Award Recipients 2020-2021
Walter A. Demmerle
As Sales Manager, Walter has arranged the storage, inventory, order fulfillment and reporting of sales of the Chronicle and other Society publications. At one time Walter maintained an inventory of 11,000 items. Walter is also responsible for re-mailing post office returned copies of the Chronicle, collaborating with the Secretary on figuring out the correct addresses, and funding and managing a Postage Due account.
Since the creation of the Web Chronicle the sales potential for the remaining overstock issues has significantly declined. Today, most of Walter’s work is sending back issues to new members, and replacing missing, and damaged copy categories. Walter still makes near-weekly trips to the Post Office – over 1,250 trips over the past 25 years!
James A. Allen
The USPCS was founded based on the study of the 3c 1851-57 Issue and Dr. Chase was the first and most important scholar of the 3c stamp. The Allen article takes us back to our roots and is therefore very appropriate for the Chase Cup. It presents, via extensive philatelic artifacts, a study of the development and changes in color for the 3c stamp, including why the orange brown color was suspended within the first six months of production. It also updates the earliest documented uses of the first 3¢ 1851 plates and the primary color variations developing at the time. It analyzes the stamps for colorants using tools hosted by the National Postal Museum. What Allen revealed with his research includes much new information – including unexpected information, especially in light of all the prior writing about the 3c stamp.
Steven C. Walske
Timothy P. O’Connor, M.D.
To create this article, O’Connor went through the Franklin Papers at Yale, almost 50 volumes, to record all known Franklin letters. Then he went to the various east-coast archives where the originals repose, to inspect items of special interest. The resultant article illustrates and discusses archival covers never before seen by the philatelic community and includes a tabular listing of all known archival Franklin free franks. Arranging the data chronologically enabled observations about the timing (and thus the significance) of the famous “BFreeFranklin” markings. O’Connor’s article is an archival tour de force—as well as an enjoyable read.
Since 1959, the Papers of Benjamin Franklin, sponsored by the American Philosophical Society and Yale University, have comprised an extraordinary and comprehensive compilation. Edited at Yale, the Papers gather and publish in multiple volumes the full texts of material held at various universities, historical societies, public libraries, hospitals, museums, churches, state archives and private collections. While the compilation aspires to completeness, that goal is probably unachievable.
The Papers record every known Franklin letter, including address panels, docketing and postal markings when those accompany. The majority of Franklin’s letters were not carried in a public post, and many of the letters documented in the Papers are second-hand survivors, known only through letter books or retained copies. From the thousands of Franklin letters documented in the the Papers, including eight new discoveries not yet included there, O’Connor identified 935 autographed letter sheets, 406 of which included address panels. He then created an elaborate spreadsheet for the letters, containing information in such important categories as date, nature of the franking, origin, destination, recipient, content, location of the letter and a correlation with contemporary events. Of the 406 postally-carried letters that still included the address panels, 133 (just about one-third) bore free franks of one sort or another. These covers were listed and described in a table accompanying O’Connor’s Chronicle article.
Vernon R. Morris Jr., M.D.
As a practicing orthopedic surgeon he raised four children on a 30 acre suburban Philadelphia residence which became a collector’s opportunity to develop an arboretum. Unexpected identification and patent of viburnum dilitatum “Vernon Morris,” was rewarded with two specimens planted in the United States National Arboretum. Relocation to Florida in 2002 and second marriage to Pam in 2006 brought the collector to develop a one acre Jurassic park “living collection” of palms.
Like many children of the 1950’s he returned to stamp collecting. Childhood memories came alive in the mid 1980’s acquiring many finest known examples of classic USA stamps. Ten years later all were dispersed through two single owner New York auctions: mint stamps in Shreve’s Philatelic Galleries “Premier Sale” on January 19, 1996; used stamps in Robert Siegel sale 793 of “Classic United States Stamps of Extraordinary Quality and Color” on September 26, 1997.
