Knapp is a longtime student of Alaska postal histo-ry and editor of The Alaskan Philatelist. His contributionto this book examines the civil censorship of mail to andfrom the territory of Alaska during WWII. Much of themail was inspected at the censorship office in Seattle.

Hotel corner cards are a popular collecting area. Manyare actually advertising covers with attractive images ofthe hotel. Brady Hunt narrows this topic to illustrated ho-tel mail of Oklahoma, and he provides interesting historictidbits in his narrative.

Collectors of the 1954 United States Liberty series in-clude Roland Austin, who tantalizes the reader with elu-sive solo uses of these stamps. Examples of these raritiesinclude the Silkote paper 2-cent on cover, the tagged 3-cent with untagged 2-cent on a Look magazine cover, the4-cent on an airmail return receipt post card, the 6-cent ontreaty airmail to Mexico, the 10-cent on a private aero-gramme to Denmark, and the 15-cent used to collect post-age due among others.

Albert “Chip” Briggs provides some rarities of the 1938Presidential series showing unusual rates, auxiliary mark-ings, destinations, and during wartime events. RichardHemmings expands his award-winning article that firstappeared in a 2012 issue of the La Posta journal. His fo-cus is the 4-block long Cortland Street in lower Manhat-tan. Much of the area was torn down to make way for the

World Trade Center. He takes readerson a tour of the businesses that oncelined Cortland Street using corre-spondence, corner card envelopes,photographs and postal history.

Charles Neyhart recreates the opera-tion of the Portland, OR, post officewith the postal stations at the 1905Lewis & Clark Exposition using postalhistory items and photographs. The eraof the highway post office is revivedby William Keller who explains theoperation of this service, and tells col-lectors how to identify and look forHPO material.

One aspect of modern U.S. postalhistory is the establishment of contractstations. The post office often usedsubstations in the early part of the 20thcentury. Kelvin Kindahl contraststhose operations with the recent spate

of somewhat controversial contract stations established atretail store locations.

The late Charles Fricke was an enthusiastic student ofpost and postal cards. He used a couple of picture post-cards to trigger his description of Chicago’s undergroundtunnel system. Originally built to carry telephone cables,the tunnel system was later used to carry freight, coal, andashes. For a brief experimental period of two years it alsowas used to carry mail, but the contract was terminateddue to lack of timeliness.

The extremely broad arena of military postal history isgiven an overview by Sergio Lugo, who also edits the Mil-itary Postal History Society Bulletin. He defines whattypes of material are included in this field and describescensorship, diplomatic mail, soldiers’ mail, Army PostOffices (APOs), prisoner of war mail, YMCA mail, illus-trated mail, and many other aspects of this specialty.

Ralph Nafziger concludes Aspects of American PostalHistory with a chapter on first day covers and their associ-ated postal history. Using the 1948 3-cent Oregon Territo-ry issue he explores the U.S. Post Office Department’ssteps in designing and issuing the stamp, followed by

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The One-Cent Magenta: Inside the Quest to Own theMost Valuable Stamp in the World by James Barron. 288pages, 5 ¼ by 7 ¼ inches, hardbound, Algonquin Books,Chapel Hill, NC, 2017. ISBN 978-1616205188, $23.95from Amazon and other booksellers.

For those who would yawn and wonder why the story ofthe world’s most famous postage stamp, the one-cent ma-genta British Guiana, is beingretold, think again. James Bar-ron’s stimulating research intothe history of this philatelic iconand his lucid updating of thestory and the key players in thedrama, results in a very delec-table read.

In the first two chapters Bar-ron relates how he ran into aSotheby’s auctioneer, David N.Redden, and learned that Red-den would be the one to sell thefamous stamp in 2014. The saleitself, before a standing roomonly audience of about 200, wasover in about two minutes, andset a new record of nearly $9.5million.

