Postal films : GPO Unit

In researching the Snowdrop stamp for an earlier entry, I discovered that the UK General Post Office at one time had its own film unit. GPO Film Unit was set up in 1933 and was primarily (but not exclusively) responsible for making documenting GPO-related activities. This unit was run by Scottish documentary filmmaker John Grierson.  More on Grierson can be found at the University of Stirling's Special Collections in the John Grierson Collection.  

Rolls of cine 35mm film & cans. Photograph. Encyclopædia Britannica ImageQuest. Accessed Oct 27, 2021.

The unit was under the auspices of the GPO until 1940 when it was moved under the Ministry of Information and renamed the Crown Film Unit. 

The British Film Institute has some of the films available to watch for free. They also released a collection of the GPO films in 2008 under the title Addressing the Nation.  Some of the films are also available on YouTube. One of my favorites is Rainbow Dance (1936) directed by Len Lye. It's a film ahead of its time mixing positive and negative images, animation, color, along with modern dance and music. The film actually was an advertisement for the GPO Savings Bank!

Additional reading on the GPO Unit and its films: The projection of Britain: a history of the GPO Film Unit / edited by Scott Anthony and James G. Mansell.  New York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.  9781844573745

Final Fun fact: Grierson is credited with coining the term "documentary" in his anonymous New York Sun review of the film Moana directed by Robert Flaherty (Nanook of the North fame).  Grierson signed his review as "The Moviegoer."  You can read the review in its entirety in the second edition of Lewis Jacob's The Documentary Tradition, New York: W.W. Norton, 1979. 

Jerry Pinkney (1939-2021)

As many of you may be aware, acclaimed children's literature writer and illustrator, Jerry Pinkney, passed away at age 81 on Wednesday, October 20, 2021. 

Perhaps you are familiar with his Caldecott Medal-winning book, The Lion and the Mouse?  

My favorite Pinkney work is his illustrations for Rudyard Kipling's classic Rikki-Tikki-Tavi. The length and breadth of his work are amazing, and in 2016, he received the Coretta Scott King - Virginia Hamilton Award for Lifetime Achievement award. 

Do you know about the work he did with the United States Postal Service?  Jerry Pinkney illustrated a number of postal stamps for the USPS's Black Heritage series.  

I am sharing a few that we have in our collection. 

Whitney Moore Young: Black Heritage Series.  Scott's 1875  Issued January 30, 1981

Harriet Tubman: Black Heritage Series. Scott's 1744 Issued February 1, 1978 

Benjamin Banneker: Black Heritage Series. Scott's 1804. Issued February 15, 1980

Martin Luther King, Jr.: Black Heritage Series. Scott's 1771. Issued January 13, 1979

         

Running rum during Prohibition: Saint-Pierre and Miquelon

Off the coast of Newfoundland is the Territorial Collectivity of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, a self-governing French overseas collectivity.  These two islands are more simply called Saint-Pierre and Miquelon.  You can see where they are located on the map below. 

These two islands played a fascinating role during the period of Prohibition in the United States. They essentially were warehouses of liquor for U.S. bootleggers. Ships from these French islands also supplied Prince Edward Island during its Prohibition period (1901-1948).  

During this period fishermen converted their trawlers and stopped hauling cod off of the Grand Banks to haul more profitable bottles and barrels of booze to its dry neighbor.  

In 1988 the collectivity issued the following commemorative postage stamp (Stanley Gibbons PM 604; Yvert et Tellier PM 492; Scott's PM 511) 

This stamp (part of my personal collection) was issued on August 7, 1988, features the fishing schooner, the Nellie J. Banks, and cases of liquor. It commemorates the 50th anniversary of the vessel being seized by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police cutter, the Ulna in August 1938. This seizure finally ended the Nellie J. Banks' rum-running activities.  She had been captured in 1927 by the United States Coast Guard ship, the Bayfield. 

While searching for postal stamps depicting liquor or related images, I came across this 1988 Saint-Pierre and Miquelon stamp. Investigating the stamp led to learning about the history of Saint-Pierre and Miquelon and their Prohibition activities. We are in the process of purchasing a number of books recounting the islands' history and role during Prohibition for our Distilling, Fermenting, and Brewing Collection.  I'll have to find a copy of the stamp for the collection as well! 

If you are interested in learning more about Saint-Pierre and Miquelon's past, check out these articles. 

Smithsonian Magazine (January 2018) 

Spirits Selection (January 2021) 

International Food and Wine Society (February 2015) 

Philately - it's academic!

Philately. Stamp collecting. A hobby.  However, philately is more than just a hobby. Philately is a way of examining history, society, art, and culture.  

A recent meeting at work about the ProQuest and the dissertation submission process got me wondering if there are dissertations about stamps and other philatelic materials and history. 

Turns out there are! 

I did a very broad search in ProQuest Dissertations & Theses Global 

The search yielded 1,235 entries with publication dates ranging from 1902 to 2021. I sorted them by relevance. Looking at the topics, the keywords appeared mainly in the title or abstract but were not assigned as a subject. 