By seeking a new philatelic challenge the collector pivoted one hundred eighty degrees to postal history and Philadelphia local post companies. His research earned the United States Philatelic Classics Society Susan McDonald Award in 2003 for best research article in the Chronicle with “What is a Drop Letter and a Drop Dead Letter?” A second McDonald Award in 2011 was for “The Franklin Carrier Stamp on Cover.” Twenty subsequent philatelic data based research articles in The Penny Post earned the Editor’s Award for best article in 2002, 2009, 2013, and 2014. Several articles published in the New York Collectors Club Philatelist included “The Philadelphia Despatch Post,” which was awarded best article 2013.
Dr. Morris joined the American Philatelic Society in 1989 and his postal history exhibit “Fighting the Fed in Philadelphia: Locals, Carriers, and Independent Mails, 1835 to 1867” won the 2006 Champion of Champions. International competition produced 5 large gold metals from China 2009, Italy 2009, Romania 2008, Hungary 2008, and USA 2016. As a 20 year member of the Royal Philatelic Society London he was honored to give a local post presentation at Stockholm 2019 in celebration of the world’s oldest philatelic society’s 150th year anniversary.
His recent single frame now entitled “World’s Third Producers of Stamps: Philadelphia Lost Posts, 1842 to 1862” earned the Grand Award at the Collector’s Club of New York 2020 One Frame Exhibit. Vern’s ten frame exhibit “Evolution of Blood’s Local Post, 1842 to 1862” will appear later this year when competition resumes.
More than a decade ago, Vern again pivoted 180 degrees to embrace pre-stamp 18th century American postal history centered significantly around Philadelphia and revolutionary war communication, including collateral material such as colonial maps, broadsides, newspapers and legislative documents. His first published article “Birth of New Jersey’s Post” last year earned the Writers Unit #30 Grand Award for Literature at the 2021 virtual Sarasota National Stamps Exhibition. Dr. Morris is eager to present a ten frame 18th century postal display exhibit.
Service to several non-profit organizations has been especially fulfilling. In 2016 he joined the Philatelic Foundation Board of Trustees and has served as Secretary. In 2017 he became a member of the Manuscript Society Board of Trustees. Most important service involves the United States Philatelic Classics Society as Regional Vice President for Florida 2019, and Board of Directors and Assistant Membership Chairman 2020. Dr. Morris also currently serves on the Board of Trustees for the Pennsylvania Postal History Society, Mid Atlantic Federation of Postal History, and Florida Postal History Society. He is also President of the Carriers and Locals Society as well as the Florida Postal History Society.
Hugh V. Feldman
Having gained large gold medals at FIP exhibitions for his London collection, he turned his attention to the Postal History of the United States. His first major study was inspired by the “Name-of-Boat” cachets applied to letters carried by water within the USA in the 1800s. Finding very little in the way of available literature on the subject he spent time in Washington DC at NARA detailing the USPOD contract records. This led to his second book, “U.S. Contract Mail Routes by Water” published in 2008. This collection also achieved large gold medals at FIP events and participated in two C of C events of the World Series of US shows.
In 2008 a new collection was commenced, this being of letters carried by the USPOD by railroads during the middle years of the 19th century. Hugh again spent nearly two months in Washington referencing the archives at NARA. This also resulted in the publication of a book in 2017 titled “U.S. Contract Routes by Railroad” which was also awarded the Crawford Medal in 2018. Hugh is only the second author to have received this honour twice since its inception in 1920 history.
Hugh is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society and has contributed to the hobby by serving on the Council of the Postal History Society of GB, twice as President and in the roles of Treasurer and later Editor of their journal “Postal History”. He also contributed to the National hobby serving as a Director on the boards of the Association of British Philatelic Societies, initially as Treasurer and then as Editor of “ABPS News”. He also served as a director of ABPS Exhibitions Ltd. and as Chairman of Stamp Active promoting the hobby among schools and clubs.
Hugh has two boys now in their 40s, his older son is now a citizen of the USA residing in San Francisco with his two children. His younger son is married and lives in London and is deeply involved in a charity that organizes accessibility for people with disabilities to public. Hugh retired having been involved in for much of his working life in the electronic instrumentation industry becoming a director of a British public company. He lives with his wife of 50 years, Susan, in Saffron Walden in the UK.