After setting the stage for thestamp’s creation in 1856 as aprovisional needed by Postmas-ter Dalton in Georgetown, Brit-ish Guiana, Barron then delvesinto the history of the stampfrom its first discernible owner,12-year old Louis VernonVaughan. The well-known trav-els of the one-cent magenta fol-low—first to collector Neil Ross McKinnon and then on todealer Thomas Ridpath, followed by its first distinguishedowner, Philippe Arnold de la Renotière von Ferrary.

From there Barron traces ownership to Arthur Hind andhis estranged wife Ann Hind, Frederick Trouton Small,

Irwin Weinberg and his consortium, John DuPont, and toits current owner Stuart Weitzman. Along the way the au-thor regales readers with historic background and anec-dotes of many of the hobby’s great names. It is these by-ways and tangents that bring life to what otherwise is awell-trod storyline.

Some of the background detail he provides includes thepurpose of provisional stamps, the origin of the term“philately,” the myriad opinions and expert examinations

borne by this tiny piece of paper,and some thoughts on what drivescollectors to pursue their needs toacquire. However, the most tanta-lizing tidbits are the many anec-dotes that Barron uncovered, relat-ing not only to the owners of thephilatelic Holy Grail, but also themany personalities in the hobbywho played important roles alongthe way.

These names represent a Who’sWho of philately and includeRowland Hill, Edward LoinesPemberton, Maurice Burrus, Fin-bar Kenny, Edward Denny Bacon,Michael Sefi, Robert Odenweller,Allen Kane, and many others. Bar-ron’s careful research is docu-mented with over 200 citations tohis sources. One of his strengths isto bring so many apparently dis-parate elements together to rein-force his main story.

His style results in a thoroughlyfascinating tale full of little twistsand turns that maintain readers’interest the entire way. His skills,

honed as a reporter for the New York Times, serve Barronwell, adding new light to a familiar tale. The book shouldappeal to non-collectors as well. One shortcoming is thelack of an index, especially of the people who helpedshape the journey of the world’s most famous stamp.

Alan Warren

Best 2016 Article Award for Postal History JournalThe Associate Editors of the Postal History Journal announce the Best Article for 2016 award to Thomas Lera and

Sandra Starr for their “Flathead War Party, The Story Behind the Hamilton, Montana Post Office Mural” (published inPHJ Issue 163 February, 2016). Lera is Research Chair, Emeritus, Smithsonian National Postal Museum, editor of theaward-winning Proceedings of the First International Symposium on Analytical Methods in Philately, and two volumesof Select Papers of The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia, all published by the Smithsonian Institution Schol-arly Press. Starr is Senior Research, Emerita, Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian. See her preface -“About Indians at the Post Office and Murals as Public Art” - to the online exhibit Indians at the Post Office: NativeThemes in New Deal-Era Murals www.postal museum.si.edu.

Reviews continued from Page 9

Reviews continued on Page 11


The Canadian Revenue Stamp Catalogue 2017 Edi-tion by E.S.J van Dam. Bridgenorth, Ontario, Canada: ESJvan Dam Ltd., 2017. Spiral bound, 6 x 9 inch, 220 pp.,color illus.

ISBN 978-0-920229-05-7$32 postpaid by airmail from: ESJ van Dam Ltd., POB

300, Bridgenorth, Ont, Canada K0L1H0; E-mail: [email protected];Website: www.canadarevenuestamps.com.

After nearly a decade, Canadian revenue stamp collec-tors finally have an updated eighth edition of Erling vanDam’s popular The Canadian Rev-enue Stamp Catalogue. The 2017edition was released at the end ofApril.

Every new edition includesmore listings, more variety andmore information. Unfortunately,the time between catalogue edi-tions has grown to eight years.Previous editions were producedin 1982, 1984, 1987, 1991, 1995,2001 and 2009.

Van Dam, who has been inbusiness since 1970, is the leadingdealer of Canadian revenues andhis catalogue, one of only two au-thoritative references for the widerange of Canadian revenues, is theonly one with regular updates.Still, the eight-year lag is far toolong. The catalogues should beproduced on a regular schedule inthe two to four year range. Fortu-nately for collectors, van Dam re-ports that the next edition will bein 2020 to coincide with the 50th

anniversary of his being in the rev-enue business.

