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 Since then some of the information may be out-of-date depending on how far back you're reading.

July 2002

The Belgian Congo (in English)

This is a little story about how one Web site service can help another Web site reach more people. Languages are a constant limitation on the Web, and I get sick thinking of all the great stamp web sites that I can't enjoy fully because I can only read English.

I've run into large, well documented Web sites in French, German, Dutch, Italian, and a host of other tongues, and I've had to settle for a casual visit. Though there were or still are a few translation sites that could help, they were somewhat unwieldy, and my frustration simmered without hope.

Then I heard about the "Conge Belge et Ruanda-Urundi" Web site, and was tipped off to use the Google language tools (which are still in beta as of this writing).

The improvement that Google makes over other Web page translators is that Google frames the initial translated page and continues to translate all the other pages that you click on while the upper-frame is on. Other services often translated only one URL at a time and putting in each new address was tedious.

This new Google tool makes it possible to simply surf French, German, Spanish, Italian, and Portugese sites as you would English ones. To use it just go to the site, type in the URL of the site you want translated and then select the languages involved. Voila!

Google Language Tools
http://www.google.com/language_tools

Now, back to the Conge Belge et Ruanda-Urundi, where this story started. This site covers mail service, postal values, principal tariffs, seal taxes, seals and postal marks, service marks, gummed seals, mail boats, advertising tests, and a host of others.

This translated Web-English is easy to understand, though it takes some getting used to such fractured phrases as "I endeavoured to gather all that milked with I." But reading and enjoying this Congolese web site is a lot better than just staring at indecipherable text and great illustrations.

Congo Belge et Ruanda-Urundi
http://users.skynet.be/chst/

MoOM

There are traditional museums like the Louve and the Smithsonian, and there are Web collections. Now there's a nice meta site for online museums called the "Museum of Online Museum," where you can inspect some of the truly unique specters of the Web.

The portal has three parts. The museum campus is where you'll find The Smithsonian, Art Institute of Chicago, and the Rhode Island School of Design Museum. Click into the permanent collection and you can see "The Leaded Glass of Frank Lloyd Wright," "Classic Print Advertising," and "Fading Billboards."

But "Galleries, Exhibitions, and Shows" is where the action is. Here you can revel in "The Museum of Airsickness Bags," "Manhole Covers Arranged by County," and "LP's That Won't Be Released on CD."

It's just another of those who-would-have-thunk-it Web sites that we all privately enjoy and publicly avoid.

Museum of Online Museums
http://www.coudal.com/archives/museum.html

Lebanese Archive

The Lebanese Philatelic Archives is a database of the stamps of Lebanon and compiled by Elie I. Mourad. This online archive covers the years 1870 through to 1961, from the Ottoman and French occupations to the modern Republic of Lebanon, sorted by year, then by issue.

This is great site to bookmark for aid in identifying Lebanese issues. The stamp scans are crisp and clear, and it's laid out plainly for easy use.

Lebanese Philatelic Archives
http://www.lebphila.com