2025 Hall of Fame Inductees
James P. Gough
Gough authored the 2020 Crawford medal-winning The Postal History of the Universal Postal Union: The Postal Card (Worldwide) 1869-1974).
An international judge and Luff Award winner in 2020, Gough had extensively researched postage dues and the impact of UPU regulations on worldwide postal services, publishing articles in the Collectors Club Philatelist as well as the London Philatelist.
Larry Lyons
Larry Lyons, executive director of the Philatelic Foundation since 2010, is the author of The Identifier for Carriers, Locals, Fakes, Forgeries and Bogus Posts of The United States and The 2007 Pricing Guide for Unlisted Carriers, Locals, Fakes, Forgeries and Bogus Posts of the United States as well as more than 140 original research articles in various journals and publications.
He received the U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Carroll Chase Cup in 1998 and was twice awarded the Diane D. Boehret Award (in 2009 and 2011) for Excellence in Philatelic Literature.
Stanley J. Luft (1927-2019)
The late Stanley J. Luft, a geologist who resided in Golden, Colorado, was a well-known French philatelic specialist and a prolific writer on just about every aspect of the field.
Luft wrote or co-authored over 100 articles for various journals, but chiefly the France & Colonies Philatelist, which he edited from 1993 to 2007. His writings also appeared in The American Philatelist, Collectors Club Philatelist, American Philatelic Congress Book, Military Postal History Society Bulletin, London Philatelist, and Feuilles Marcophiles.
He authored the three volumes of The Regular Issues of France According to Their Normal Postal Usage (1974, 1979, 1984) and Military and Postal History of the Revolutionary Armies in the West of France 1791–1802 (1993). With co-author William Waugh, he wrote A Chronology of French Military Campaigns and Expeditions with Their Postal Markings 1815–1983 (1984).
Luft was a philatelic and literature judge, founding member of the Académie Européene d’Etudes Philatéliques, and recipient of the APS Luff award for distinguished philatelic research (2008). He served as an officer for the American Philatelic Congress Council, where he chaired the Boehret Award committee, and France & Colonies Philatelic Society. He served as president of ROMPEX national stamp show, the Philatelic Society of Cincinnati, and the Collectors Club of Denver. He was a fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society, London and won the France & Colonies Philatelic Society Gerard Gilbert Memorial award for philatelic literature three times for his books.
Marjory Sente has been writing for philatelic publications since 1975, when she first researched and wrote about American female philatelic writers for the 1975 CHICAGOPEX show program (since reprinted).
Two years later, her article about Amelia Earhart appeared in Scott’s Monthly Journal.
She has written more than 800 articles that have been published in the philatelic press, including in Scott’s Stamp Monthly, Linn’s Stamp News, Stamp Collector, First Days, The Roadrunner, WE Expressions, and The American Philatelist; in national publications, including Country Living, The Penn Stater, and DAR Magazine.
Her most recent works blend postal and social history into engaging narratives with broad appeal.
She has used new resources available through the internet to tell lost postal stories about the Grand Canyon, Arizona Territory’s first postmistress, first day covers, and even geegaws.
Kevin Lowther writes on a wide range of philatelic subjects with exemplary research that places his stories in historical context.
He began collecting stamps in the late 1940s, and has specialized in the Washington-Franklins over the past sixty years.
In 2010, he began focusing on postal history and has since published more than 170 articles in several philatelic magazines, including The United States Specialist,
The American Stamp Dealer & Collector and Kelleher’s Stamp Collector’s Quarterly.
Nearly sixty of his articles explored the postal history of United States’ involvement in WWI.
His articles on the Washington-Franklins have led to several new listings in the Scott catalog.
Doug Kelsey wrote several hundred articles, columns, catalogs, and monographs. His publications showcase his diverse research and collecting interests, including Mailed via “Mailomat,” Mexico Postage Meter Stamp Catalog, Ohio Metered Mail Postal History, The Definitive Issues of Egypt, The Gutter Pair Price Guide, and United States Meter Stamps.
For fourteen years he wrote a column for Linn’s Stamp News and served as an editor of the Postal History Foundation’s Heliograph.