OpenPhilately - a new Open Access journal

Once again it's been a while since I last posted and again it's the usual suspects: work, research, and home.  I am still fairly active over on Twitter @ReluctantPhila1. 

Over the past couple of months I've been contemplating a new project. I've decided to try my hand at publishing an Open Access journal on my library's open journal platform.  I've signed the official agreement with our digital scholarship librarian, had it approved by our Dean, and filled out all of the initial set-up forms.  I am calling the journal, OpenPhilately. 

OpenPhilately is an open-access journal--free for authors and readers. By making research freely available, we help support the greater global exchange of knowledge. Users have the right to read, download, copy, distribute, print, search, or link to the full text of articles in this journal, and to use them for any other lawful purpose. There are no article submission or processing charges. Each journal volume is preserved via the Walker Library's three level preservation methods including local and cloud storage. The author(s) retains/retain the copyright to the work, but grants OpenPhilately the right to publish, display, and distribute the work in the OpenPhilately journal, in print and electronic format.  All articles will be published under a CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 license. 

Right now I am looking for interested philatelists to join me in this adventure. I am seeking one or two volunteers who would be willing to serve as part of an editorial board, and I am seeking a volunteer with graphic design talents to design the journal's logo.  

Finally, I am looking for content!  Please consider writing an article or review (book, film, or social media) for publication.  

Content guidelines and submission requirements are available on OpenPhilately's webite. 

First issue target publication is mid-2023. 

Seven Brothers by Aleksis Kivi

It's been a while since I posted. I apologize for that.  Work, research, and home have kept me busy, and I've found myself more active on Twitter: @ReluctantPhila1. 

At the end of August I joined Postcrossing and have been happily exchanging postcards across the country and world.  Sending and receiving cards has brought immense joy to me, and I hope to those with whom I have had the pleasure to correspond. 

I've been the recipient of several book recommendations which include: 

• The Truth About the Harry Quebert Affair / Joel Dicker 
• Martin Eden / Jack London 
• Burning Daylight / Jack London 
• Sovereign / Machiavelli 
• the novels by Boris Akunin 

Right now I am reading (in English translation) Seven Brothers (Seitsemän veljestä) by Finnish author Aleksis Kivi.  The recommendation came from a recent Finnish Postcrossing card which depicted his home in Tuusula. 

 

Kivi's home is the bottom left photo. 

Kivi's work is the first novel written in Finnish, and according to my Postcrossing correspondent, it is read by every schoolchild in Finland as part of their instruction.  I highly recommend reading this article by BBC writer Lizzie Enfield. She delves into the importance of this work on Finnish society and culture. 

The novel has an interesting format; there are narrative portions, but it reminds me more of a play. Kivi structures the dialogue like one would see in a playscript, and it's the dialogue that drives the plot forward. 

I have a small amount of Finnish stamps, and I remembered one semi-postal set that depicted the Seven Brothers.  A little more digging, and I found I had a few that either were directly related to the novel or were reminiscent of the story. 

Stanley Gibbons FI 768-770  / Scott FI B188-B190

This set of semi-postals was issued on 8 May 1970.  The stamps depict three scenes from the novel. Moving clockwise from the upper left; Chapter 7 "On the Magic Stone" ; Chapter 5 "The Pale Girl" ; Chapter 10 "Juhani on Impivaara Rock."  This set was designed by Pentti Rahikainen. 

Stanley Gibbons FI 1067 and Scott FI 697

This stamp, released on 10 October 1984, commemorates the 150th Birthday of Aleksis Kivi (1834-1872).  It was designed by Pirkko Vahtero. (Her Christmas stamps are absolutely gorgeous!).  

There are two more stamps that were issued to commemorate Kivi and the novel. However, I, unfortunately, do not yet own them. (added them to my stamp wish list!).  

In 1934 this stamp was issued to commemorate Kivi's 100th birthday. It was designed by Germund Paaer.

                       

                                                          Stanley Gibbons FI 302 / Scott FI 206 

More recently, on 9 October 1997, Finland released a series honoring 100 Years of the Finnish Writers Guild.  The first stamp, designed by Raimo Sallinen, in the series honors the Seven Brothers. 

Stanley Gibbons FI 1487 / Scott FI 1054

As I was delving into my Finnish stamps, I uncovered some that I thought helped illustrate Aleksis Kivi and his novel.  

Tuusula is located on the shores of Tuusulanjärvi lake which has been an artist's colony. I imagine that Aleksis Kivi might have seen landscapes like what is depicted in this Finnish definitive, Landscape with Lake and Rowing Boat. Issued 26 March 1961. 

