Henry Scheuer’s June talk about his work on “Creating the Unofficial City FDC Database” offers fascinating insights into the meticulous effort involved in historical database creation. After a review of the history of similar database projects, Henry delved into the technical and logistical challenges he faced while compiling this Excel-based database. Spanning 1922 to 1931, it currently consists of seven columns of detailed information, showcasing an impressive effort to document this period comprehensively.

For those interested in organizing similar projects or optimizing their data workflows, Latenode can streamline the process of database creation and maintenance. Using Latenode, you could automate tasks like data validation, column updates, or even setting up notifications when new data entries are added. This could significantly reduce the manual effort and potential for errors, ensuring a more efficient and accurate compilation of such valuable historical records.

Our May presenter was Dan Ryterband, who delivered a wonderful talk on “Mails via Lake Champlain.”  His exhibit demonstrated the various ways mails transmitted by water evolved prior to 1870 on this important lake, which was the major communication link between Montreal, Canada and the eastern U.S. Dan’s exhibit was divided into three sections: the Prologue (1759 to 1817); the Steamboat era (18...

Chip Gliedman was our presenter on April 10, on the topic “Civil War Patriotic Labels.”  Chip brought his very extensive collection of Civil War period covers, each of which had a colorful patriotic label attached.  He noted that these covers were relatively hard to find, with a scarcity of about 100:1 compared to regular patriotic covers. These labels featured many different types of designs, ...

Wade Saadi was our speaker on February 13 on “19th Century Cameo Advertising Covers.”  He brought an impressive accumulation of over 100 very attractive illustrated cameo covers, whose condition reflected Wade’s fastidious taste. Wade showed covers grouped according to the following subjects: merchants and manufacturers; ships, trains and stables; professional services; cigars, wine and liquor;...

Our January 9 meeting of the NY Chapter was, as usual, dedicated to our members’ “one frame” display. We were graced with five wonderful exhibits. Chip Gliedman got the evening off to a start describing his progress towards his “51” collection. Rather than being a showing of 1851 issues, it was his start at collecting an iconic cover from each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia. He s...

Michael Heller was our speaker for December, on the topic “U.S. Domestic Postal Rates, 1800-1850.”  His talk encompassed a wide variety of stampless covers from many different states, focusing primarily on the various postal rate schedules in effect during the first half of the 19th century. Michael first discussed the growth in post offices during the early 19th century and how changes in tran...

Our November presenter was Chip Gliedman, on the topic: “Early fur trade mail in the US and Canada (1822-1871).”  His fascinating talk was based on his exhibit of special mail routes of Rupert’s Land and the Red River Valley, which focused on the mail routes organized by the Hudson’s Bay Company. Chip provided us with a great deal of information on the history of this vast and remote area in th...

At our October 16 meeting, Bob Rose shared with us the history of cover faker John A. Fox, tracing his rise as a New York dealer in the 1940s and his downfall after his fakery came to light in the 1960s.  As the Philatelic Foundation played an essential role in outing Fox’s cover creations, this presentation from Bob Rose, currently chairman of the Foundation, was most appropriate. Bob supported h...

Drew Nicholson was our September speaker on the topic “Postal Billboards – Some Interesting Dutchess County Advertising Covers.”  Drew brought a fascinating group of advertising covers, reflecting many towns in New York’s Dutchess County and ranging from the 1850s to the early 20th century.  He shared his deep knowledge of the history of this area, which made the presentation very interesting and ...

Dan Ryterband was our speaker for June, presenting his outstanding collection of “First through Third Issue Revenues.” While Dan’s revenue stamp collection was mostly complete, he noted that his main focus was quality, not completion.  This focus on quality was very evident throughout his collection. Dan walked us through his collection in chronological order, starting with the imperforate stam...