"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....

Ownership of 1 piece of the 1c Magenta

I know that the selling of shares of the 1856 British-Guiana 1c Magenta has received mixed reviews from some philatelists. Many view it with a hefty dose of skepticism. A gimmick.  

Perhaps it is a gimmick.  Or it could be the beginning of a new form of ownership for rare and valuable stamps, and even a model for rethinking ownership and access to cultural artifacts as a whole. I viewed it as akin to a company offering an IPO.  I signed up to receive an early purchase option. This morning when the initial 80,000 piece offering went live, I purchased one.  We actually have two in the household as my husband purchased one as well. 

However, the issues surrounding this offering - the issues of ownership and access are not new ones for librarians. We have bee discussing and grappling with complex access and ownership issues surrounding our electronic collections for a couple decades now.  Our world is full of licenses and contracts dictating the "ownership" terms of e-books, e-journals, e-archives, streaming media, and more purchased from vendors and dealers. Do we really own it? Can we lend it? Do we have any right of first sale?  

It seems the philatelic world has entered into this complex fray. This move may just be the beginning. Crypto stamps already exist and are being sold by various countries and entities.  Don't get me wrong, I love my little virtual piece of the Magenta. However, I hope that fellow collectors realize that the proverbial horse is out of the barn and philately has changed forever. 

We may have made a wise decision or a foolish one. Only time will tell.  Now, how to put my 1 piece into a stamp album?  
 

Charleston Conference : my philatelic virtual poster

The Charleston Library Conference is always held during the first week of November in Charleston, South Carolina. The headquarters hotel is the Francis Marion Hotel located right off of Marion Square on King Street. It's a lovely city and a fantastic conference. Small-ish and focused on issues in book and serial acquisition in libraries.  In 2020 the conference was held virtually and this year it's a hybrid of in-person and virtual. I will be attending virtually. It's not the same, as I will not be able to network with vendors and colleagues. I will, however, get to attend the keynotes, the panel presentations, and view the posters which are all virtual.  

This year I am presenting a virtual poster that is focused on how to collect philatelic materials. It is geared toward the novice and to librarians. If you are attending the conference, check it out under the Virtual Poster sessions. It's entitled "It's in the mail: Diversifying your (special) collection with philately."  For those attending, click here for the full poster. 

Bringing order out of chaos

Over the weekend we watched Freaks & Errors: A Rare Collection, a fantastic documentary on stamp collecting.  Directed by Mark Cwiakala, this film explores the world of philately through interviews with dealers and collectors. 

The film showcased a few famous stamps: 

British Guiana 1c magenta

                                                                Benjamin Franklin Z Grill

                                                                                            Inverted Jenny 

These stamps are valuable, famous, and have interesting stories centered around their provenance.  However, what resonated with me in this film were the explanations on why the collectors became and remain interested in stamp collecting. One collector explained it as a desire and ability to bring order out of chaos.  

That's what librarians do! Bring order out of the information chaos. We do it by cataloging materials using MARC and other standards. We do it by creating research guides using LibGuides. We do it by creating user-friendly web pages that enable our patrons to easily find what they need.  

There are not any established standards for organizing philatelic materials into collections or albums (there are standards for exhibiting, but that's a post for another day). Philatelists are able to organize how they desire - by country, topic, release date, acquired date, etc.  

I would like nothing better than to have a meet-up with the folks in the overlapping bit of the above Venn diagram.  

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.