Stanley Gibbons FI 553 / Scott FI 380 

I also can imagine the Seven Brothers' farm in this 1964 definitive. 

Stanley Gibbons FI 677 / Scott FI 414

Finally, there's a scene early in the novel of the brothers taking a sauna to ease their aches and wounds. This 1977 definitive, designed by Paavo Huovinen, depicts a lakeside sauna. 

 Stanley Gibbons FI 893 / Scott FI 567 

I'd like to finish up with a little Extreme Philately - biblio-style! 

Extreme Philately

 It's been a while since I've posted here, but I have been active over on Twitter. You can follow me at @ReluctantPhila1. 

One aspect of philately that I find fun is "Extreme Philately" - where one takes a stamp and matches it up to its real-life counterpart. It could be an outdoor location or building, a still-life, or other interior item or place.  I am not sure who was the first person to start this activity, but it's a technique that Graham Beck at Exploring Stamps has used for his video stamp explorations since his channel's inception in 2016.  

Beck is not the only one. There are many others on Twitter and Instagram sharing their photos of the stamp and the counterpart. Try searching #xtremephilately on either service and see some examples from across the globe. 

Medieval Philately created a pyramid to illustrate the difficulty of capturing the various aspects of a stamp. The bottom of the pyramid has the easiest - indoor items, whereas the top is the most difficult - scenery.  You can check it out here. 

I finally obtained a stamp as a Christmas gift (it was a very stampy Christmas) that would work. 

As you can see I started at the bottom of the pyramid with an indoor item. 

This photograph features Botswana # 873 issued in 2008. The image of the actress (and singer! and poet!) Jill Scott, who starred as Precious Ramotswe in the too short-lived HBO series The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency based on the wonderful novels of the same name by Alexander McCall Smith.  I am a fan of this series and was happy to also receive the twenty-second novel in the series as a Christmas gift.  

Will I engage in more extreme philately? If the stamps align, yes.  

My first philatelic club meeting and an Elks cinderella

I attended my first philatelic society meeting. I traveled up to Nashville with my husband to attend the Nashville Philatelic Society December meeting. He's a member, and I decided to join as well. I have to wait until my name is read out twice to be an official member. So, next month! 

The club meets at a German beer hall restaurant at a local mall. I wish it were closer, but the location is decent with plenty of parking. The beer hall provides a nice private room with plenty of tables and space. We get our own server and many folks get food and drink. The location was a bonus in that the mall has a Nashville souvenir store and a Madame Tussaud's museum complete with a gift shop. I was able to purchase some postcards for sending out via Postcrossing or just randomly to friends and family.  

It is nice to make personal connections and learn from folks. One of my takeaways was the existence of the American Philatelic Society's circuit books.  I browsed through the ones available and ended up purchasing this lovely cinderella. 

I guess this would fall within the "I collect things I fancy."  But, it also has a nice city skyline - so architecture. But, what caught my eye was the artwork and the fact it was released as part of an Elks convention. 

I did a quick Google to find out a bit more.  This convention was the Elk's 39th national convention, but the first national convention held in the State of Florida. The arrival of conventioneers made the front page of the Miami Daily News on July 5, 1928.  George Murray Hulbert was elected as the national leader. Hulbert served as a US Representative from New York as well as a US District Court judge. You can read the speech he gave at the convention in the August 1928 Elks Magazine.  The Elks website has a treasure trove of historical images and information on the order. 

But, what I found most interesting was that the Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was founded in 1868 as a private club to elude the New York City laws governing the opening hours for public taverns. I cannot wait to start to do some more research on that for the Walker Library's Distilling, Fermenting, and Brewing collection! 

"What do you collect?"

A common enough question is to ask a collector "what do you collect"?  The question appears on many association and society membership forms. Reasonable enough.  However, as a new collector, I have yet honed in on exactly what I want to focus my time, energy, and monies acquiring, arranging, and sharing.  But, I want to be able to answer that question somewhat when (or if) folks ask. 

For me, the question has dual sides. I am starting to collect personally, but I am also collecting professionally. 

As I mentioned in previous posts, in 2020, we began a new special collection here at my library that focuses on distilling, fermenting, and brewing. Our primary focus is Tennessee, but we also plan on incorporating selected works from across the world.  In order to help support a more comprehensive and unique view of the distilling, fermenting, and brewing topic, we started to collect philatelic materials. It started with revenue stamps and expanded to include postage stamps and covers, as well as postcards. At this point, I am open to all philatelic and postal-related materials with an alcohol theme or subject.  These topics could include depictions of the finished product, ingredients, maps of production areas, and techniques. We also want to collect depictions of the social and political aspects of alcohol including Prohibition, alcoholism, and driving under the influence. 

