Far be for me to suggest that we are out of the woods, but maybe, just maybe, we are getting there.

Here is some good news for you: as you may note elsewhere in this journal, we are beginning the process of reopening our Club house at 22 East 35th Street. With prior reservations, members who wish to conduct philatelic research in the Library will be welcomed back Your Club plays host to a number of local chapters of national specialist organizations. Each has been offered the opportunity to return. In addition, we expect to resume hosting live programs from the Club house, which will be live streamed on the internet for you in September and October. As you know, we still are committed to our Zoom programs every other Wednesday.

Traditionally, you have looked forward to the Governor’s Open House in December. This was obviously not the case this past holiday season. Instead now, wouldn’t it be a wonderful for all of us to enjoy a pre-summer Open House? A welcome back, in a sense, for our Club family. The event would not feature a live program. This will be a much needed chance to reacquaint. Perhaps, we’ll twist the arms of some of our Board members to place some material in the frames. Now, wouldn’t that be great, real material in real frames? Picture yourself enjoying time among your fellow club members while enjoying some light refreshments. Hold your calendars open for June 23 to join in. We will send an email around with details as we get closer.

And, yes, just in case you’re unsure, all the proper protocols will be observed and safety first. We’ve all been through too much to take our re-opening lightly, or without proper precaution.

It is just not in New York where we will be re-engaging. Your Club will be at the WESTPEX stamp show, July 30 to August 1. WESTPEX is always a highlight of the philatelic year for avid collectors from around the country. Your Collectors Club is supporting WESTPEX as a convening society. Subject to all the responsible precautions, an informal group of club members plan to enjoy dinner and if you’re interested, you are definitely invited to join along. The Collectors Club will also be hosting speakers giving a philatelic program, a video of which will be posted on our website..

A bit later in the summer, we will be supporting the Great American Stamp Show in Rosemont, Illinois, just next door to Chicago’s O’Hare airport, August 12 to 15, 2021. Once again, we will be meeting members and friends at a table on the show floor along side our friends from the Philatelic Foundation, and hosting a dinner on Wednesday, August 11th after the Tiffany program. The Collectors Club will also be hosting speakers giving a philatelic program. Later on, a video of the program will be available from our website.

Summer moves into Fall, we expect to support both NOJEX (October 15 to 17) and then a week later NAPEX (October 22 to 24). As we get closer to these dates, the specifics will be become clearer.

The bottom-line message for WESTPEX, GASS, NOJEX and NAPEX: we want to see and speak with you and re-engage in person, while our club continues to also increase our virtual presence through our popular Webinar programming.

Finally, the Club plans to finish off our year off with an extraordinary event. This year is the 125th anniversary of the Club and the 100th anniversary of our journal, the Collectors Club Philatelist. At this event we will be conferring the Lichtenstein Award on three very well deserving winners: John Barwis (2020), Patrick Maselis (2021) and Mark Banchik (2021).

Save the date for this two-day anniversary festival spanning November 10 and 11. On November 10, you are invited to compete and attend our long-standing single frame exhibit competition. In the evening, expect a wide variety of dining and entertainment options. On the following evening, you can expect a celebratory dinner at the renown Harvard Club. An exceptional venue to cap off our anniversary celebration.

As you read this column you may drop back in thought to see a lot of activity and a determination, if we might say, to get back into the flow of a vibrant and active philatelic calendar. You might ask why? Why not just hang back and let things come back? Why not go with the flow?

We have spent a great deal of time thinking about our role and our mission in the hobby as your Club. We are convinced that our mission is for the Collectors Club to bring its members and friends together, virtually and in person, at its home in New York and around the country to educate, inspire and support them in pursuit of their philatelic goals. We are your club, the club for the avid and engaged philatelist, wherever you may live. Everything your club does is with this mission in mind: the Zoom Webinar programs, re-opening the Library, the presence at major shows, our sponsorship of our own single frame competition, our honoring our past and the leaders who have brought true excellence to the hobby we all love.

This is who we are. This is your Collectors Club.

 

–Lawrence Haber

One of the great pleasures of being president of this Club is contacting those individuals who have been awarded the Lichtenstein Award. Elsewhere in this journal you will read more extensively about Patrick Maselis and Mark Banchik, but if I would be permitted to add my perspective.