Of note, after five editions published by the UnitradePress of Toronto, the 2017 edition is again being producedby E.S.J. van Dam Ltd. and printed in Canada. The 2009edition was printed in China by Unitrade and that was oneof the reasons van Dam chose to resume printing the cata-logue. He previously published the first two editions in1982 and 1984. Unitrade published the 1987 trough 2009editions.

The 2017 edition looks much like its predecessor. It hasthe same cover depicting Canadian revenue stamps that

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has been used since the 1984 edition, but the cataloguename is now in a vertical box on the right edge. It featuresthe sturdy spiral binding that was first introduced as anoption with the 1995 edition and became the standard withthe 2001 edition. All pages lie flat when open, making forease of use.

The 2017 catalogue has 220 pages, 36 more than thelast edition’s 184 pages (which was a 36-page increasefrom the 2001 edition). If features about 1,100 high quali-ty color illustrations on slick coated stock. Listings, most-ly in a two-column format, show the van Dam catalogue

number; the stamp denomination,colour, perf and watermark; andprices for unused and used reve-nues. The catalogue prices are inCanadian dollars and should beconsidered as retail prices for thecurrent market. There is also a five-page index although, for some rea-son, it was not paginated.

Each major section has color-coded tabs on the right side of thepage that can be seen on the pageedges when the catalogue is closed.This is a thoughtful touch, intro-duced in the 2009 edition, thatmakes finding sections easier.

The catalogue includes the majorfederal revenues and those issuedby Canada’s provinces and territo-ries. That includes the federal, pro-vincial, and territorial Duck, Wild-life Conservations and Huntingstamps.

It also includes 10 subject areas,such as Telephone and TelegraphFranks, Prisoner of War Franks,bank stamps, perfins, meters, andtags. All are valuable references,

but I find the “Excise Tax Revenue Meters,” compiled byDave Hannay, and the “Canada Revenue Perfins,” com-piled by J.C. Johnson and G. Thomasson, to be two diffi-cult areas that are especially well done.

You’ll also find the expanded coverage that has beenthe hallmark of every new edition. The 2017 edition addsthe Vancouver Poll Tax receipts and the Manitoba Elec-tronic Equipment Serviceman’s License stamps.

The back cover notes that: “All currently known Cana-

postal history aspects of first day postmarks, unofficialcancels, the use of cachets and autographs to enhancepostal items, and commercial uses of the stamp includingunusual rates and destinations.

The book is well edited and nicely laid out with wonder-ful illustrations that seem to jump off the pages. The over-

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riding theme is that the postal history of the United Statesof America is extremely rich in depth and at the same timeentails a very broad range of topics, any one of which acollector can devote a lifetime to the study thereof.

Alan Warren


dian revenue stamps are listed and priced.” However,while most categories are indeed included in the cata-logue, two major areas are not. Neither tobacco, nor liq-uor, are listed and the inclusion of these groups, whileprobably doubling the size of the current catalogue, areessential to making this a one-stop reference. A separatesection for revenue proofs and specimens and the inclu-sion of a complete listing of the popular playing card pre-cancels would also help to round out the catalogue.

In addition, there are four items that would improve thecatalogue:

1. Increase the font size of the chapter and section head-ers to make them easier to locate. The table of contents isthorough and you can find the correct section by going tothe proper page number listed there, but if you’re trying tofind a chapter or section by scanning the catalogue you’llhave to look really hard because the current type sizeblends in with the listings.

Square Knots & Penguins: The Antarctic Scout PhilatelyConnection by Terrence H. Dunn. 33 pages in PDF for-mat, Scouts on Stamps Society International (SOSSI),2016. www.SOSSI.org, click on the tab “Topics H-Z,”then click on “Polar Philately.”Terrence Dunn uses the stamps, cachets, and related ma-

