The National Philatelic Collection contains nearly six million postage stamps, pieces of mail, and related ephemera from all over the world. Out of this vast and unique holding—unequivocally the finest of its kind in the nation—a committee of Smithsonian curators and other leading experts selected nearly 4,000 U.S. items to be placed on permanent exhibit as the “National Stamp Collection.” Setting criteria for the selection, making choices, cataloging selections, organizing into an exhibit framework, researching and writing a narrative and captions, designing panels to hold objects, and preparing objects for exhibition took seven years of collaboration. The last time a large-scale representative display of U.S. stamps had been attempted by a curator was a century ago. A new century required a new vision. Curator W. Wilson Hulme II engaged a committee drawn from the museum’s Council of Philatelists to select stamps and related philatelic objects for display. Harry “Sonny” Hagendorf, James Kloetzel, W. Curtis Livingston, Charles Shreve, Charles Verge, and Alan Whitman traveled to Washington, D.C., several times a year to search for special items in the vault. The process included surveying the museum holdings and developing a comprehensive collection of single stamps—one of each stamp issued through World War II—grouped in order of issue with essays, proofs, multiples, covers, and collateral material. At the same time, the committee identified key missing items (Figures 26 and 27).
The team methodically searched the shelves and drawers and boxes to find the hidden treasures. The first cut included anything that might be used. After the staff added objects to the museum database system, the committee began culling with digital images. The committee worked with Elizabeth Schorr, Caitlin Badowski, and other collections department staff and later with Curator Cheryl R. Ganz, whom Hulme assigned in 2006 to lead the project. The committee rated each selection according to rarity, appeal, and condition. The National Stamp Collection strategy stressed completeness and uniqueness. The team created a list of missing items, and curators purchased some of them to fill gaps.
When Curators Ganz and Daniel A. Piazza received the final list of approximately 5,000 selected items, they began to conceptualize a historical framework with sections for display. The stamps fit into the first 100 years of postage stamps, 1847 to 1946. The curators developed time-era groupings in which historical events, post office history, and stamp issues fit together. After moving the selections into these eras, curators decided to add prestamp and post–World War II sections at the beginning and end to total ten chapters. In addition, curators followed Secretary G. Wayne Clough’s “grand challenge” to the Smithsonian units to make “our artifacts and specimens tell wonderful stories illustrating the great American spirit” as part of a paninstitutional focus on the theme of American identity and diversity. Curators removed duplicate objects and added more covers, filled historical gaps, and sought balance to the story. The final number of objects for display totaled nearly 4,000 (Figures 28, 29, 30, and 31).
Then the behind-the-scenes work began. Assistant Curators Marvin Murray, Kenneth Gilbart, and Michael Plett worked with Ganz, Schorr, and Badowski to refine data and selections. Ganz and Piazza worked with writer M. T. Sheahan, Museum Education Chair K. Allison Wickens, the exhibition content team, and other staff to develop and proof an object list and script with narrative, titles, and captions. Designers at Gallagher and Associates created layouts for 350 panels, each individually designed and printed. In the meantime, the conservation and preservation department prepared objects for mounting on the panels so that they would be ready in time to install for the opening of the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery. All in all, this major task that created a monumental work will last well into the twenty-first century.
W. Wilson Hulme II (standing), chief curator of philately from 2002 until his death in 2007, selects pieces for the National Stamp Collection with Council of Philatelists members Charles Shreve (center) and Curtis Livingston (right).
Council of Philatelists member Alan Whitman reviews the National Stamp Collection selections in the museum database with Accessions Officer Caitlin Badowski.
Preservation Specialist Manda Kowalczyk examines each object to determine its condition and need for further stabilization before mounting for long-term exhibition.
Conservator Helen Young removes glue from the back of a rare stamp. Expert conservation treatments ensure longer, safer life spans for stamps and mail.
Conservator Linda Edquist mounts stamps, housed in protective clear polyester film, onto panels for the National Stamp Collection pullout frames in the William H. Gross Stamp Gallery.
Curators of Philately Cheryl R. Ganz and Daniel A. Piazza with the National Stamp Collection panels on display in new pullout frames.
