The Mortimer L. Neinken Award - 2003
The Mortimer L. Neinken Award of the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society was established in 1986 to encourage more and better articles on U.S. stamps of the classic period. It is presented for the best article on stamps in the previous year's Chronicle, with the limitation that Section Editors of the Chronicle are not eligible for consideration.
The recipient of the Mortimer L. Neinken Award for the 2003 volume is Gerald L. Moss for his article on "Steel Used to Print the First Two Issues of U.S. Stamps," which appeared in three installments in Chronicle No. 197-199 (Feb., March and Aug.2003), pp. 46-54, 122-41 and 181-84.
It was not until the 1960s that documentary evidence showed the 1847 and 1851 U.S. stamp issues to have been produced by steel plates, rather than copper. It has taken until now, through the author's approach from a metallurgical prospective, to shed any light on the nature of the steel used for those plates. Starting from the finished products and working backward, Mr. Moss was able to identify the type steel used and the manufacturing processes followed. Among other conclusions, his analysis points to different metallurgical properties in the plates used for the two issues, resulting in less stability (and greater likelihood of deterioration) in the 1851 issue. An interesting presentation of considerable interest to students of these two issues, and one fully deserving of the Neinken Award.
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The Susan M. McDonald Award - 2003
The USPCS initiated the Susan M. McDonald Award in 1995 to recognize outstanding articles on U.S. postal history published in the preceding volume of the Chronicle.
The recipient of the Susan M. McDonald Award for the 2003 volume is Vernon R. Morris Jr., M.D. for his article on "What is a Drop Letter' and a "Drop Dead Letter'," which appeared in Chronicle #199 (August 2003), pages 59-69 and #200 (November 2003), pages 247-68.
Drop letter mail is a complex, oftentimes confusing and misidentified subject. Thus Dr. Morris' thorough examination of drop letter rates and usage's, from Colonial times through the mid 1860s, is most welcome. His article traces the successive changes in legislation, with commendable sensitivity to the social and economic conditions that engendered and accompanied those changes. The illustrations are particularly well chosen examples of what was and what was not a drop letter for a particular period. In short, Dr. Morris has given readers a much-needed comprehensive guide to a significant aspect of our postal history, quite deserving of the Susan M. McDonald Award.
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Distinguished Philatelist's - 2004
KEN LAWRENCE
If there is anyone today who could be called a Renaissance man of philately, Ken Lawrence is probably one deserving of that title.
Charles Peterson reading DPA Citation for Ken Lawrence. Behind are previous DPA Awardees, Mike Lawrence, Richard Winter, Wilson Hulme, Scott Trepel.
He has been collecting stamps since the age of 11, and is recognized today as a specialist and expert in modern U.S. stamps and postal history, including but by no means limited to the coil issues. His knowledge has led him to several major finds, among them the unique horizontal pair of the U.S. 1910 3˘ deep violet imperforate coil stamp. He is a nationally qualified philatelic and literature judge, internationally qualified in philatelic literature, and a member of the APS Expert Committee. As the APS Board of Directors liaison to the Expert Committee, he introduced the use of forensic science in philatelic expertizing and was instrumental in obtaining funding for purchase of the Committee's new equipment.
As an exhibitor, Ken Lawrence was welcomed for his ground-breaking and highly popular Walt Disney exhibit, titled "The Sun Never Sets on Mickey Mouse." He currently maintains an exhibit of Holocaust mail, "The Nazi Scourge," which is frequently shown on college campuses, at community centers and in libraries. His exhibits have won awards at every level from national bronze to gold and platinum, and to international vermeil with felicitations and large vermeil, as well as a wide range of special prizes.
Ken Lawrence is probably best known to the hobby as a writer. He served six years as editor of The Philatelic Communicator, quarterly journal of the APS Philatelic Writers Unit 30, and raised the attention-getting quotient of that publication to a level never attained before or since. He had a regular column inThe American Philatelist until 1999, one of the most well read and clipped columns in that journal; he is now a regular monthly columnist for Scott Stamp Monthly. He has published articles in most of the major U.S. philatelic publications, including three submissions to the Congress Book, and in more than 20 stamp specialty publications world-wide. For seven years he wrote the "Stamps and Stamp Collecting" articles for two major encyclopedia yearbooks. For these and other contributions as philatelic author, editor and contributor he was elected to the APS Writers Hall of Fame in 1998.
Ken Lawrence signing the Distinguished Philatelist Award.