The Lichtenstein Award process starts with nominations being solicited from our membership and these being considered by a committee headed by Steve Reinhard. All the committee members are past winners of the award and the only reason I was admitted to this august group was because of the presidential ex-officio entitlement. There were ten nominations in total and each supported by papers attesting to their contributions to the hobby. All the nominees are extraordinary and they have all made huge contributions to philately. I was and remain in awe of them all. Choices would not be easy. Four nominees were forwarded to the Board of Governors for their final consideration.

When the Board voted, it was clear that for the first time that we were selecting co-winners. The caliber of the nominees made breaking precedent easier than we might have thought. After the vote was completed, I had the honor of informing the winners. When I spoke to each gentleman, one in San Diego and the other as he was about to board a plane somewhere in Europe, I heard genuine surprise, humble appreciation and a quiet undercurrent of emotion. Not only are Patrick and Mark huge contributors to this hobby, but they are good and genuine men, their reactions were humble, they were both very touched and appreciative. There is no question that the process worked.

The question then naturally follows: having had to defer last year’s annual Lichtenstein dinner on account of COVID, but what of this year’s event? (You’ll recall that John Barwis was selected last year.) But, first, we must digress.

Having been diverted by matters viral, we have come to recognize that in 2021 The Collectors Club will celebrate its 125th anniversary. 1896 to 2021. AND, in addition, this journal, celebrates its 100th anniversary. These are two estimable events we must mark.

Circumstances present their difficulties but we would like to strive for a very special event occurring over a two-day period in New York on November 10th and 11th, in which we will mark the 125th anniversary of this Club, the 100th anniversary of this journal, bestow the Lichtenstein award on 3 individuals and maybe more importantly, start to bring us all out of the dark places we have had to be while this virus has had its way with us all. We recognize the difficulties and the challenges, but we expect that we will be almost all vaccinated, that NYC will be re-opened and that life will start returning to normal. We understand the challenges but we believe we have to persevere since otherwise we surrender to despair.

Specifically, on Wednesday, November 10th, we will hold our single frame competition in the Club house and we hope that this will be an exhibition for the ages. In the evening, we will arrange multiple dining and entertainment options for all attending.

On the evening of November 11th, we will hold a special dinner at a landmark location to mark our multiple anniversaries and honor our award winners. As I write this in late February, I expect that many will have concerns and some trepidation, but we will only hold this event provided we have confidence in the prudent health measures in place. We have all come too far and dealt with too much to do otherwise.

Oh, and did I mention that we will be preparing a very special book, 100 years of the Collectors Club Philatelist? A book which will contain the best, the most representative, the most evocative articles that have appeared in this journal. It is going to be great.

We have started work on all the details and as those details firm up we will be sharing those with you. But please, circle these dates. No need to make a commitment now. Get your single frame in shape and please stay safe and healthy because it is going to be a great and safe party.

 

–Lawrence Haber

Disappointed to see 2020 in the rearview mirror?

None of us are, I’m sure. It was a terrible year filled with awfulness. It is good to be rid of 2020. May we never see its like again. However, despite the temptation, let’s try to avoid over-focusing on the past and let’s all agree it is best to look forward, forward to a much much brighter horizon.

What determines success for this club and how could we measure success? These could be aligned along multiple dimensions: programming, this journal, the Collectors Club Philatelist (CCP), our library, outreach to our members, and the ambience at our Club house. Each of these must be excellent. I would submit that excellence will be self-evident and that must be our goal.

Programming: Clearly, our virtual programs have resonated across the philatelic community. It is typical for us to have more than 350 people register for each program and somewhere around 275 of those are with us on the day. These numbers and the notice we have gained, have placed us at the forefront of the hobby. We also believe that this has led to significant gains in members during a period that could otherwise be best described as bleak and miserable. We will not be leaving this virtual venue so long as the audience is there. Elsewhere in this journal you will see the calendar for the coming year. We are sure that you will agree that the depth, breadth and quality of our speakers and their topics is extraordinary. You will note that our speakers will be coming to us from across the globe and their topics will reflect this diversity. We have little doubt that cumulatively our programs for 2021 will be the best that the Club has ever hosted.

We will also be striving to go beyond our usual program format. We are currently working on arranging for special presentations that we will host in conjunction with five leading philatelic groups. This effort will be very special and as soon as we have the details worked out, we will announce this new series which no one would want to miss.

At this time it is very difficult to prognosticate on the date at which we will be able to resume running programs from 22 East 35th Street. Considering the availability of vaccines and timing considerations, one guess might be in the Fall. But whenever that date comes, and it surely will come, when are able to resume running programs in the Club house, these will be in addition to the current schedule we have announced, and we will strive to be innovative in our physical programs. We are committed to live streaming all our programs delivered from the Club house.

