2018
2018 Hall of Fame Inductees
07.22.2018
Francis J. Crown, Jr.
Francis (Frank) J. Crown, Jr. began collecting stamps at the age of six. By the age of 12, he was introduced to Confederate stamps and thus began a lifelong passion.
He wrote his first article while in college and quickly followed that with a second, both about Confederate stamps. While in college, he also developed an interest in Georgia postal history that became a second lifelong passion.
He prepared the annual index to the Confederate Philatelist from the mid-1960s through the 1970s. In 1971, he began writing a column for the Confederate Philatelist, which continued until 1979. At the same time, he continued writing articles about Confederates. He also did original research and wrote a detailed article on “New Orleans Foreign Mails 1861-1862” that was published in the 43rd American Philatelic Congress Book (1977).
By the mid-1970s, he began the monumental task of editing and compiling the surveys of Confederate postmasters’ provisionals prepared by Charles J. Phillips in the 1930s and Frank E. Hart in the 1950s. To this, he also added his own survey of Georgia postmasters’ provisionals. The combined work was published as the Surveys of the Confederate Postmasters’ Provisionals in 1982. This work is still a valuable tool to those who collect provisionals.
By the mid-1980s, he turned his focus to Georgia postal history, particularly the stampless period. He wrote several articles on this subject for the Georgia Postal History Society Bulletin.
In 1991, he started Georgia Post Roads which became the successor to Georgia Postal History Society Bulletin. He continued to edit the journal until 1998, and then again from 2001 to 2006. While editor, he continued to write numerous articles on Georgia postal history, many of which were based on original research.
During the 1990s, he published First Returns Received from Georgia Postmasters 1879-1918, Guide to Georgia Public Officials During the Stampless Period, and Georgia Stampless Cover Catalog and Handbook, which is the definitive work on Georgia stampless covers. He also wrote about the Savannah duplex cancel of 1860-1861 in the US Cancellation Club News.
The American Philatelist for November 2000 included an article based on a cover he found, “A Cover for the Time,” that described some of the low-handed methods used to obtain votes in presidential elections. In February 2002, his research on the Albany, Georgia, flower fancy cancels appeared in US Cancellation Club News. About this time, he again turned his focus to Confederates. He published two articles in the Confederate Philatelist based on detailed studies of two Confederate Postmasters’ provisionals: “Athens 5¢ Red Provisional Recut” (2002) and “The Macon Petrie Fakes” (2004).
In 2007, he undertook another monumental effort to prepare a new Confederate States catalog in collaboration with Patricia A. Kaufmann and Jerry S. Palazolo. This effort culminated in the publication of the Confederate States of America Catalog and Handbook of Stamps and Postal History, published in 2012. It won the Grand Award for literature at 2013 StampShow.
In 2016, he published the definitive work Uniontown, Alabama, Postmaster’s Provisionals. This was followed in 2017 by another definitive work on the Springfield facsimiles in collaboration with Steven M. Roth and Patricia A. Kaufmann: The Springfield Facsimiles of the Confederate Postage Stamps.
More recently, he has focused his attention on educating writers about the poor research done on Confederate postal history by writers who accept what was written over 100 years ago without vetting the sources. His first effort, “Trust No One: Pitfalls Await the Philatelic Researcher” (3rd Quarter 2017 Confederate Philatelist) used phrases from old publications that have been accepted as fact even though they are not or cannot be proved. The second, “The 3¢ Nashville Provisional Adhesive: A Study in Postal History Research,” to be published in the 2018 American Philatelic Congress Book, will illustrate through actual research the necessity of thoroughly vetting sources.
Crown received the August Dietz Award for distinguished research and writing in the field of Confederate philately in 1970, 1975, 1984, 2013, and 2017. In 2014, he received the Rowland Hill Award from the Southeast Federation of Stamp Clubs for his lifetime contribution to the study of philately in the Southeast United States. Frank has also served organized philately in numerous other capacities. He is currently (again) Vice President of the Confederate Stamp Alliance (CSA), although he served as President 1982-83. He is Chairman Emeritus of the CSA Authentication Service, serving as Chairman 2009-2016.
