A Tale of Two Libraries (Philatelic Exhibit)
"A Tale of Two Library Stamps" is a First Day Cover exhibit that features the two library stamps that were issued by the United States Postal Service in 1982 - the Library of Congress stamp and the America’s Libraries stamp. Both stamps were designed by Bradbury Thompson, one of the world's foremost graphic artists. I've been collecting first day covers and related items for the two stamps for more than a dozen years. I thought that 2007 which is the 25th anniversary of the stamps would be an appropriate time to put together an exhibit on the stamps. I also wrote an article about the two stamps for the August 2007 issue of American Libraries.
I developed my first FDC exhibit in 2006 for the Chicago COMPEX stamp show which was in conjunction with StampShow 2006. It was a four frame exhibit entitled "America's Libraries on First Day Covers". Each frame was devoted to a library stamp. The stamps were: the 1982 America's Libraries stamp; the 1982 Library of Congress stamp; the 2000 Library of Congress stamp; and the New York Public Library lion stamp of 2000 (also 2003).
I then developed a five frame first day cover exhibit featuring the 1982 America's Libraries stamp for St. Louis Stamp Expo 2007. It received a Silver Medal.
For Danepex 2007, the stamp show of the Badger Stamp Club in Madison, WI, I put together the "A Tale of Two Library Stamps" exhibit for the first time. It included four frames featuring the 1982 America's Libraries stamp and three frames featuring the 1982 Library of Congress stamp. It won the Best of Show Award and Most Popular Exhibit Award at this show.
At WISCOPEX 2007, the stamp show of the Wisconsin Federation of Stamp Clubs, I showed the same exhibit and it won a First Award.
I also displayed the same exhibit at CHARPEX 2007, the stamp show of the Charlotte Philatelic Society and the Fortnightly Collectors Club, on a non-competitive basis.
The "A Tale of Two Library Stamps" exhibit was also shown at MILCOPEX 2007, the stamp show of the Milwaukee Philatelic Society. At MILCOPEX I added an eighth frame to the exhibit devoted to the 1984 "A Nation of Readers" stamp. I thought this was appropriate because the same players who were responsible for the two 1982 library stamps also came together to bring about the issuing of this stamp which was also designed by Bradbury Thompson. Unfortunately, the judges for the show didn't think so. The exhibit which received a Silver Medal would have fared better without the addition of the eighth frame according to the judges.
The exhibit will be at WISCOPEX 2008 in the Champion of Champions competition as a result of receiving the Best of Show award at DANEPEX 2007.
I have no plans to show the "A Tale of Two Library Stamps" exhibit competitively in the future. I may, however, show the "America's Libraries" portion of the exhibit as a separate exhibit.