THE UNITED POSTAL STATIONERY SOCIETY by Leroy Collins

The United Postal Stationery Society (UPSS) was formed July 1, 1945 from the merger of the Postal Card Society of America, in existence since 1891, and the International Postal Stationery Society, founded 1939. There were 164 members by the end of the inaugural year, and we now have about 1,000.

Postal Stationery became the official organ of the group in 1949. Editors have included Eben Farnsworth, E. Norman Lurch, John Randall, Donna von Stein (1968-1972), Jack Jenkins (1972-1982), Ross Towle (1982-1988), John Weimer (1988-1996), Glenn Spies (1996-2000) and, since 2001, Wayne Menuz.

The Society has been active in producing postal stationery publications in the form of handbooks, catalogs and manuscripts since 1955, when the first United States Postal Card Catalog was published. The book has appeared at five-year intervals since then and is now a reference philately depends upon. The current edition was released at Washington 2006. U.S. envelope catalogs exist for 19th Century (most recent edition 2001), 20th Century (2004), Western Franks, Specimen Envelopes, as well as Envelope Essays and Proofs (2003) and Postal Card Essays and Proofs (2006). The UPSS has also published single country catalogs for Peru, Hawaii, Canal Zone, the Philippines and, in 2002, a catalogue of 1927-1934 USSR propaganda cards.

In 1996 the UPSS was recipient of a substantial bequest from the estate of Artur Lewandowski, a longtime airpost stationery specialist and dealer, and established an Endowment Fund to encourage publication of original books or articles on postal stationery and related fields. Through the Lewandowski Fund, the UPSS has given over $30,000 in support of public philatelic libraries and is a Founder's Club donor to the APS/APRL Match Factory renovation campaign. The fund has enabled the UPSS to expand its focus on literature to where it presently offers over 20 publications on U.S. and foreign stationery.

The Marcus White Award is offered at shows throughout the country for outstanding postal stationery exhibits. Marcus White award winners for the year are invited to participate in the annual Marcus White Showcase. It is the postal stationery "Champion of Champions" competition.

United States and world stationery is available to members through two auctions per year and sales circuits. The society's Web site www.upss.org includes auction listings with scans, articles on rare and unusual stationery, links to convention host shows and the complete publications offering. A "Members Only" Web site section allows access to a Bulletin Board, U.S. Envelope Die Gallery, PDF versions of past issues of Postal Stationery and an Excel spreadsheet of topical stationery.

The bylaws of the UPSS can be found here.