Leonard H. Hartmann
Leonard H. Hartmann was born Nov. 22, 1941 in Chicago and has lived in Louisville, KY since 1955.
By profession, Leonard is a chemical engineer, having spent his entire career (almost 40 years) working with catalysts and with the same company through various ownership changes, retiring in stages in 2000- 2003. But Leonard is best known among philatelists for his lifetime passion for philatelic literature: collecting, dealing, publishing and writing, a business since 1965 and a hobby before and since.
During 1966-1970, he edited, printed and mailed The Confederate Philatelist. Since then, he has written articles for the Chronicle of the US Classic Postal Issues, Confederate Philatelist, and Philatelic Literature Review, among others. His first publishing venture was in 1967, when he bought in advance 300 of the 500-copy edition of Lionel Gillam’s A History of Canadian R.P.O.'s 1853-1967, which allowed it to be published.
Since then, Leonard has published Dave Baker’s Postal History of Indiana; Charles Starnes’ US Letter Rates to Foreign Destinations, Lowell Cooper’s Fresno and San Francisco Bicycle Mail of 1894, Ken Rowe’s The Forwarding Agents, and Richard Byne’s Confederate States of America Philatelic Subject Index and Bibliography, among others. Leonard says, “I initially tried to create a collector’s appreciation for finely printed books, true deluxe on special paper, a little added text, and corrections, fine binding in editions of 25 but had to discontinue as my cost was close to the retail and they did not sell as hoped.”
Starting in 1993 for the Western Cover Society, Leonard published John Leutzinger’s book on Wells Fargo; John Williams’ book on California, Charles Winter’s book on Nebraska, and James Gamett’s book on the Nevada Express.
For the 2012 Confederate States of America Catalog, Leonard completed the entire General Issue Section (about 50 pages).
Currently, Leonard chairs the Collectors Club of Chicago’s publications committee. He was involved with approving and funding books such as The Prestamp Period of El Salvador, Soviet Clandestine Mail, U.S. Contract Mail Routes, and the forthcoming Yamil Kouri book on the Spanish American War. In the future, he also is looking forward to publishing more of his own work.
Hartmann is Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London, member of Club Monte Carlo, life member of APS and CSA, and member of various other societies.
George N. Malpass
George N. Malpass (1904-75) was one of those collectors who comes along only once in a generation. A pharmaceutical chemist by trade, Malpass developed an early interest for stamps and postal history of the Civil War era and collected and wrote about them extensively for 60 years, beginning in 1915. His collection of stamps, covers, autographs, manuscripts and other related ephemera was one of the most comprehensive ever assembled, at one time including more than 12,000 items. He had more than 100 articles and monographs published about Civil War patriotics alone, and he also contributed generously to the 1861-69 section of the Chronicle (journal of the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society), as well as to other publications.
Having been mentored by August Dietz, Malpass was on the editorial board for both the 1945 and 1959 editions of the Dietz Confederate Catalogue. His involvement with the Confederate Stamp Alliance included being president from 1955-57 and serving for a number of years as chair of the Postal History Committee. He was awarded honorary life membership in 1971. He also was an honorary member of the Sons of Confederate Veterans organization.
Although Malpass was born in New Jersey, he spent many years of his life in Philadelphia, PA, and St. Petersburg, FL, where he had ample opportunity to research and obtain material, which was not limited to the Confederacy. Other special fields of Malpass’ study included the Federal occupation of Fort Jefferson, FL; the early and Civil War-era postal history of Pensacola, Fort Pickens and Key West, FA; and patriotics of both the North and the South.
Although he was quite ill for a number of years prior to his death, Malpass maintained a very strong interest in his specialties and in helping others. According to the late postal historian Richard Graham, Malpass submitted a letter to the USPCS 1861 editor days before his final hospitalization that included key information for understanding a particular cover.
