The 2011 Annual Meeting is only a month away.  The United States Stamp Society meeting will be held in conjunction with the Rocky Mountain Stamp Show.

The USSS will gather during the weekend of May 13th through the 15th at the Crowne Plaza Hotel, which will also serve as the show venue.  This should make for an easy commute.  The hotel is offering special rates of $99 per night.  Reservations can be made by calling the hotel at 303-371-9494 or 800-423-0908.  Be sure to use booking code “RMS” to obtain the special rate.

The show will include an American Philatelic Society World Series of Philately exhibit competition, which will include more than 100 frames of United States and related material presented by USSS members.  In addition to the normal range of awards available at all WSP shows, eligible exhibits will also compete for the prestigious Southgate and Hopkinson Trophies, which are presented only at the show hosting the Annual Meeting of the Society.

An added treat at this year’s meeting will be the annual Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library silent auction that will be held at the show.  Hundreds of lots of U.S. material will be among the offerings.  A complete listing will be available at the library’s website, www.rmpldenver.org and a printed catalog is also available upon request.

On Friday, we will hold the Society’s traditional Annual Fellowship Dinner — always one of the highlights of our Annual Meeting.  Although the site has not yet been determined, we will post the information on our website as soon as it becomes available.  A sign-up sheet will be available at the USSS booth and tickets will be given to all who sign up on a first come, first served basis.  We will gather the troops as the show closes at 6:00 PM and head out for an enjoyable dinner and an evening of fellowship.

On Saturday, the Board Meeting for Governors, officers, employees of the Society and Committee Chairmen will be held from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM prior to the opening of the show.  Our Annual General Membership meeting will be held at 1 PM.  The meeting will update the membership on the business of the Society, and Membership Recognition Award pins will be presented, as well as several other awards.  The full schedule of all the show events is available on the show website.

The Society will have a booth at the show for the purposes of selling our publications, promoting the Society, recruiting new members, and socializing with fellow U.S. collectors.  Please contact me if you are willing to help staff the table.  We could really use the help and any time you could spare will be greatly appreciated.  In addition to those who volunteer, we will also have our officers, Board members, committee chairs, and authors helping out.  This will be the place to meet old friends and make new ones.

We look forward to seeing a large contingent of our members at this great show. A good time is sure to be had by all.

—Nick Lombardi
President

Here are the United States Stamp Society medal winners that have been reported from recent shows:

NOTE: If you have won a USSS award and have not seen it listed here, please let me know and I will see that it is recorded.

Show Awards Chairs, please note:
USSS AWARDS PROGRAM

The USSS Gold Statue of Freedom Medal is sent automatically to all APS World Series of Philately shows.

The USSS Silver President’s Award medal is available upon request to all local and regional shows.

For more information, or to request an award, please contact me by e-mail or write to P.O. Box 690042, Houston, TX 77269-0042.

—Denise Stotts, Awards Committee

Outstanding Exhibits, Seminars, Dealers, Collectors and Fun!

The United States Stamp Society will celebrate its 85th Anniversary on September 16-18 at the American Philatelic Society’s headquarters in Bellefonte, Pennsylvania.  With the cooperation of the American Philatelic Society, this important gathering will bring together Society members from across the continent.  The event, designed to appeal to collectors and students of United States stamps and postal history, will include a comprehensive schedule of meetings, seminars, exhibits and bourse activities.  We will also formally dedicate the United States Stamp Society Room at the American Philatelic Center.

The 6th Annual Postal History Symposium, a scholarly program co-sponsored by the American Philatelic Society, the American Philatelic Research Library and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum since 2006, will be held this year at the American Philatelic Center during the USSS celebrations.

The topic for the 2011 symposium will be “How Commerce and Industry Shaped the Mails.”  Members are urged to consider submitting papers for presentation at the event.  Proposals for symposium papers may be submitted either as individual papers or in panels.  Possible themes for papers include:

• Vending and Affixing – the age of order by mail
• The postal system goes to War
• Those little flying machines revolutionize the Mails
• How the mail order business necessitated the creation of the parcel post system
• Special handling stamps addressed special business needs
• Express Mail Wars: How the USPS battled Federal Express

The deadline for proposals is May 1, 2011. Proposals should be no more than one page and be accompanied by a one-page curriculum vita with contact information (e-mail, phone, and address).  Notification of accepted papers will be issued in mid-May.  Conference papers will be posted on the National Postal Museum website and will be considered for possible publication.  Proceedings of the Symposium will be considered for publication by the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press.

Dr. David Hochfelder, assistant professor of history at SUNY-Albany will be the keynote speaker at the Symposium banquet on Saturday evening where the United States Stamp Society will celebrate its 85th anniversary.

The gathering will also provide an opportunity for many of our specialized committees to meet throughout the three days of the 85th Anniversary Celebration.  An outstanding dealer bourse will take place throughout the three days of the celebration with many of the top dealers of United States material in attendance.  Not since our 80th Anniversary celebration at the National Postal Museum during Washington 2006 will the members be able to view and study an assemblage of so many important exhibits of exceptional United States material.  In total, more than 160 frames will be on display.

On Saturday September 17, the Society will formally dedicate the USSS Room at the APC.  For the first time in our 85-year existence we are able to put on view outstanding archives marking some of the most important events in the history of the Bureau Issues Association and the United States Stamp Society, including a display of every publication produced by the Society.  In addition to the BIA/USSS Hall of Fame, the room features perpetual plaques honoring winners of our prestigious exhibiting and literature awards.

All stamp collectors, postal historians and interested persons are welcome to attend the bourse, seminars and meetings of this remarkable event free of charge.  Don’t miss out on this incredible opportunity to mix and mingle with friends and fellow collectors.

Additional information can be found at http://postalmuseum.si.edu/symposium2011/index.html.