Philatelic Research Award

I call myself a library history buff in order to distinguish myself from library history scholars whose research is linked to their professional careers. In the world of philately very few individuals have their philatelic research linked to their careers.  Yet some very sophisticated research is undertaken by philatelists, and this research is honored in numerous ways by the philatelic community. The American Philatelic Society makes available a Research Award at each national level stamp show that it sanctions for the philatelic exhibit that displays a high level of original research.  I was pleased to be the recipient of that award at the Milcopex Stamp Show in Milwaukee this past weekend for my exhibit "America's Library - The Library of Congress".  Postal history is an aspect of philately that usually focuses on the postal history of a community or a specialized aspect of the postal history of a country. My exhibit on the Library of Congress begins to look at the postal history of an institution which in this case is a very complex organization that made heavy use of the mail to accomplish its mission. As with the library history scholar community I often feel like a fish out of water in the philatelic research community, so it's nice to be recognized for a small contribution to philatelic research.