As a side note, after his death, no one knew the disposition of his collection. In 2004, a Malpass heir contacted Patricia Kaufmann for advice regarding this material, having no idea what it was worth. When questioned about disorganization that ran contrary to Malpass’ nature, the great-nephew responded that although his daughter knew the value of his collection, she apparently did not instill this knowledge in the next generation. When she died, the remainder of Malpass’ collection (still well into six digits) had been unceremoniously dumped on a curbside trash heap. While he recognized the material had value, he had no idea how much – or how significant it was to the hobby.
This year we celebrate Malpass’ research and writing – something that was appreciated in his day and is important to recognize.
Van Dyk McBride
Van Dyk McBride (1891-1961) is not a name that is familiar to many of today’s collectors. Yet he was one of the leading experts in Confederate philately during much of the 20th century. At the time of his death, McBride was serving as president of the Confederate Stamp Alliance, an organization in which he was active for many years, having also served as vice president 1946-47, 1950-57 and 1959-61.
A prolific author, McBride contributed not only to the Confederate Philatelist, but to other publications as well. His longrunning “More About Confederates” column in Stamps Magazine was very popular with specialists and non-specialists alike. He also published a great deal of material in the now-defunct Philatelic Gazette of New York City (the publication ran from 1910-18), where he collaborated (for stamps from 1847-80 or so) with Dr. Carroll Chase, William B. Sprague and Arthur Owen, who collectively were known as “The Four Horsemen” (1915-18). Although McBride had solid knowledge for various segments of early American philately, his own specialty at the time was the 1869 series, of which he wrote extensively. These studies, undertaken by McBride and the other “Horsemen,” established a very important basis for other reference works and for later authors. Other contemporaneous contributors included J. Murray Bartels, B.W.H. Poole, Henry Neeham, and Phillip Ward, Jr.
McBride was a lifelong collector, having become interested in stamps after being introduced to the hobby by his father (who was also a collector) and had already become a serious student of philately by the time he was a teenager, as evidenced by his writing in the Philatelic Gazette.
McBride’s interest soon turned to the Confederate States, where most of his efforts were concentrated. He and Lawrence L. Shenfield served as co-chairs of the 14-person editorial board that undertook the six-year revision that became the 1959 Dietz Confederate Catalogue and Handbook. He also served as head of the CSA authentication committee from 1950-61.
An additional specialty of McBride’s included vintage postally used Valentines; that is, those mailed prior to 1870. In addition to collecting them, he wrote about and exhibited these Valentines, although never as seriously as his Confederates. As a professional investment securities advisor, McBride headed up McBride, Miller & Co., of Newark, N.J.
It is for his groundbreaking research work – both in the areas of classic United States and the Confederate States – that we honor the work of Van Dyk McBride.
Francis (Frank) J. Crown, Jr. began collecting stamps at the age of six. By the age of 12, he was introduced to Confederate stamps and thus began a lifelong passion.
He prepared the annual index to the Confederate Philatelist from the mid-1960s through the 1970s. In 1971, he began writing a column for the Confederate Philatelist, which continued until 1979. At the same time, he continued writing articles about Confederates. He also did original research and wrote a detailed article on “New Orleans Foreign Mails 1861-1862” that was published in the 43rd American Philatelic Congress Book (1977).
By the mid-1970s, he began the monumental task of editing and compiling the surveys of Confederate postmasters’ provisionals prepared by Charles J. Phillips in the 1930s and Frank E. Hart in the 1950s. To this, he also added his own survey of Georgia postmasters’ provisionals. The combined work was published as the Surveys of the Confederate Postmasters’ Provisionals in 1982. This work is still a valuable tool to those who collect provisionals.
By the mid-1980s, he turned his focus to Georgia postal history, particularly the stampless period. He wrote several articles on this subject for the Georgia Postal History Society Bulletin.