terials about Antarctica to con-nect with the topic of Boy Scoutsand scouting. He begins with abrief history of the ship RRS Dis-covery, the research vessel usedby several famous explorers(Scott, Shackleton, Mawson) thatis depicted on the stamps of theFalkland Islands, British Antarc-tic Territory, Australian AntarcticTerritory, and other countries.Most of the stamps are illustratedin color. Late in the life of thisship it was obtained by the Brit-ish Scout Association, moored onthe Thames River at London, andused as a Sea Scout training ship.In the next chapter Dunn focus-

es on “The Polar Gentleman,”namely Jean-Baptiste Charcotwho sailed in Antarctic watersand is depicted on many stamps.In France he helped to establishthe country’s first scouting organ-ization, Éclaireurs de France.Charcot served as its presidentfor over ten years.The 18 year old scout James William Slessor Marr

served on Shackleton’s vessel Quest, which anchored atTristan da Cunha in 1922. Here Marr met with the fewscouts on the island and presented them with a signed pho-

2. Provide set values where appropriate so that userscan quickly determine the price of a set without doing a lotof math work.

3. Improve the spacing between images and text. Thereare numerous examples where the images touch or slightlyoverlap the text above.

4. Expand the preface to better explain the cataloguenumbering philosophy, listing criteria, color descriptions,grading, and valuing, and to discuss current trends in themarketplace.

Canadian rarities are much more affordable than theirAmerican counterparts and the market for Canadian reve-nues continues to be strong, especially for rarer stampsthat have an increasing number of collectors going after avery limited supply.

The van Dam catalogue is an easy-to-use and essentialreference for identifying and valuing Canadian revenuestamps. With the current exchange rate, the retail price ofCan. $27.95 makes it a bargain.

Peter Martin

tograph of Lord Baden-Powell. Some stamps of Tristanand South Georgia depict Marr. He also wrote a bookabout the Quest expedition, Into the Frozen South (1923).Later Lt. Commander Marr headed Operation Tabarin dur-ing WWII.The 19 year old Eagle Scout Paul Siple was selected to

join Byrd’s first Antarctic expedi-tion where he trained the sleddogs. Siple then served as a biolo-gist on Byrd’s second Antarcticexpedition and continued to workon Antarctic projects the rest ofhis life. He authored several booksabout his experiences, and auto-graphed many covers relating tohis activities.

Dunn touches on the efforts ofseveral New Zealand Boy Scoutswho participated in three expedi-tions during the 1960s. He con-cludes with a chapter on“Antarctic Miscellany” that men-tions the 1947 Ronne expedition,scouts on a Chile expedition in1983, the United Kingdom’s ChiefScout Edward Michael “Bear”Gryllis, and shows a number ofAntarctic Scout related coversfrom Belgium, Australia, and Bra-zil.

The author provides a list ofbooks and web sites used as re-

sources, and a list of the stamps relating to his topics withthe Scott catalogue numbers. An index would enhanceutility of the book. Dunn’s work provides a jumping offpoint for those who might want to create a topical or the-matic exhibit on Scouting related to Antarctica.

Alan Warren

Revenues continued from Page11


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Editor Position WantedNew Member Robert Conley reports that he is edi-tor for the State Revenue Society News and TheRevenue Society Journal and has the capacity toedit another journal. If you need an editor pleasecontact him at [email protected].

APS Newsletter Competition for 2016Judy Johnson, Manager

GoldCalgary Philatelist (Calgary Philatelic Society),

edited by Dale C. Speirs, Calgary, AB, CanadaHollywood Philatelist (Hollywood Stamp Club),

edited by Enrique Setaro, Miami, FLKnoxville Philatelic Society News (Knoxville Phila-telic Society),

edited by Tom Broadhead, Knoxville, TNThe Souvenir Sheet (Lincoln Stamp Club),

edited by David M. Frye, Denton, NEPhilatelic Society of Lancaster County (Philatelic So-ciety of Lancaster County),

edited by Dr. Paul Petersen, Lancaster, PAStamp Chatter (Sequoia Stamp Club),

dited by James W. Giacomazzi, Redwood City, CA

VermeilBuffalo Stamp Club (Buffalo Stamp Club),

edited by Alfred Carroccia and Alan Davis, EastAurora, NYStamping Around (Mid-Cities Stamp Club),

