The Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposia - Smithsonian ...

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1 6 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t r i b u t i o n s t o h i s t o ry a n d t e c h n o l o g ystamps generated greater interest in the postal service andfor collecting the Department’s most popular product. 3Nineteenth- century philatelic societies functioned ina world almost completely removed from the producersof American stamps, the U.S. Post Office Department(USPOD), until the World’s Columbian Exposition at Chicagoin 1892–93. Prior to the 1890s, the USPOD maintainedlimited contact with stamp collectors. PostmastersGeneral were busy with balancing the duties of the Departmentwith business interests of the press and big businessand with morality crusades. Official USPOD recordsfrom this time reveal little contact with collectors. 4Conversely, philatelic journals did not discuss theUSPOD much in their pages. Philatelic societies and journalsfunctioned independently from the federal government.Publishing news releases regarding new issues ofstamps was the only role the USPOD played in print untilthe Columbian Exposition. American stamp collectorswere more interested in stamps than the federal agencythat produced them.Retailer John Wanamaker forever changed that relationshipduring his tenure as postmaster general (1889–1893) by recognizing that collectors were consumers ofstamps and that the government should harness their buyingpower and tap into their well- formed organizations.His administration is remembered mostly for the rural freedelivery plan, but Wanamaker also increased the visibilityof the USPOD in the philatelic world. Known moreas the creator of the modern department store than as aWashington bureaucrat, Wanamaker brought his businessacumen and understanding of customer relations to theDepartment. Additionally, Wanamaker was heavily influencedby the spectacle of the era’s great world fairs, makingit possible for him to see great potential in promotingthe USPOD through a carefully designed exhibit at theColumbian Exposition. 5From the early planning stages of the world’s fair,Wanamaker envisioned heightening the postal service’svisibility by staging an exhibit and issuing the first seriesof commemorative American stamps. Immediately aftersecuring funding from Congress, the USPOD contactedphilatelists who soon heard from renowned dealer C.H.Mekeel that the USPOD would exhibit a complete setof U.S. stamps with the help of the American PhilatelicAssociation (APA). However, the government’s displayhighlighted more than stamps by exhibiting the USPOD’scontributions in transportation and communication. 6 Theexhibit promoted good will with its patrons—the Americanpeople—and emphasized that the department existedfor public service. Constantly seeking to balance itsbudget, the department looked to the public for continuedfinancial support and the longevity of its agency.Soon after the announcement of the exposition, theUSPOD sought assistance from philatelists to create an exhibitof American and international stamps. Interestinglyin 1891, the APA created a committee to develop its ownexhibit at the world’s fair. Unable to obtain space in a privatebuilding, committee members contacted the Third AssistantPostmaster General, A. D. Hazen, asking for help.Hazen obliged their request and offered gallery space inthe government building overlooking the USPOD exhibit.Hazen envisioned that collectors from across the countrywould contribute stamps through the management of theAPA. Capitalizing on its national network of state philatelicsocieties, the APA asked for stamp and monetary donations“to make this exhibit as complete as possible.”Encouraging wide participation among its members, theAPA emphasized the great “impetus this exhibition willgive stamp collecting!” 7Identifying themselves as stamp experts and enthusiasts,philatelists reflected many of the main devices of theprogressive spirit sweeping across America. Though notseeking to solve social ills, these middle- class and elite collectorsbrought respectability to their leisure activity bymimicking new professional organizations. They accomplishedthis through constructing the study of stamps asa scientific pursuit, establishing their own professional associations,and publishing journals.In the late nineteenth century many Americans searchedfor order when government and big business expanded,and national institutions consumed local organizations.Robert Wiebe’s influential work, The Search for Order,details the breakdown of local autonomy in small “islandcommunities” beginning in the 1870s as hierarchical needsof industrial life took hold in the United States With theincreased presence of money, workers of all classes producedless inside their homes and began to rely more onstores for consumer goods from necessities to fine goods.Doctors, lawyers, social workers, economists, and psychologistsbecame professional experts who informed theexpanding government and the public how to solve socialproblems in an increasingly urban and industrial America.Professionalization emphasized scientific methods for fixingproblems, and those professionals formed associationsin the late nineteenth and early twentieth century. 8Philatelists also participated in a professionalizationprocess that began by promoting scientific aspects of theirhobby. In a popular 1886 book, The Study of Philately,Arthur Palethorpe proclaimed that “philately now ranksas a science” as he attempted to distinguish the practice
n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 7as something different from a mere childhood folly. TheAmerican Journal of Philately resumed publication in1888 and its editors wrote about how their readers enjoyeddebating “in the field of our sciences,” while thesubtitle of the Northwestern Philatelist noted it was “amonthly magazine devoted to the sciences of philately.”Other publications reinforced a connection with a scientificmethod by writing articles about how to properlyclassify a stamp collection. 9 This science- laden languageoffered philatelists an opportunity to become experts inthe small bits of paper they collected, traded, or bought.Stamp collectors organized societies to promote philatelyas a respectable activity. Following the British lead,the American Philatelic Association (APA) formed in 1886to promote stamp collecting in the United States. Thefounders encouraged local groups to form wherever “sixphilatelists can be brought together.” As a national society,the APA connected smaller groups meeting across thecountry in the pursuit of philatelic knowledge. 