Submissions for possible publication in The Chronicle of the U.S. Classic Postal Issues are welcomed and encouraged. Some of the more significant articles we have published have come from authors new to our pages, and the Chronicle has been the starting point for several prolific and highly respected writers who began with considerable trepidation.

There are only a few basic rules:

•1. The article has to deal predominantly with an aspect of classic United States philately. Generally speaking, this means 19th U.S. stamps, postmarks or postal history. Within these constraints there's considerable flexibility in specific subject, approach and length of article. (See the Chronicle "Index" for examples of recent articles.)

•2. If the article has been printed before or is being simultaneously submitted for publication elsewhere, please say so immediately. The Chronicle's mission is to provide a venue for new and original scholarship. Only rarely, and not recently, we knowingly published material that previously appeared elsewhere.

•3. If referring to or relying upon someone else's information, provide appropriate attribution.

If your (potential) article meets the above rules, you should submit a copy to the appropriate Section Editor (see the listing by area of responsibility of our Editorial Board) or to the Editor-in-Chief. Preferably, your submission will be in digital format (Microsfot Word files preferred), for ease of forwarding, editing and printing. This can be sent to the appropriate Editor by e-mail. (The Editor-in-Chief has been known to accept any form that comes in, from pencil on up, but if you can make it to this Internet posting you can surely do better than submit a longhand submission.)

Illustrations can also be handled digitally. Please send high-resolution TIFF images wherever possible. JPEG images, especially when downloaded from a website) are generally low-resolution and do not reproduce well in print. We've also had considerable success using hard copy reproductions from electronic photocopy machines. We still get and use hard-copy photos, but they're no longer the staple they once were.

The Section Editors and Editor-in-Chief are there to help you. They'll check for philatelic soundness, review spelling, grammar and punctuation, and make the changes needed to fit Chronicle style. They'll also come back with questions and suggestions as appropriate, and they may very well share facts and examples (with illustrations) that you were unaware of. You may find that your proposed article sails right along to publication. Or, you may find that you're going to need more study before you can fill the holes and resolve the contradictions which showed up in the editing and peer-review process. In either case, it should prove to be a satisfying and enlightening experience for you, and hopefully lead you to writing even more articles for the benefit of your fellow collectors.