The 2010 Annual Meeting of the United States Stamp Society was held at the rejuvenated Philadelphia National Stamp Exhibition in Oaks, Pennsylvania, over the April 9th weekend.  More than 40 members from coast to coast and border to border attended the show.

The official business of the Society was conducted at the Board of Governors Meeting on Saturday morning and the General Membership Meeting later in the afternoon.  The account of the Board Meeting is reported elsewhere in this issue, as are the General Meeting minutes and Committee reports.

We opened the show on Friday morning with the release of the Society’s latest publication, the 2010 Durland Standard Plate Number Catalog Supplement.  This 24-page full color 8½” x 11” publication contains additions and corrections to the 2008 Durland, as well as a listing of new issues from 2008, 2009, and right up to the Distinguished Sailors issue in February of this year.  We sold out of the supply that we brought to the show and virtually every buyer commented on the high quality of the publication.  The Supplement is priced at only $5 postpaid for members.  With a limited print run, I suggest that you order your copy today.  Thanks to the work of our Exhibit Photocopy Service, we were also able to release another top notch exhibit on CD – Mark Burnett’s 2009 version of “Washington-Franklin Postal History: Rates and Usages 1908-1923.”  I highly recommend this CD not only to Washington-Franklin collectors, but also to anyone already involved in, or thinking about, exhibiting.  It contains a wealth of useful information and ideas.

On Friday afternoon, Jeff Shapiro gave a presentation about the postal history of the 1937 50¢ Airmail Clipper stamp.  In the evening, 17 members attended the traditional USSS Fellowship Dinner at Bertucci’s Restaurant located right next to the show hotel.  We enjoyed a family style buffet dinner with great conversation and plenty of laughs.  I want to thank Bob Rufe for not only arranging this dinner, but also for acting as the Society liaison to the show committee.

Saturday was a busy day and the Society was well represented in every aspect of the show.  Rich Nazar gave a presentation about the Flag Over Porch stamps in the morning and I gave a walkthrough of my registered mail exhibit.  More than half of the exhibits were the work of Society members, many of whom participated in the Jury Critique in the afternoon.  At the awards reception that evening, the multi-frame Grand Award was won by member Dr. Carmine A. Puliafito with his exhibit “United States Independent Mail Stamps: 1844-1845,” and the single frame Grand went to member Greg Shoults for “Washington and Franklin Coils 1914 Perf. 10.”  The Society’s Hugh M. Southgate Memorial Trophy was won by Jim Kotanchik for “100 Years of United States Official Seals,” while the Walter W. Hopkinson Memorial Trophy was awarded to Bob Rufe for “U.S. Special Handling 1925-1959: The Stamps and the Service.”  USSS members also garnered a number of other special awards for their exhibits.

Our Society table was staffed continuously throughout the three days of the show.  Members stopped by to purchase books, exchange information or just to rest up. Jim Kotanchik picked up his 25-year membership pin and Tom Cook received his 15-year pin.  We signed up five new members and had good publication sales.  A special thanks goes out to Joann and Kurt Lenz, C. David Eeles, Gerry Farrelly, Kim Johnson, Larry Ballantyne, Frank Braithwaite, Mike Lampson, Roger Brody, Jacques Schiff, Jeff Shapiro, Bob Thomas and Bob Rufe for helping to man the booth at various times.  Of course, we would not have had a booth at which to congregate were it not for Tom Jacks of Mountainside Stamps who, once again, trucked all of our supplies and publications to the show.  Other Society members who visited the booth included:

Greg Shoults	Marc Achterhof	Joe Bock	Tom Mazza
Michael Bell	Paul Kelly	Greg Admin	Sean Kennedy
Irv Heimberger	Rich Nazar	Len McMaster	Bill McMurray
Norm Shachat	Carmen Puliafito	Phil Sager	Irv Miller
Labron Harris	Robert Legg	Seymore C. Cook	Gene Fricks
James M. Ingram	Eliot Landau	Douglas McNicol	John Schorn
Andrew McFarlane	Frank Magnavito	Ed Silver	Stephen Suffet
Thomas K. Howard	Jeff Brahm	Steve Reinhard	Jim Kotanchik
Bill DiPaolo	Gary Loew

Our 2011 Annual Meeting will be held at the Rocky Mountain Stamp Show in Denver, Colorado, next May. Start making your plans now to attend!

—Nicholas Lombardi
President