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Lansdowne Stamp Club records
Notifications
Held at: Delaware County Historical Society [Contact Us]408 Avenue of the States, Chester, Pennsylvania, 19013
This is a finding aid. It is a description of archival material held at the Delaware County Historical Society. Unless otherwise noted, the materials described below are physically available in their reading room, and not digitally available through the web.
Overview and metadata sections
The Lansdowne Stamp Club, founded in 1925 in Lansdowne, Delaware County, Pennsylvania, was one of the first stamp clubs on the eastern seaboard (Holbrook). It was founded by Mrs. Mary G. Cook, who was also elected the club's first president. An early constitution of the club declared, "The object of the Club shall be to cultivate and promote a feeling of friendship among the philatelists of Lansdowne and vicinity, and to assist its members in the study and exchange of their stamps and in acquiring a general philatelic knowledge." In 1934 the club was incorporated as Chapter 115 of the American Philatelic Society.
The Lansdowne Stamp Club met regularly to hear prominent philatelists speak and view their collections on exhibit; a Merit Award was given out annually to outstanding speakers or club members. The club entered national stamp competitions, and held its own annual competition exhibitions beginning in 1927. During World War II, the club participated in the national "Stamps for the Wounded" program, encouraging stamp collecting as a therapeutic hobby for disabled war veterans confined to hospitals.
Bibliography:
Holbrook, Lois, "Renowned Collectors at Lansdowne Stamp Club." Upper Darby News, October 3, 1957. Clipping found in collection.
This collection includes: meeting minutes; narrative histories of the club; membership lists, applications, and directories; materials relating to the planning of stamp exhibitions, including pamphlets from SEPAD (the Associated Stamp Clubs of Southeastern Pennsylvania and Delaware's stamp show); auction lists; awards and certificates; correspondence, internal and with other philatelic organizations; and some financial papers and treasurer's reports. Most records date from the club's founding in 1925 through the 1950s, but there are many issues of The Tattler,, the newsletter of the Lansdowne Stamp Club, dating from 1954 to 1994.
Summary descriptive information on this collection was compiled in 2012-2014 as part of a project conducted by the Historical Society of Pennsylvania to make better known and more accessible the largely hidden collections of small, primarily volunteer run repositories in the Philadelphia area. The Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories (HCI-PSAR) was funded by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
This is a preliminary finding aid. No physical processing, rehousing, reorganizing, or folder listing was accomplished during the HCI-PSAR project.
In some cases, more detailed inventories or finding aids may be available on-site at the repository where this collection is held; please contact Delaware County Historical Society directly for more information.
Organization
Subject
Place
- Publisher
- Delaware County Historical Society
- Finding Aid Author
- Finding aid prepared by Celia Caust-Ellenbogen and Faith Charlton through the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories
- Sponsor
- This preliminary finding aid was created as part of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania's Hidden Collections Initiative for Pennsylvania Small Archival Repositories. The HCI-PSAR project was made possible by a grant from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
- Access Restrictions
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Contact Delaware County Historical Society for information about accessing this collection.