Some of the relevant selections within the first 20 citations include: 

Herndon, M. E. (1991). The sporting spirit: Perceptions in philatelic art iconography and sports philately, 1896-1974. (volumes I-IV)  The Ohio State University.

Xue, Y. Y. (2011). Opinion on china philatelic marketing theory under the experience economy. Renmin University of China 

Jin, H. J. (. (2008). Strategic ponderation on development of china philatelic service. Renmin University of China 

Lemiski, K. J. (1999). The political significance of philately: Imperial and national postal systems in Ukraine. 

Arizona State University

Luff, D. J. (1998). The utility of philately in comparative education and the analysis of higher education systems. University of the Pacific

Baixauli Comes, V. (1989). The Spanish pharmaceutical laboratories and industry in the 19th and 20th centuries: Historical postal and philatelic study. Universitat de Valencia

However, there were some within that first block of 20 that did not focus on philately, but only casually mentioned it.  

For my second search, I used the same terms with the boolean "or" but selected to search within all subjects and indexing. I hoped to yield a strong list of results, but without the citations that were not truly about philately. 

This search yielded only 4 citations. Three of the citations appeared in my first search within the initial 20.  The fourth one was in my first set of results, just not within the first 20 citations.  

As a librarian, I find looking at these indexing and metadata issues fascinating. But, the point of this post is to share that philately is not just a hobby. It is a way of viewing history - socially, culturally, politically, and economically.  It is worthy of serious academic study. My quick search of doctoral dissertations and master's theses illustrates this.  

Snow Drops : 1979 UK commemorative

This beautiful stamp was on my recent Philatelovely blanket order. 

This stamp of Snow Drop flowers is one of four released on March 21, 1979, commemorating British flowers. Stamps were issued for the primrose, the daffodil, the bluebell, as well as the snow drop. In addition to the stamps, corresponding postcards were also issued.  Designed by Peter Newcombe, this stamp measures 30x41mm and was printed by Harrison & Sons, Ltd using a photogravure process. 

Full information about this stamp, including photos of the other three flowers and postcards, travel to this site here. 

Peter Newcombe, the designer, created a documentary film for the Post Office entitled "Spring Quarter."  The film won a gold medal at the 1979 New York Film Festival. Unfortunately, I have not been able to find a copy of the film.  But, my research into it will (hopefully) yield a future post on postal films. 

Blanket order with Philatelovely

 Stamp vendors, like many library book vendors, have a couple ways to purchase: firm order, approval, or standing order.  These acquisitions methods are similar to those in the library world. 

Over the years my husband has had various approval plans with various companies, and of course, has made many firm order purchases. He has not had a standing order yet. 

Recently, I bought a lovely set of pre-decimal stamps on Etsy from John Simper who does business as Philatelovely. I was very pleased with the purchase. Not only did I get the pre-decimal stamps, but I also received a postcard and additional stamps! This is in addition to the lovely packaging it all came in with a terrific amount of stamps affixed for postage. 

Philatelovely has a very extensive social media presence (Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter @Philatelovely). He also participates over at Patreon. For those who are unfamiliar with Patreon, it's a platform that provides the tools content creators need to run a subscription service. You can learn more here. We decided to become a Magenta tier patron (named after the British Guiana 1 cent magenta stamp)  For our monthly support, we will receive a lovely package of stamps, a first-day cover, mini-sheets, and other goodies. In library acquisitions terms - a blanket order. 

We received our first "blanket order" of materials on Tuesday. 

The package has lovely UK stamps and an air mail "cinderella"

The contents did not disappoint. Below is a small selection of the stamps. 

I was excited to see several from Finland. 

And we also got a postcard commemorating H.G. Wells and a sticker! 

Edited to add in this wonderful story Stanley Gibbons did about Philatelovely. 

Frances Elizabeth Willard: Educator and Temperance Advocate

 

Frances Elizabeth Willard 

1839-1898

Educator and Temperance Advocate

As part of our Distilling, Fermenting, and Brewing collection, we opted to collect revenue and postal stamps, as well as First Day Covers. In addition to the alcohol/liquor topicals and tax stamps, we expanded to cover Prohibition and Temperance themes.  

Frances Willard is an educator and temperance supporter. We recently added these two First Day Covers to our collection. 

Frances Elizabeth Willard First Day Cover. Scott's 872. Part of the 1940 Famous Americans - Educators series. 

We also purchased this cover which also commemorates Frances Willard. The stamps are interesting in that one works in conjunction with her connection to higher education but the focus is the envelope.

One of the stamps works in conjunction with her connection to higher education. The 4-cent "Higher Education" is Scott's 1206 issued on November 14, 1962. This stamp was printed using the Giori Press. The 20-cent stamp is Scott's 1894 and features the U.S. flag over the Supreme Court. 

As interesting as the stamps are (and I find the printing technique used in the 4-cent one intriguing), the focus is really the envelope.  