edited by Peter C. Elias, Plano, TXThe Postmaster (New Haven Philatelic Society),

edited by Campbell Buchanan, Branford, CT

The Oklahoma Philatelist (Oklahoma Philatelic Soci-ety),

edited by Reginald L. Hofmaier, Yukon, OKPalo Duro Philatelist (Palo Duro Philatelic Society),

edited by John A. Abrams, Albuquerque, NMThe Stamp Express (Southern Nevada Stamp Club),

edited by Mrs. Melodye D. McGroarty, Las Vegas,NV

SilverGRSC Newsletter (Greater Richmond Stamp Club),

edited by Marcel Borris, Midlothian, VAThe Magnifying Glass (Wyoming Valley StampClub),

edited by Ron Breznay, Hanover Township, PA

Silver-BronzeManchester Stamp Club Newsletter (ManchesterStamp Club),

edited by Richard E. Olson, Fremont, NH

The deadline for entries in the 2017 APS NewsletterCompetition for newsletters produced in the year2017 is January 15, 2018.

WU30 Annual Breakfast at StampShowThe WU30 Annual breakfast will be held at

APS StampShow 2017 on August 6, 2017 at8:30AM in solon 6, 7 and 8 in the Marriott, Rich-mond, VA.

The breakfast will be a buffet with scrambledeggs, sausage and bacon, pan fried potatoes andmixed fruit.

The speaker will be WU30 HOF honoree Don-na Houseman, editor of Linn’s Stamp News.In addition we hope to have a knowledgeable lit-erature judge who can field questions about thenew APS Manual of Literature Exhibiting andJudging.


1

1

Responses to Questionnaire to the Editors.Dave,Here’s how I handle the whole issue of saving, archivingand making available our club’s newsletters.

I took over the Mid-Cities Stamp Club newsletterStamping Around in July 2001. I used Microsoft Word forthe first issue, got extremely frustrated with it andswitched to Microsoft Publisher the next month (my cur-rent version is still the 2003 version – works fine on Win-dows 7 Pro 64-bit). When finished with each 10-pagenewsletter, I immediately create a PDF copy of it (andusually both in “standard” and “high-quality print” ver-sions). Some day I might upgrade to a new version of Pub-lisher, but older “PUB” files should still be readable. I doown the actual Adobe Acrobat Creator (the Publisher 2003version doesn’t have a built-in PDF creator like the currentversion).

A key concern is using software that is a “major player”,such as Microsoft; lesser known software may not bearound 10 to 20 years later (I used to do a lot of exhibitpages in Geoworks Ensemble in the early 1990’s, a greatsoftware during the days of DOS and Windows v3.1, butno current Windows software can open up any of the oldGeoworks files; same goes for Enable/OA, Frameworkand other major players from the late 1980’s and early1990’s!!).

I then proceeded to scan into PDF files all previousprinted copies of the club’s newsletter that I could roundup, all the way back to 1986 (with the exception of twoissues). So now the club has an archive of practially allnewsletters that were ever sent to members (for some rea-son, there were no newsletters between the mid-1970’sand early 1986, probably just mailed postcards with meet-ing announcements).

To preserve these PDF files, I copy them unto multiplehard drives, as well as cut CD’s or data-DVD’s and havesent those to several philatelic libraries (such as the APRL

and the Wineburgh Philatelic Library here in Dallas).These files take up approx. 1 GB of file space.

While our club has an official website at www.mid-citiesstampclub.webs.com, the storage space that we areallotted is only around 40 MB, so we cannot use it foronline newsletter storage. I got around that problem in 2ways:

1) I created a private Yahoo Group for the club (onlypaid members are allowed) and since Yahoo gives us 2GB of storage, it is holding 30+ years of newsletters andwe’ll be set for quite a while into the future.

2) I created a (free) website at webs.com; that site isavailable to anyone on the planet and allows me to storeabout 2+ years of newsletters (see http://mid-citiesstampclub.webs.com/newsletter.htm). The webs.comsite is super easy to create and maintain by anyone (if youknow how to click a mouse and “copy” and “paste”,you’re set!).