He also serves. At the local level, he had two terms as vice-president and two as president of the Jackson (Mississippi) Philatelic Society. He was APS Director-at-Large, 1991-93; APS Secretary, 1993-95; chairman of the APS Board of Vice-Presidents from 1995-97 and is currently serving another two-year term as APS Vice-President. He is a member of the APRL Board of Trustees. Ken has taught full courses and electives at the APS/Pennsylvania State University summer seminars on philately, presented judges' accreditation seminars on philatelic literature and traditional philately, and has taught seminars in specialized U.S. stamp collecting at APS and BIA (now United States Stamp Society) annual meetings. He has been an active member of countless national and specialist society committees, boards and ad hoc groups.
In recognition of his exceptional and diversified accomplishments, and the strong positive impact he continues to have on U.S. philately, the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society is pleased to welcome Ken Lawrence as a Distinguished Philatelist.
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The D.P.A. Award
HERBERT ALLEN TRENCHARD
Herbert A. Trenchard is universally acknowledged as the dean of U.S. philatelic history. It seems fitting, therefore, that we address his own philatelic history en route to a summation of his more noteworthy accomplishments.
Herb Trenchard first became a stamp collector in 1944, as a high school student, and was encouraged by the school librarian who gave him the copies of Stamps magazine received at the library. A true collector, Herb still has some of them. During those years, he bought his stamps from local New Orleans dealers, including the Weill Brothers.
College years brought an end to active collecting, but he continued to receive the many auction catalogues, which in those days were sent free to any requestor. In 1955, he was attracted to the sale of the Caspary collection, and attended the first auctions. While the great rarities and important pieces were out of his reach, he could and did get the auction catalogues, a decision which led to his determination to obtain every stamp auction catalog ever printed. He soon began buying catalogues from Sy Colby and Lou Robbins, and also visited the many New York City auctioneers of the time, many of whom gave Herb copies of their older catalogues and saved the recent ones for him. Harry Lindquist, the great philatelic editor and publisher, invariably gave Herb all the auction catalogues he'd received since Herb's last visit, as well as a book for his library.
His horizons expanded rather quickly, and he began acquiring British and European auction catalogues. His professional work as a theoretical physicist took him to Europe frequently, where he visited the auction houses and stamp dealers and added many important older catalogues to his collection.
In 1961, following a term in the Army, Herb and his family moved to University Park, Maryland. That led to one of the most significant events in Herb's philatelic life, a close relationship with George Turner, one of the greatest of U.S. philatelic bibliophiles. Through George Turner, Herb became involved in organized philately at George Turner's urging Herb began what has become a long parade of philatelic writings documenting philatelic history.
As of 1975, Herb's auction catalog holdings totaled over 75,000 itemsand he has continued actively adding to it since then. This enormous and unique database has been of invaluable help to countless collectors, dealers and expertisers concerned about questions of provenance, condition or other circumstances relating to philatelic items which may have been on the market in earlier years.
In 1984, Herb started a collection of material related to the history of stamp collecting, which he described as containing "anything connected with stamp collecting except stamps." That now resides in over 500 albums, and in numerous boxes, file cabinets and book cases. He has drawn on both of his major collections for articles on a wide range of philatelic subjects, to include:
Auction Catalogs
Philatelic Exhibitions
Famous Collectors and their Collections
Early Philatelic History in America
U.S. Locals
Forgers and Forgeries
Early Philatelists who Impacted U.S. Philately
First Day Ceremonies
the Famous Americans issue of 1940
Special Areas of Postal History
The St. Louis Bears
Ionian Islands
His articles have appeared in nearly every major U.S. philatelic journal including The American Philatelist, the Chronicle, Penny Post, Philatelic Literature Review, Collectors Club Philatelist, Postal History Journal, Linn's and First Days.
Herb Trenchard has served in all offices of the Washington Philatelic Society, including the presidency. He was a member of the Board of Directors of SIPEX (the 1961 U.S. international exhibition), and on the NAPEX Board from 1960-1980. He is a current member of the Board of the American Ceremony Program Society. He has been a member of the APRL Board of Trustees since 1986, and is currently the Vice-President of that board. His unique qualifications as a philatelic historian have been put to the service of various philatelic organizations. Most noteworthy are his official role since 1993 as the APS Historian, and his membership since 1973 on the APS Hall of Fame Committee, which he currently chairs. He has also helped organize the archives and prepare the histories of a number of philatelic societies, including the Baltimore Philatelic Society, the Washington Philatelic Society and the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs.
If all this were not enough, for the past ten years Herb has been an active volunteer at the National Postal Museum, serving as advisor and assistant to the NPM branch of the Smithsonian Institution Libraries.