You will soon be receiving your 2009 membership dues notice.  We would appreciate your help in sending in your 2009 dues early before you become too busy with the holiday season.  You can also order a bound volume of the 2009 The United States Specialist for delivery in 2010.

Please remember that The United States Specialist and USSS membership is on a calendar year basis.  To avoid missing an issue, please renew before the end of the year and take a $3 discount from the yearly dues of $25.

Many members give additional contributions for the work of the Society.  Their continued generosity allows our Society to continue development of new Research Papers, Reprints, and books.

We would like to recognize those members who contribute to the Sustaining, Contributing and Patron levels as well as those contributing to the Hardship Fund by listing their names in our journal.  If, however, you wish to contribute but remain anonymous, there is a place to so indicate on the dues notice.

Also on the dues notice, we are asking for your email address if you have one.  The email address (as well as your regular journal mailing address) is for use only by the United States Stamp Society.  We do not sell, trade or otherwise give out email or regular mail addresses.  They are strictly for internal use only.

Your Society’s operations require four to five weeks to process address changes and renewals prior to delivery of the next month’s issue of The Specialist.  When members do not renew until February or March, continuation of The Specialist is not guaranteed.  The restarting of the journal to a delinquent dues payer adds expense.  Please let us know if you plan to drop your membership, too.

—Larry Ballantyne, Executive Secretary

The St. Louis Stamp Expo Show Committee has announced that Patrick Walters from New Jersey will serve as Chief Judge.  The other members of the jury will be James Graue (WA), Alan Warren (PA), Gregory Franz (CO) and Jonas Hallstrom (Sweden).  The exhibitor prospectus and application can be found on the show website at www.stlouisstampexpo.org.  The deadline for applications is December 15, 2008, and should be sent as soon as possible.  Additional details about USSS activities during the show will be published as soon as they are finalized.  Make plans now to attend the show, which will run from February 27th to March 1st, 2009.

—Nick Lombardi, President

As you will see in the following article, Washington-Franklin Head Issues Committee Chairman Larry Weiss is stepping down after twenty-five years of service.  During Larry’s tenure at the helm, the committee has become one of the most respected and active groups within the Society.  His work and leadership over the years has not only benefited Washington-Franklin collectors, but has also enhanced the image of the USSS as a whole.  Larry certainly deserves the appreciation of the entire Society for all he has done.

I now have the task of selecting a new Chairman for the committee.  If you would be willing to volunteer to fill this important position or have a recommendation of someone who might, please contact me via email or snail mail at P.O. Box 1005, Mountainside, NJ 07092.

—Nick Lombardi, President

In 1984 I established the Society’s Washington-Franklin Head Issues committee based on the simple desire to learn more about that stamp series by association with the many interested members of the Bureau Issues Association as we were then called.  Prior to its formation, the Society never had a standing committee or study group on the entire Washington-Franklin head series although parts of it such as the offset issues and vending machine issues were covered at times.

The Washington-Franklin Head Issues Committee, often numbering over 25, never had any “members,” as that standing title was felt to be too static as compared to having “participants” – one simply participated to join in the learning.  There were no committee newsletters or other regular publications of the committee.  We focused entirely on the production of research articles for publication in The United States Specialist.

The chairman or a participant drafted articles and the many other committee participants supported the author by lending stamps for study, providing comments on drafts or in some cases performing research in local libraries or the Bureau of Engraving and Printing.  We were all students learning more about the series and sharing it with our fellow Society members through our publications.

In this manner we came to publish about 100 articles during the 25 years since the committee was formed, each with extensive peer review and a high level of accuracy.  Our efforts were recognized by being selected three times for the USSS Walter W. Hopkinson Memorial Award for the best article or series published in The Specialist.  Several of the articles have been extensively reprinted and after many years are still best-sellers.  As a result of the expertise developed over the years, I and other committee participants have been invited to assist in Scott catalog revisions.  We have also served on expert committees and as consultants to those committees.  Some of our publications were printed or summarized in philatelic newspapers and magazines, spreading the word about the series and increasing its collector interest.

I thank all of the numerous committee participants for their help.  They were generous and unselfish in sharing their philatelic material, in their help in research projects, and in their writing, reviewing and commenting on draft articles.  The committee success over the years is due to the team effort, and I am ever grateful to those who participated.  I know most already have some reward in the learning they themselves achieved through their participation, but my hearty “thanks” gets added to that.

There is more to learn and publish about the series, and I still have many ideas for articles and some in the works.  However, in recent years my personal circumstances have not permitted me the luxury of the time to lead the committee activities with the same vigor as in the early years.

So, with the Washington-Franklin Heads reaching its 100th year anniversary and the committee reaching its 25th, it is the time for me to move on and let another student of the issue lead the committee effort.  I hope the USSS leadership will choose a new committee chairman who can re-invigorate the learning process that I started and produce a new flow of material for The Specialist.