The only major issue with both these methods is thatthey’re “free”. If some day, either of these companies de-cide that offering free websites or webspace isn’t a goodbusiness model any more, then it all goes away (remember“Geocities”?). But, since I regularly send both electronicand printed copies of the newsletter to the APS and Wine-burgh libraries, we should always have copies of the news-letter available in the future!

While I realize that 20 years ago it was a bit more diffi-cult to save or archive copies of newsletters electronically,now there’s really no excuse to not do this. It takes verylittle time and it’s easy to make the newsletters availableboth privately and publicly at virtually no cost.

Plus, since I’m an editor, I like to be able to have a copyof all items that I’ve published! Plus sometimes, it is kindof interesting to read newsletters from 20+ years ago; fun-ny, even back then, editor’s were always asking for arti-cles! Sound familiar?Peter EliasEditor Mid Cities Stamp Club Stamping Around

We Get Letters (sometimes)

David:Thank you for the feedback on the questionnaire.It turns out that The Society for Czechoslovak Philately

is doing pretty well based on the comments that you make.Thanks to the efforts of our former Librarian, Dr. MarkWilson, we have an Interactive Index DVD of our first 70years of The Czechoslovak Specialist (1939-2009) whichallows our members to look up any article by topic, au-thor, or stamp (by Scott or POFIS number) — and imme-diately see that article. We are currently in the process ofupdating that DVD to include 2010-2015.

The Interactive Index DVD is not for sale. We decidedinstead to make it a free benefit to any new member whoasks for it.

Even prior to this DVD, a former editor’s wife (AnneVondra, editor Mirko Vondra) had compiled a 146 page20th Century Subject Index, 1939-1999 (no articles, but

you knew where to look in past issues for your article ofinterest).

I have been the editor since 1997 (20+ years now) of ourpublication, and after years of searching, have been veryfortunate to find an anticipated excellent replacement,member Keith Hart. As for now, we are co-editors. Wehave just put out our first edition, Winter 2017, and I an-ticipate that he will eventually take over completely (I amnow 77).

You can increase your number to 6 of readers who arejoining up to WU30, I will send in my membership soon.Editor’s Note: We see that Lou actually did sign up.Thanks Much.Ludvik “Lou” SvobodaCo-editor, The Czechoslovak SpecialistSociety for Czechoslovak Philatelywww.csphilately.org


Secretary-Treasurer’sReport

Secretary Report 2017 Q1Our thanks goes to all members who have paid theirdues through 2017 or even later. However, if the lineabove your name in the mailing block indicates thatyour membership expired 2015 or 2016 your dues areunpaid and you are receiving this issue as a reminderthat they are unpaid.

We would also encourage donations to the societybeyond your annual dues. Even if your dues are paidfor 2017 or beyond such a donation is encouraged.We thank all who pay their dues from this notice andwho make contributions in advance.

About Writers Unit #30Purpose of the Writers Unit #30 of the AmericanPhilatelic Society is to encourage and assist philateliccommunications, knowledge, and comradeship.Membership is open to anyone interested in philateliccommunications.

Join Us TodayMembership includes a subscription to The PhilatelicCommunicator. Membership applications received byOctober 1 will be recorded as members for that calen-dar year and will receive all four quarterly issues ofthe Philatelic Communicator for that year. Applica-tions received after October 1 will be recorded asmembers for the following calendar year.A membership application may be downloaded fromthe Writers Unit #30 website at www.wu30.org. Ex-isting members are encouraged to download this formand give it to potential members so they can join.

New Members2030 Robert L. Conley,52 Vista Ridge, Glenburn, ME 04401-1829.Editor, State Revenue Society News.

2031 Albert J. (AJ) Valente69 Lily LN, #111, West Lebanon, NH 03784.Author Rag Paper manufacturing in the US 1801–1900; freelance writer The American Philatelist.