In 1991, he started Georgia Post Roads which became the successor to Georgia Postal History Society Bulletin. He continued to edit the journal until 1998, and then again from 2001 to 2006. While editor, he continued to write numerous articles on Georgia postal history, many of which were based on original research.
During the 1990s, he published First Returns Received from Georgia Postmasters 1879-1918, Guide to Georgia Public Officials During the Stampless Period, and Georgia Stampless Cover Catalog and Handbook, which is the definitive work on Georgia stampless covers. He also wrote about the Savannah duplex cancel of 1860-1861 in the US Cancellation Club News.
The American Philatelist for November 2000 included an article based on a cover he found, “A Cover for the Time,” that described some of the low-handed methods used to obtain votes in presidential elections. In February 2002, his research on the Albany, Georgia, flower fancy cancels appeared in US Cancellation Club News. About this time, he again turned his focus to Confederates. He published two articles in the Confederate Philatelist based on detailed studies of two Confederate Postmasters’ provisionals: “Athens 5¢ Red Provisional Recut” (2002) and “The Macon Petrie Fakes” (2004).
In 2007, he undertook another monumental effort to prepare a new Confederate States catalog in collaboration with Patricia A. Kaufmann and Jerry S. Palazolo. This effort culminated in the publication of the Confederate States of America Catalog and Handbook of Stamps and Postal History, published in 2012. It won the Grand Award for literature at 2013 StampShow.
In 2016, he published the definitive work Uniontown, Alabama, Postmaster’s Provisionals. This was followed in 2017 by another definitive work on the Springfield facsimiles in collaboration with Steven M. Roth and Patricia A. Kaufmann: The Springfield Facsimiles of the Confederate Postage Stamps.
More recently, he has focused his attention on educating writers about the poor research done on Confederate postal history by writers who accept what was written over 100 years ago without vetting the sources. His first effort, “Trust No One: Pitfalls Await the Philatelic Researcher” (3rd Quarter 2017 Confederate Philatelist) used phrases from old publications that have been accepted as fact even though they are not or cannot be proved. The second, “The 3¢ Nashville Provisional Adhesive: A Study in Postal History Research,” to be published in the 2018 American Philatelic Congress Book, will illustrate through actual research the necessity of thoroughly vetting sources.
Crown received the August Dietz Award for distinguished research and writing in the field of Confederate philately in 1970, 1975, 1984, 2013, and 2017. In 2014, he received the Rowland Hill Award from the Southeast Federation of Stamp Clubs for his lifetime contribution to the study of philately in the Southeast United States. Frank has also served organized philately in numerous other capacities. He is currently (again) Vice President of the Confederate Stamp Alliance (CSA), although he served as President 1982-83. He is Chairman Emeritus of the CSA Authentication Service, serving as Chairman 2009-2016.
Leonard H. Hartmann
Leonard H. Hartmann was born Nov. 22, 1941 in Chicago and has lived in Louisville, KY since 1955.
During 1966-1970, he edited, printed and mailed The Confederate Philatelist. Since then, he has written articles for the Chronicle of the US Classic Postal Issues, Confederate Philatelist, and Philatelic Literature Review, among others. His first publishing venture was in 1967, when he bought in advance 300 of the 500-copy edition of Lionel Gillam’s A History of Canadian R.P.O.'s 1853-1967, which allowed it to be published.
Since then, Leonard has published Dave Baker’s Postal History of Indiana; Charles Starnes’ US Letter Rates to Foreign Destinations, Lowell Cooper’s Fresno and San Francisco Bicycle Mail of 1894, Ken Rowe’s The Forwarding Agents, and Richard Byne’s Confederate States of America Philatelic Subject Index and Bibliography, among others. Leonard says, “I initially tried to create a collector’s appreciation for finely printed books, true deluxe on special paper, a little added text, and corrections, fine binding in editions of 25 but had to discontinue as my cost was close to the retail and they did not sell as hoped.”
