Postal Librariana Exhibits Win Awards



My 10 frame public library exhibit


As I mentioned in a previous post I had three postal librariana exhibits on display at last week's Rocky Mountain Stamp Show in Denver. There are two audiences for philatelic exhibits at stamp shows. One audience is the general attendees of the stamp show who range from casual collectors to serious philatelists. The other audience is a team of exhibit judges who are certified by the American Philatelic Society. It is the later group which evaluate each exhibit based on established standards and determine whether the exhibit is worthy of a gold, vermeil, silver, silver/bronze, bronze, or certificate award. The judges can give multiple award of each type. The judges also give out special awards made available by national and local stamp organizations. Finally, they determine the best (grand) exhibit and the second best (reserve grand) exhibit. All of my exhibits are related to the history of libraries and as a promoter of library history I am most interested in telling the story of libraries to a general audience. However, that doesn't mean that I am adverse to having my exhibits judged highly from a philatelic perspective, and my exhibits are also prepared with this in mind. I was pleased that my multi-frame exhibit titled "America's Public Libraries and Their Forerunners 1731-1956" received a gold award at the Denver stamp show. It also received an award from the Collectors Club of Denver as the Best Multi-frame Display Division Exhibit and the Collectors Club of Chicago Philatelic Exhibitor's Award (this award came with a collection of 4 philatelic monographs published by the club). My one frame exhibit "Library Uses of Melvil Dewey's Postal Card" received a vermeil medal (between gold and silver) and an award from the United Postal Stationery Society as the Best One Frame Stationery Exhibit. Finally, for some unknown reason my one frame exhibit on the American Philatelic Research Library which I submitted as a non-competitive exhibit received a silver-bronze award. All the exhibit award winners for the Rocky Mountain Stamp Show are listed in a document called "Palmares".  While it's nice to receive awards from the judges, it was especially nice to receive positive feedback from the general attendees of the stamp show. (Note: I want this blog to be about library history and not about me, but every now and then I can't help but toot my own horn.)