About_UPSS

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 800 members.

Postal Stationery became the official -journal of the Society 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 printed and/or eBook handbooks, catalogs and manuscripts since 1955, when the first United States Postal Card Catalog was published. The Society publishes numerous books and catalogs concerning U.S. and worldwide postal stationery that are updated periodically. They may be ordered from this website or by mailing a request to the Society publication manager. Publications are available to members at a 20% discount from the retail price.

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. The annual Lewandowski Award is given to the best work published during the past year dealing with postal stationery. It consists of a sterling silver medal, and $1,000.

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 UPSS "Champion of Champions" competition. United States and world stationery is available to members through UPSS auctioneer and sales circuits.

The society's website includes a "Members Only" section that allows access to a Bulletin Board, U.S. Envelope Die Gallery, PDF versions of all past issues of Postal Stationery and several other journals, an Excel spreadsheet of topical stationery, and more.

Prior issues of “Postal Stationery” and other journals can be search on-line through this website. Words, phrases, catalog numbers, etc. can be entered, and the search function will produce a list of issues in which they appeared. In the “Members Only” section, the list has links, so that the whole issue, or just the pages containing the words, is made available for viewing and/or downloading as PDF files

The bylaws of the UPSS can be found here.