Last week The Board of the CS&CSS received an email from the Smithsonian Postal Museum, inviting us to participate in a holiday themed event. We were overjoyed. The Christmas Season puts our hobby in the spotlight. Two CS&CSS members (John Hotchner, and Lloyd Thrower) volunteered to attend, along with our President, John Denune, Jr. The Museum is providing two frames for display, and a table, where we plan to display even more Christmas Seals, literature, etc. We will bring some of our collections, and were asked to speak on our hobby.
In 2016 the CS&CSS came up with an idea to get publicity; a Christmas Seal Collection for a Dignitary. This event seems like a great opportunity to donate this collection to a Museum official, or the Smithsonian Postal Museum itself. Not since 1933 has the CS&CSS put together a collection like this. Then, a gift for one of the most famous stamp collectors of the time, President Franklin Delano Roosevelt.
We collect year round, but the media is always hungry for stories about Christmas at Christmas time. I hope this gets picked up by the Associated Press. Call me a dreamer, but if I shoot for the stars, maybe I'll hit the moon. Our goal is to increase awareness of our hobby and the important work of the American Lung Association. With the help of CS&CSS members and non members, notably Laura Bell-Rivera who provided the foundation, this collection contains 1907 to date, singles, pairs, blocks and sheets, as required, and was mounted into a new album.
A separate collection of full sheets of Christmas Seals from 1931 to date has also been included, as well as the flag ship of CS&CSS literature, Green's Catalog, part 1, US National Christmas Seals, the Bible of US Christmas Seal collecting; a printed copy as well as the computer CD edition.