10Stamp collecting societies were early examples ofAmerican middle- class and elite hobby clubs. Many individualscollected various objects inside their homes, butothers wanted to connect with like- minded collectors andfounded clubs in the late nineteenth century. For instance,the Grolier Club, formed in 1884 in New York City, comprisedwealthy male book collectors who also dabbled inposter collecting. Coin collectors started the AmericanNumismatic Association in 1891 and the Collectors Clubpromoted philately among the elite and middle class beginningin 1896. Many others collected without clubs atthis time such as women and children who collected tradecards in scrapbooks kept inside the home, as Ellen GruberGarvey demonstrates. 11Those interested in stamp collecting who did not wantto join a club could connect to the emerging philateliccommunity by participating in the flourishing print culturethat emerged in the late nineteenth century. The firstserial, Stamp Collector’s Record, was issued in Albany,New York, by S. A. Taylor in December 1864, and thenumbers grew exponentially from there so that between1864 and 1906 over 900 stamp papers were published inthe United States alone. Even though many journals wereshort- lived, they demonstrate that stamp collecting indeedwas a national pastime. 12So prolific were philatelic publications that by 1892they became the subject of separate articles in the PennsylvaniaPhilatelist. Harry Franklin Kantner declared thatthe “philatelic writer” was “one of the most potent factorsin the Philatelic field” fighting for the progression of thehobby. The following year Kantner noted his excitementwhen reading his first small stamp journal but regrettedthat there were too many publications available and that“the ‘stamp fever’ became the ‘publishing fever’.” His articleactively discouraged “all ambitious young men” fromstarting new papers. 13While philatelic associations openly encouraged allto collect stamps, Kantner’s comments suggest that lineswere beginning to be drawn within the philatelic community.Applying a hierarchical framework to stamp papersand journalists is reminiscent of the post- Civil War tendencyto distinguish between high and lowbrow activities.Quite aware of philatelists’ place within the greater contextof American culture, Kantner commented that it was“not only a progressive age in general affairs but also inphilatelic matters.” 14Federal promotion of stamp collecting at the Chicagoworld’s fair thrilled this growing philatelic community becausethey believed the fair brought recognition for theirpursuit and their associations. Furthermore, philately extendedbeyond stamp and postal exhibits to the physicalpresence of stamp collectors who gathered in Chicago fortheir convention. Just as the American Historical Associationheld their annual meeting in Chicago, so did theAmerican Philatelic Association. In anticipation of theirmeeting, the editor of American Philatelist grew excitedbecause “the eyes of the entire civilized world” “turned towardsChicago” for the Exposition where their associatesmet. 15 Believing in the power of this mass cultural gathering,private collectors and the federal government togetherpromoted philately in very public ways for the first time.To further this relationship, Postmaster General Wanamakerproposed designing and issuing special stamps toappeal to collectors in and outside of the U.S. Wanamakerrecognized the stamp collecting “mania” and wanted theUSPOD to capitalize on philatelists’ desire to acquire newstamps and perhaps attract new collectors amazed by abeautifully- designed set of sixteen stamps depicting thestory of Columbus and his journey. Estimating that millionsof collectors, from the “school boy and girl to themonarch and the millionaire,” kept stamps in collections“never (to) be drawn upon to pay postage,” Wanamakersaw great potential for profit. The Columbians’ limitedissue, combined with a larger size and beautiful design,would attract international dealers and collectors (Figure1). He also envisioned these stamps stimulating correspondence,private and commercial, because affixing aColumbian stamp brought more attention to what wasinside that piece of mail. Not just for collecting, Columbiansheld value and represented pre- paid postage but didnot replace the contemporary issue of stamps from that
Page 1 and 2: Smithsonian InstitutionScholarly Pr
Page 3 and 4: smithsonian contributions to histor
Page 5: ContentsLETTER FROM THE DIRECTOR OF
Page 9: AcknowledgmentsThe symposium would
Page 12 and 13: 2 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n t
Page 20 and 21: 1 0 • s m i t h s o n i a n c o n
Page 25: “Little Colored Bits of Paper”C
Page 29 and 30: n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 9protest came
Page 31 and 32: n u m b e r 5 5 • 2 1nals I revie
Page 33 and 34: WWI Philatelic Censuses of East Afr
Page 35 and 36: n u m b e r 5 5 • 2 5Table 1. GEA
Page 37 and 38: n u m b e r 5 5 • 2 7Figure 5. MA
Page 39 and 40: Explorations in the Official Regist
Page 41 and 42: n u m b e r 5 5 • 3 1receipts. De
Page 43 and 44: n u m b e r 5 5 • 3 3TABLE 2. Pop
Page 45 and 46: n u m b e r 5 5 • 3 5different ge
Page 47: Introduction to the Second Symposiu
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Picking Up the Pieces: The Aftermat
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 3and U.S. adm
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 5September, 1
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 7Figure 9. Th
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 7 9“B.C.O.F.
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Introduction to the Fourth Symposiu
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“Why Is a Raven Like a Writing De
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 3and prepai
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 5Figure 3.
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 7Figure 5.
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 2 9A Final No
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America’s First Carrier Service:T
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 3Figure 3.
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 5The glazed
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 7Intercity
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 3 9The End of
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The U.S. 1847 Issue:Stamps That Cha
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 4 3the positi
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 4 5stamps as
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From the Pulpit to the Post: Anti-
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 4 9The allege
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n u m b e r 5 5 • 1 5 1Individual
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