Minutes of the meeting of March 4, 2008
President Shufrin opened the meeting at 8:02 with 26 in attendance.
The Treasurer was absent and no report was given.
Club member Len Andexler is recovering from a recent fall.
Old Business
The list of philatelic web sites is being prepared by the President and will be issued soon.
Reservations have been made at the Dandelion Green for the Annual Meeting.
The Museum Bazaar held last Saturday was a success despite the snow storm. $11,000 worth of sales were made. More is due from items put up for auction via Centennial and others.
Space has been
reserved at the
New Business
James Hencke, our bourse manager, emphasized that the Scotch removable tape be used only to mount gummed stamps, there being a danger of causing thins on used stamps.
President Shufrin noted that we now have five active female club members, four of whom have the first name Mary,
He also said that the second part of “Holocaust Mail” will be shown at the April 5th morning meeting.
He added that a fall meeting may include a scavenger hunt created by Steve Tauber.
Jack Miller called attention to the Federation Show on May 9-11 seeking volunteers to help with the reward of free admission to participants.
President Shufrin
revived the “get acquainted talks” by telling how he got started noting that he
was a late comer and did not collect as a youth, rather when he and Jack Miller
were looking for an interesting diversion they found a ad touting the
Framingham Stamp Club. They learned that the club ceased existence 20 years
ago. They did find the Waltham Club. Norm collects very fine
The meeting closed at 8:31 and was followed by George Norton’s presentation of “Secrets and Wonders of the Museum Vault” He opened with a discussion of what the Museum is and does emphasizing education, shows, postal history and he noted that half of the visitors have no philatelic interests. Then he showed items from the vault including:
The trowel that laid the first brick of the Museum
A binder that held at least 100 different packets of hinges
A Rotogauge
A box of different perforation gauges
Two binders full of ad and labels promoting exhibitions
A stamp printing plate
A printer’s stone
Wood cuts for stamp images used in catalogs
Large collection of presentation books
A 1699 letter
Charles Dickenson letter
Abe Lincoln letter that pardoned a mail robber.
Collection of presidents’ free franking letters
Same for presidents’ widows
Full plated page of early British stamps
Items from President Eisenhower collection
Reference collections of many kinds
George closed the talk asking what the club wanted to see from the vault and what should be displayed. Three things were mentioned: stamp boxes, Cardinal Spellman items, and presentation items. George was given rousing applause for the presentation.
Minutes submitted by Richard Spencer