CCP: Content in this journal is critical to our success and our goal is that this journal will be without peer. We are in the process of assembling a first-rate team of philatelists who will work with our editor, Wayne Youngblood, in sourcing articles and strive to ensure that this becomes the place to publish. They will be deployed across geographic criteria. It will be our aim that they will help to proactively source articles and add to the already rich content we currently have.

Library: It is not easy breaking through the physical boundaries that define a library, but we are committed to bringing the library closer to you, our members. We’ve introduced a lending by mail program and will shortly be able to provide members with a light scan service so as to facilitate your research efforts.

Outreach: When life eventually returns to a newer normal, we want to be there. Being there means being at shows, in the field, not tied just to the New York metropolitan area. There has been a provision in our bylaws for regional representatives. By this time next year, you will know that this provision will no longer be dormant. Our goal will be to have a meaningful presence at at least 4 major shows a year. Being there to greet members, meet new members, run impactful programs and extend our reach beyond the Hudson River.

Club ambience: We will return to New York, but more importantly, you will return to New York. It is just a matter of time. If you are visiting the city, we want to you to be comfortable coming by, saying hello, resting your feet and maybe even have a cup of coffee. Pick up a book and journal, sit down and have a read. If you live outside the metropolitan area and are visiting the area on business or pleasure, even more so, we want to you stop by the Club. And, once there, we want you to feel like you’re at home.

Lastly, we want to thank all of you, our members, for your support and confidence. We hope that by laying out these criteria for success that you will hold the leadership of this Club to account and ensure we strive to fulfill these promises. From this point forward, our focus will be to emerge from the darkness of COVID and head to a brighter and clearer future, together.

 

–Lawrence Haber

Have you noticed that we’ve been using a new logo for the past year, an image of a globe? Not the New York skyline. Nor the Statue of Liberty or the Empire State Building. But why a globe? Is this because of the typical archetypical perspective of the New Yorker, whose view of the world is reflected in the Saul Steinberg cover cartoon from “The New Yorker”? Is this because we are the preeminent city, the city of cities, the modern equivalent of Rome? Is this why the globe befits us?
 
No. We are using a globe as our symbol because that is who we are. Did you know that only around 20% of our members live in the New York metropolitan area? Or to be more direct, did you know that 80% of you do not live in New York? Or that we have more members residing overseas than in New York?
 
I would suggest that one of the benefits from these difficult times is that we have opened the Club up to you, our members, including the 80% who live out there, in a manner never before imagined. Yes, we all receive this journal (which is a peerless journal and once again I suggest this is the best place to place an article where you want a wide dispersion of your efforts. Think judges and those extra points you’ll earn.) But, our meetings truly being open and available to all is wonderful. It’s been a pleasure to meet and engage with you.
 
We are committed to continuing to run two virtual meetings a month. Once things re-open, the we will run one meeting each month in the Club House. This meeting will be live streamed. Let us not forget that all our meetings, in person and virtual, are available for offline viewing on our website. We are now in the midst of arranging the schedule for the coming year. If you’d like to do a program, please let us know. We’d welcome more volunteers. As a virtual program, I am sure you will find that the travel logistics are somewhat easier. Now, obviously, we will need to react to the unexpected, but there is simply no going back to the pre-Zoom days.
 
But being global is more than telling a tale and selling you that bridge which crosses the East River and connects lower Manhattan to Brooklyn. We need to broaden our Board and I am delighted to report we have done that. In the masthead, you may notice a new name, Kathy Johnson. She is not a New Yorker. She has lived in the Midwest for more than 30 years, currently lives in Galena, Illinois and most decidedly does not share my accent. In addition to her peerless background and contributions to our hobby, she brings a perspective that is not held captive to Steinberg’s cartoon.
 
This is a world wherein we are reaching multiple states, countries and continents during our programs. I just saw our fabulous effort at Stampex (thank you Joan Harmer for a superlative result, and Ed Grabowski, Colin Fraser and John Barwis for your talks and Wade Saadi for the introductions), we need to reach you all in other ways. Beginning to geographically diversify our Board is a good first step. Another step we are considering is establishing regional representatives so we will be more than a virtual organization and will be in position to make the connections, at a personal level, that will be so important once the world and stamp shows are open again for business again. We’ve seen during our programs how important the “social time” is. Obviously, right now the emphasis is on the virtual, the digital, but we also know that person to person contact is still critical.
 
