Clubhouse

Our Library  |  Study Rooms

The Collectors Club is open Monday through Friday, 10 AM to 5 PM. Please call ahead if intending to visit. The Library and its support committee are available on Wednesdays, also 10 AM to 5 PM. On meeting nights, the Library is open until 6:30 PM, the beginning of the lecture program.

Entry area of the Clubhouse

The Club is housed in an elegant five-story brownstone in the Murray Hill section of Manhattan, in the shadow of the Empire State Building. In 1902 famous architect Stanford White completely redesigned the structure for an art dealer and collector, whose new home garnered lavish praise for its beauty and became a showcase for his art collection. Thanks to the generosity of Alfred Lichtenstein, one of the giants of early philately, it became the Club's permanent home in 1938. The building was designated a New York City Historical Landmark in 1979.

Our Library

The Collectors Club boasts one of the most fabulous philatelic libraries anywhere in the world. Beyond housing some of the very rare pieces in philatelic literature, it is very much a “working” library. Members and visitors can research or browse through thousands of philatelic publications, comprehensive groups of historical periodicals and extensive runs of priced auction catalogues.

The Collectors Club maintains a library of approximately 150,000 volumes for the free use of the interested public. Scholars and historians have free access and use of the library and are referred to the library by the New York Public Library, educational institutions and philatelic groups throughout the world.

The library collection is so large that its physical size was one of the key motivators for our recent renovation of the Clubhouse—the contents had grown to such considerable weight that they had to be relocated to the lower floors to protect the structural integrity of the building.

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Study Rooms

The Collectors Club provides, free of charge, study rooms for about nine philatelic study societies and groups to meet regularly, all of which are not-for-profit organizations. The Philatelic Foundation, a not-for-profit institution with educational purposes holds its quarterly board of directors meetings, and a number of other groups hold annual or semi-annual meetings at The Collectors Club.

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