As our collection grows, I hope that our philatelic materials will be used in exhibits for our Distilling collection, but perhaps as compliments in others as well.  

Postcrossing

 As mentioned in my why a reluctant philatelist post, I have enjoyed collecting postcards for some time. I particularly am fond of ones with maps - country maps, city, maps, maps of transit systems. 

I recently signed up with Postcrossing, a project that allows participants to exchange postcards with others around the world. The idea is simple: send a postcard, get a postcard.  The project was started in 2005 by Paulo Magalhães. The project now boasts over 800,000 registered members from 209 countries. An astounding 63,774,843 postcards have been received.  Right now I have six postcards traveling and have received six. 

My Postcrossing cards sent from Spain, Connecticut, Prague, Miami, Netherlands, and Germany

Postcrossing has been such a joy. There is something wonderful about selecting, writing, and decorating a card to send off, as well as receiving one. Postcrossers use stamps, stickers, washi tape, and hand-drawn pictures to decorate cards.  Each one is unique and can be its own work of art. 

From a philatelic point of view, Postcrossing provides an added venue for obtaining postal stamps!  

Czech Republic 

My favorite stamp among this lot of three from the Czech Republic is the one on the far left.  It was issued in 2012 and is an example of folk architecture in Dolni Vidim. It depicts a typical timbered house from the whole Kokořín area.  The stamp was designed by Jan Kavan and engraved by Bohumil Šneider.  

Germany (and you can see some of the lovely washi tapes applied as decoration)

My favorite stamp on this card is the 70-ct 2018 "800 Jahre Hansestadt Rostock" (SG DE 4198).  This stamp was issued to commemorate the 800th anniversary of the German city of Rostock.  Designed by Matthias Wittig, a Berlin-based graphic designer.  The image was striking and bold, a mix of the old skyline with the modern shipyard machinery featuring a Van-Goghesque swirl of water.   

Just because I am an academic librarian, I'd like to share a link to the University of Rostock's library.  The library is a stunning piece of architecture. Designed by Henning Larsen, it was built in 2004. I could not locate any public domain or cc:by images to use. So, I encourage you to check out the links. 

Why a reluctant philatelist?

Why do I call myself the reluctant philatelist?  It's a long story, but I'll do an abridged version here. Stamps and postal history have always been in the background somewhere in my life. For decades.  But only in the past year has it realized into an intellectual and professional interest. 

As a child, I was given some sort of starter album and stamps.  I distinctly remember my father attempting to show me how to hinge the stamps onto the pages.  The attention to detail bored me. I had no patience to sort, match, and hinge all those stamps. (Although I did like how they looked  - all the various countries and images were wonderful) My starter album was soon abandoned and discarded. 

Over the years, connections to philately came and went. Working in libraries, I saw many wonderful stamps on letters and packages.  I corresponded with friends as they went on adventures in France, Northern Ireland, Mali, and Mongolia.  I saved their letters sent in airmail envelopes with colorful stamps, but eventually, they too were discarded. 

Enter my husband, an ardent stamp collector.  He would attempt to seduce me into the hobby. I resisted. There wasn't any real reason why. I enjoyed geography and maps, history, as well as art and design. All of these things are prominent in philately.  By that time, I even had more than a passing interest in postcards (deltiology!) and avidly collected ones with maps on them.  

Select postcards from my collection 

I even had, if I were honest, a small philatelic collection myself: a Mary Lyon (Scott's 2169) stamp, a block of Elvis (Scott's 2721), and the complete sheet of the Greetings from America stamps (Scott's pane of 50, #3561-3610). I began to assist his collecting, bringing home from work envelopes and package wrappings with overseas stamps, and I was just as excited as he was when he came across a large box of stamps and 19th-century letters in our apartment building's recycling room. 

Enter in a change of jobs, another cross-country move, and the pandemic. Like many others, I worked from home during the early months of the COVID-19 pandemic.  And the philatelic world moved from in-person to virtual like everything else.  Tired of the offerings on Netflix and Prime, my husband started to watch "Stamp chats" sponsored by the American Philatelic Society, listened to (and watched) Conversations with Philatelists, and discovered the YouTube channel Explorings Stamps. 

It was Graham Beck's Exploring Stamps videos that sealed my fate. I found the topics fascinating. The first one I saw was "Collecting Perfins."  Beck combined the physical artifact with its history and connected it to the larger global context.  I was hooked.   

Welcome!

Welcome to the Reluctant Philatelist!  I am an academic librarian by profession who has stumbled into the world of philately.  I hope to share my explorations as a novice philatelist as well as a librarian. We just began a small philatelic collection to support one of our Special Collections where I work. I want to share that stamps, covers, and other philatelic materials can enhance a collection and provide interesting avenues for researchers. 

     Selection of State of Tennessee revenue stamps held at the James E. Walker Library. Middle Tennessee State University

Opinions and thoughts posted here are my own.