Our Club House at 22 East 35th Street is a peerless asset and lies at the core of our identity. We are undertaking steps to make the Library our building houses more available to you both through a lending by mail program and initiating a light scanning service for members.
 
But, we are more than a building or a city, we are you and we hope to undertake concrete and meaningful steps to draw you closer and not to be held captive to Steinberg’s view from 9th Avenue.
 
As I write this in very early October, I know that you’ll be reading this with holiday season upon us. I do not wish to close without wishing all our you and yours a joyous holiday season filled with positive hope for a future and ample opportunities to fulfill our philatelic and personal dreams. Surely 2021 will be an improvement on 2020.
 
At the end of each of our virtual programs, we ask for comments. I would like to conclude this message by making that same request, for your comments and suggestions. The email is easy to remember and simple to use: president@collectorsclub.org. We do want to hear from you.

 

–Lawrence Haber

We seem to have finally settled into a rhythm. Every other week, on Wednesdays, we convene for a program at 5:30pm EDT. During the preceding week we hold technical run throughs to make sure that everything is in order. The programs themselves seem to be going along smoothly. But, more importantly we appear to be achieving our goals with these programs.
 
We took the view that with the pandemic and the requirement to stay at home, or at least not to venture out much, that people are missing their usual stamp connections. Every World Series of Philately show has been canceled since when? And people are missing both stamp content and personal connections. We intentionally made these programs open to the entire philatelic public, not just our members. We have posted video for the programs, in the openfor all to view, for two weeks following the broadcast date. We wanted to reach people. Judging my by our attendance data and the feedback we have received, it does appear as though we have become a feature in people’s philatelic lives. And this delights us. We have also been delighted to see that many have chosen to join us. With no explicit effort on our parts to “sell” the club, we have seen a significant volume of new member applications. To both those new members, as well as for those who have been here for some time, it might be worthwhile to review the benefits of membership.
We have what must be the finest and most extensive library of philatelic programs in the world, given by some of the finest philatelists. Have you reviewed this content lately? Please do this and I am sure you’ll return and return.
 
Our journal has been fully digitized and is available to facilitate both your research efforts and reading pleasure. And, while we are on the topic of this journal, have you thought of writing for the CCP? For those of you who exhibit, have you considered that an article in this journal will be placed in front of the greatest number of judges? Might be worth it just to get an extra couple of points.
Our library’s lending capability is being upgraded and soon you’ll be able to both borrow books and obtain brief extracts form books and journals via scans.
On July 22, we began our program with a presentation to two young people who had just graduated our young people’s program. The video is on the website . Please have a look. Isn’t this effort worth supporting? As well as our efforts with beginning adults?
 
Lastly, there is that term whose meaning I never quite understood, fellowship. Being a part of a group who hold to a common set of interests in which we are united with a love of this hobby and what it can do to unite us all. With so much dividing people in this world, it is really wonderful to come together with a love of stamps, of postal history, of a hobby that never fails to lift our spirits and challenge our intellects.
 
Now that my commercial has come to a close, I’d like to cover some new territory.
At our most recent Board of Governors meeting, we agreed to extend our virtual programming efforts into and throughout the 2021/2022 season. For the time being we will plan on continuing to offer two virtual programs a month, on alternative Wednesdays. Also, provided the health situation is acceptable, we hope to offer one program a month in the Club House at 22 East 35th Street. And, we intend to live stream the in-person events onto the web. As you would expect, these plans are being constantly evaluated and reevaluated in light of not only everyone’s health concerns but the appetite for these programs, both the virtual and in-person ones.
 
For those of you in the New York metropolitan area, you know that the contagion rate has diminished, while it has grown elsewhere in the US. We dearly hope everyone is bearing up and remaining well. Life has to some degree slowly showing signs of returning to a pre- normal outside of Manhattan. But, Manhattan still seems to be very quiet. Our staff has returned to work in the Club House, but we are not yet prepared to re-open the building to members or the public. We are monitoring everything, as you would expect, but I think we will probably be followers rather than leaders in the road towards a pre- normalpre-normal in the City. It will probably be a while.
But our goal remains unchanged. To celebrate our hobby and to use all the virtual/digital tools of our age to bridge the gaps that have appeared as a consequence of everything. Stay safe. Stay healthy.

 

–Lawrence Haber