2032 Scott English216 Amberleigh Lane, Bellefonte, PA 16823-8479.Columnist, The American Philatelist.

2033 Ludvik Svoboda4766 S. Helena Way, Aurora, CO 80015.Author, Glossary of Philatelic Terminology Czeck/Slovak to English and English to Czech/Slovak (1, 2,3 editions; Editor, The Czechoslovak Specialist.

Bill DiPaolo7110 Marston Court, University Park, FL 34201.Contributor, Prexie Era Stamp Production and PostalHistory; Freelance writer, LaPosta, U.S. Stamps.

Membership DuesThe membership dues for each calendar year are:

USPS ZIP Code Addresses......... $20.00Canada and Mexico.................... $22.50All Other Addresses........ .......... $25.00Payment must be made in U.S. funds by a check im-printed with a U.S. bank transit number, or by postalmoney order payable to “APS Writers Unit #30.”Some overseas members prefer to send U.S. banknotes.

Updating Your Mailing AddressPlease notify us of address changes to assure that youreceive without delay each issue of The PhilatelicCommunicator. This will also save WU#30 severaldollars because the USPS charges us when they haveto send us an address correction, and we still have topay the postage for re-shipping the issue to the mem-ber.

Ken TrettinWU#30 Secretary-Treasurer

PO Box 56,Rockford, IA 50468-0056

[email protected]


APS Writers Unit #30

Ken Trettin

PO Box 56,Rockford, IA 50468-0056Return Service Requested

Dated Mail - Please Rush

Articles Departments

Expert Help for Writers and EditorsDr. Dane S. Claussen, Writers Unit #30 past president, offers

free critiques of periodicals, books and manuscripts. Submit thefour most recent issues, including postage equivalent to fourtimes the first class mailing fee. Any unused amount will bereturned. Critiques can be expected in about 30 days. Inquirebefore sending books and manuscripts, providing a brief de-scription. Return time will vary depending on length and othercommitments. Include an SASE. Send to Dr. Dane S.Claussen’s Email: [email protected].

WU30 Hall of Fame 2017 1

Donna O’Keefe Houseman 1

Patricia A. Kaufmann 3

Robert Leslie Markovits 4

Patrick Henry Woodward 5

A Baker’s Dozen of Things I’ve Learned About Writing...………………………………………………...Steve Zwillinger 6

APS Manual of Literature Judging and Exhibiting……….……………………...Richard Drews and John M. Hotchner 8

Best 2016 Article Award for Postal History Journal…..……………………………………………..………….Editors PHJ 10

APS Hall of Fame 2017 4

Letters 14

Responses to Questionnaire to the Editors 14

Peter Elias 14

Ludvik “Lou” Svoboda 14

Book Reviews 9

Aspects of American Postal History......….Ed. Peter Martin 9

The One-Cent Magenta: Inside the Quest to Own the MostValuable Stamp in the World……….………..James Barron 10

The Canadian Revenue Stamp Catalogue 2017 Edition ….…………………………………………………….E.S.J van Dam 11

Square Knots & Penguins: The Antarctic Scout PhilatelyConnection ………………………………...Terrence H. Dunn 12

APS Newsletter Competition……………..…..Judy Johnson 13

WU30 Annual Breakfast at StampShow 2017 13

Materials for ReviewMaterial for review may be sent to the editor. Reviews of ma-

terials are welcomed from members and non-members. Reviewsshould be concise and stress those aspects that are helpful exam-ples (positive or negative) for other authors, editors and publish-ers. Review requests from those having an interest in the item,such as publishers and distributors, must include a copy of thepublication.

2017 Literature and Web ExhibitsAPS CAC Website Competition, June 1, 2017, https://

stamps.org/Club-Benefits (under Chapter Contests)APS StampShow August 3-6, 2017, Richmond, VA,

www.stamps.org/StampShowCHICAGOPEX November, 2017, Itasca, IL,

www.chicagopex.com/APS CAC Newsletter Competition, January 15, 2018

entrance deadline. www.stamps.org/cac/NAPEX, This show has announced that it will not hold a

literature exhibit until further notice.

the philatelic communicatorwu30.org/tpc/20172.pdfvolume 51 second quarter 2017 issue 196 the...

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