Stamp Column Archives

The Glassine Surfer Column Archive

This column originally appeared in the American Philatelic Society's monthly magazine, "The American Philatelist." Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.

February 1999

The Roadrunner Stamp Club in Sierra Vista, Arizona, has a web site.  It's purpose is help the stamp community grow and it covers all the basics any local resident needs to get involved --- meeting schedule, topics covered, dues --- and points out that they have seminars for beginning collectors.  

The Roadrunner Stamp Club at
http://www.primenet.com/~mman/rrsc.htm

The St. Louis Stamp Clubs web site lists eight different St. Louis area stamp clubs on the same site, like an online Roladex with information on meetings, location and how to get in touch.  

This is a nice aid for collectors looking for a club in far-flung suburbia, where commuting times make it preferable to join a club nearer to work or inbetween home and office.

St Louis Stamp Clubs at
http://www.stlcyberjew.com/philatelic/

If you've ever roamed the web you've run into a stamp web site by Tom Fortunato, the current President of The Rochester Philatelic Association.

The RPA site covers what the Roadrunner site does, but then adds a lot of local content for members and collectors to enjoy.  This is a three-course sit-down four-star meal.

There's membership and contacts, ROPEX, meetings and events, newsletter, club history and officer list, club charter and minutes, competitions and winners, club emails, a trading post and more, really.

The webmaster has organized and designed a great site, and the club keeps him supplied with fresh content to keep the site fresh and alive.

The Rochester Philatelic Association at
http://www.frontiernet.net/~stamptmf/rpa/rpa.html

Down Under in Salisbury, the local society is growing, and they'll tell you why if you check out their site.  The Salisbury Philatelic Society keeps their web site active, which reflects what they're doing around town.  They were appointed by the city to produce the office souvenier cover commemorating the 150th Anniversary of Salisbury, South Australia.  Sounds like a group collectors are proud to join.

Salisbury Philatelic Society at
http://www.picknowl.com.au/homepages/rpy/SalisburyPS.htm

The High Wycombe and District Philatelic Society has a small contact site, something like an online flyer, but it also has a nice selection of "Other web sites of interest."  This short, though comprehensive list, lets visitors visit other sites and helps people find the HWDPS site, through the links to them at the sites listed.

The High Wycombe and District Philatelic Society at
http://www.pherber.com/hwps.html

Clubs ought to exchange links with Net link directories to make it easier for collector's to find them.  A local club site, submitted to the search engines and directories, can be an effective tool in spreading the word locally, and don't forget those "local online guides" in your neighborhood.  They'll be happy put your link in their community group section next to the local high school or library.  

Many interested beginners stop collecting because they can't find the help they need.  Maybe they can find your club on the Net.

Beagle Corner

Words mutate along with the users, and the Net has a way of mixing up names like a Waring blender.  Marketers have cut and pasted every possible syllable from stamps, philatelic and philately onto myriads of nets, inters, webs, and their cousins.  Compounding the identity crisis are those extensions (.com .org .uk .ca .net etc.), and further schitzophrenia dervies from singulars and plurals.  (There is a difference between stamp.net and stamps.net.)

Expanding the vocabulary furher are words needed to describe the union of two things into one.  "Compulatelist" is the marriage of "computer" and "philatelist" and the title of the Philatelic Computing Study Group's publication.  The Lions call the benefits of participation in stamp collecting as a therapeutic activity "Philatherarapy."  And so it goes.

What is the term for a noun that no longer adequately describes the object in question and has to take on an additional modifier.  Until the early 1990's "stamps" were just stamps.  Now some are "water-activated stamps," and some "self-adhesive stamps."  There used to typewriters, plain and simple.  Then they became manual ones and electric ones.  Now I think they are extinct, and must nomenclature evolve, too?

Helping Others Help Others

A person sees a problem and decides to tackle it.  That's how things get done.  One site, International Philatelic Service, thinks that giving stamps to kids is a good way to get them interested in collecting, and to help more collectors help more kids, they searched for reputable non-profit groups that give youngsters free supplies of stamps.

Then they set up the list on his web site, so if you have duplicates, you can make a donation to future collectors simply by checking the list.

Give Stamps to Kids
http://www.baldcom.net/users/ips/give.htm

The Lions International Stamp Collecting Project has an contact page.  The Lions International and Recreational Therapy Service give stamps to VA medical centers.  

Lions  Lions International Stamp Collecting Project
http://www.ctlions.org/stamps.htm

Stay in Touch

The Glassine Surfer e-mail list is for AP readers to swap philatelic Net resources and tips.  

To join the list go to the Glassine Surfer page at the APS site, listed below, and fill in your email address in the form provided.  All messages will be sent to your email address.

When you send a message to the list, a copy will be sent to everyone who's signed up, and anyone can respond for the rest of the list members to read, too.  In this way, one person's question may elicit several answers or opinions and help many others learn how to use the Net to help build their collections.

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