My personal collecting is a bit different and is still undergoing refinement. I know I cannot collect everything. Right now I am in the "oohhhh shiny" phase. Every stamp is incredibly interesting and opens up new avenues for exploration.  But, I think I have whittled my initial interests down.  All categories are worldwide. I do prefer worldwide stamps to US. 

"Non-traditional stamps".  I really like the stamps that are a bit different in terms of materials, shapes, or images.  For example,  I just had to have the two Austrian COVID stamps - the toilet paper one and the mask.  My enjoyment of these stamps will cross over a bit with the work collection in that I hope to obtain a copy of the Portuguese cork stamp. 

Library or museum-related stamps and postcards.  I really love libraries and have done so since I was a small child. Yes, I was the kid who cataloged her books in elementary school. (NB: while I have cataloged as a professional librarian, I am not a cataloger. Acquisitions and collection development is more my thing!) 

Ships (stamps only).  Particularly ones from 18th and 19th centuries.  

Architecture (stamps and postcards).  I love to see interesting buildings - modern and old from around the world. 

About me.  I want to start an album that is "all about me".  The first section will contain a representative stamp from each year of my life.  I am focusing uniquely on US stamps for this part. Additional parts will be focused on major milestones and interests. I'll probably have an "education" section with stamps pertaining to the years I graduated from high school, college, and graduate school. As well as stamps indicating activities, interests, and people from those times in my life. Another area would focus on my family, and I may want to include areas centered around my work and the various cities/states that I called home. This will have to have homemade, custom-designed pages. This sounds a bit "scrapbooky."  But, my collection, my rules, right?  

But how to distill this into a quick "elevator-type" length?  No one will want to sit through 10 minutes of explanation.  Perhaps it comes down to "I collect things that I fancy. I collect worldwide." 

Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk

 Yesterday my husband was sorting stamps and came across this one. 

1960 Scott's 1147. Champion of Liberty issue

The stamp is not pink. The photo gave it that hue. 

The image is rather small, but it's of Tomáš Garrigue Masaryk, the co-founder and the first president of Czechoslovakia.  I have a soft spot for Masaryk due to our time living in Chicago. On the east end of the Midway Plaisance, nestled between the neighborhoods of Hyde Park and Woodlawn, there's a magnificent statue of Masaryk on horseback.  

In reading about Masaryk, I enjoyed the various connections to my own life - albeit very tangential. Obviously, there's the Chicago connection, but there's another connection as well. Charles R. Crane invited Masaryk to speak at the University of Chicago. Charles was the son of the plumbing mogul, Richard T. Crane. Richard T. Crane built a summer house in Ipswich. The Crane Estate which includes a beautiful beach is a vital part of the town.  

I invite you to read up on Masaryk and if you are interested in Czech history in the United States, please check out the Archives of Czechs and Slovaks Abroad (ACASA) which is housed in the Regenstein Library at the University of Chicago. 

MTSU's Distilling, Fermenting, and Brewing Collection: "Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton

At MTSU's Walker Library we are growing a wonderful Special Collection that focuses on Distilling, Fermenting, and Brewing. Our focus is primarily Tennessee, but we do collect supporting materials from all over the United States and the world.  For more information on how and why we started this collection, see our article in the Southeastern Librarian. 

We want our collection to be varied and unique, and we are interested in thinking expansively when it comes to acquiring materials. In addition to monographs, archival materials, and ephemera, we looked toward philately to provide an additional dimension to our collection. 

We are actively collecting revenue and postage stamps, as well as First Day Covers. We also looped in postcards and are open to other aspects of postal materials. 

As a budding philatelist, I am always on the lookout for interesting (and affordable!) stamps for my own collection, but also for the collection at work.  One evening I was browsing the American Topical Association's online store. I recently became a member and wanted to check out their topical checklists for purchase.  

I came across this postal cover issued as part of the 2017 National Topical Stamp Show which features the infamous Appalachian moonshiner Marvin "Popcorn" Sutton.  It was a must-have. 

This purchase led to a small buying spree of materials on Popcorn. After all, a collection on distilling should have materials on moonshine! 

We were able to augment this piece with documentaries, a cd of interviews with Popcorn, a couple biographies, and a memoir written by his daughter.   I am still on the look-out for a reasonably priced copy of Popcorn's book Me and My Likker.  Right now the copies available are a little high for my budget.  But, if someone would like to donate one....