Starting in 1993 for the Western Cover Society, Leonard published John Leutzinger’s book on Wells Fargo; John Williams’ book on California, Charles Winter’s book on Nebraska, and James Gamett’s book on the Nevada Express.
For the 2012 Confederate States of America Catalog, Leonard completed the entire General Issue Section (about 50 pages).
Currently, Leonard chairs the Collectors Club of Chicago’s publications committee. He was involved with approving and funding books such as The Prestamp Period of El Salvador, Soviet Clandestine Mail, U.S. Contract Mail Routes, and the forthcoming Yamil Kouri book on the Spanish American War. In the future, he also is looking forward to publishing more of his own work.
Hartmann is Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London, member of Club Monte Carlo, life member of APS and CSA, and member of various other societies.
George N. Malpass
George N. Malpass (1904-75) was one of those collectors who comes along only once in a generation. A pharmaceutical chemist by trade, Malpass developed an early interest for stamps and postal history of the Civil War era and collected and wrote about them extensively for 60 years, beginning in 1915. His collection of stamps, covers, autographs, manuscripts and other related ephemera was one of the most comprehensive ever assembled, at one time including more than 12,000 items. He had more than 100 articles and monographs published about Civil War patriotics alone, and he also contributed generously to the 1861-69 section of the Chronicle (journal of the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society), as well as to other publications.
Although Malpass was born in New Jersey, he spent many years of his life in Philadelphia, PA, and St. Petersburg, FL, where he had ample opportunity to research and obtain material, which was not limited to the Confederacy. Other special fields of Malpass’ study included the Federal occupation of Fort Jefferson, FL; the early and Civil War-era postal history of Pensacola, Fort Pickens and Key West, FA; and patriotics of both the North and the South.
Although he was quite ill for a number of years prior to his death, Malpass maintained a very strong interest in his specialties and in helping others. According to the late postal historian Richard Graham, Malpass submitted a letter to the USPCS 1861 editor days before his final hospitalization that included key information for understanding a particular cover.
As a side note, after his death, no one knew the disposition of his collection. In 2004, a Malpass heir contacted Patricia Kaufmann for advice regarding this material, having no idea what it was worth. When questioned about disorganization that ran contrary to Malpass’ nature, the great-nephew responded that although his daughter knew the value of his collection, she apparently did not instill this knowledge in the next generation. When she died, the remainder of Malpass’ collection (still well into six digits) had been unceremoniously dumped on a curbside trash heap. While he recognized the material had value, he had no idea how much – or how significant it was to the hobby.
This year we celebrate Malpass’ research and writing – something that was appreciated in his day and is important to recognize.
Van Dyk McBride
Van Dyk McBride (1891-1961) is not a name that is familiar to many of today’s collectors. Yet he was one of the leading experts in Confederate philately during much of the 20th century. At the time of his death, McBride was serving as president of the Confederate Stamp Alliance, an organization in which he was active for many years, having also served as vice president 1946-47, 1950-57 and 1959-61.
McBride was a lifelong collector, having become interested in stamps after being introduced to the hobby by his father (who was also a collector) and had already become a serious student of philately by the time he was a teenager, as evidenced by his writing in the Philatelic Gazette.
McBride’s interest soon turned to the Confederate States, where most of his efforts were concentrated. He and Lawrence L. Shenfield served as co-chairs of the 14-person editorial board that undertook the six-year revision that became the 1959 Dietz Confederate Catalogue and Handbook. He also served as head of the CSA authentication committee from 1950-61.
An additional specialty of McBride’s included vintage postally used Valentines; that is, those mailed prior to 1870. In addition to collecting them, he wrote about and exhibited these Valentines, although never as seriously as his Confederates. As a professional investment securities advisor, McBride headed up McBride, Miller & Co., of Newark, N.J.
It is for his groundbreaking research work – both in the areas of classic United States and the Confederate States – that we honor the work of Van Dyk McBride.