The Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History, originally known as the Cardinal Spellman Philatelic Museum, is a not-for-profit organization dedicated to the appreciation of diversity through the medium of

postage stamp A postage stamp is a small piece of paper issued by a post office, postal administration, or other authorized vendors to customers who pay postage (the cost involved in moving, insuring, or registering mail). Then the stamp is affixed to the f ...

s and

postal history Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of the use of postage stamps and Cover (philately), covers and associated postal artifacts illustrating historical episodes in the development of postal system ...

Location

The museum is located at 241 Wellesley Street, on the campus of Regis College in

Weston, Massachusetts Weston is an affluent town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, located approximately west of Boston. At the time of the 2020 United States census, the population of Weston was 11,851. Weston was incorporated in 1713, and protect ...

. It is open to the public Thursdays through Sundays ten months of the year, and Thursday to Saturday in July and August.

History

The Spellman Museum was founded in the early 1960s to house and share the collection of Cardinal Francis Spellman, Archbishop of New York (1939-1967) and a world-renowned philatelist. Cardinal Spellman was introduced to the world of stamps by seminarian Lawrence Killian prior to World War I, while they were at the

Pontifical North American College The Pontifical North American College (NAC) is a Catholic Church, Roman Catholic educational institution in Rome, Italy, that prepares seminarians to become priests in the United States and elsewhere. The NAC also provides a residence for Prie ...

in Rome, Italy. Cardinal Spellman used stamps as souvenirs, having them signed to commemorate events in the church and in the world. During his years in Europe, he shipped stamps he had collected to Sister Fidelma Conway, CSJ, a colleague at Regis College, for safe keeping. Sister Fidelma acted as caretaker for his collection, which grew larger than could be housed in the space allocated by Regis. On March 14, 1962, ground was broken on campus for the museum. In the late 1950s, the National Philatelic Museum in Philadelphia, aligned with Temple University, was dissolved. Most of its equipment, literature, and philatelic holdings were transferred to the newly incorporated Cardinal Spellman Philatelic Museum, which officially opened on May 4, 1963. The museum now contains over two million items, ranging from postage stamps, to postal history, to artifacts of communications through the mails. Major holdings include Cardinal Spellman's personal collection and those from the former National Philatelic Museum, and collections or portions of collections donated or loaned by notables including Presidents

Franklin D. Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), also known as FDR, was the 32nd president of the United States, serving from 1933 until his death in 1945. He is the longest-serving U.S. president, and the only one to have served ...

and

Dwight D. Eisenhower Dwight David "Ike" Eisenhower (born David Dwight Eisenhower; October 14, 1890 – March 28, 1969) was the 34th president of the United States, serving from 1953 to 1961. During World War II, he was Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionar ...

, musician

Jascha Heifetz Jascha Heifetz (; December 10, 1987) was a Russian-American violinist, widely regarded as one of the greatest violinists of all time. Born in Vilnius, he was soon recognized as a child prodigy and was trained in the Russian classical violin styl ...

, and U.S. Army General

Matthew Ridgway Matthew Bunker Ridgway (3 March 1895 – 26 July 1993) was a senior officer in the United States Army, who served as Supreme Allied Commander Europe (1952–1953) and the 19th Chief of Staff of the United States Army (1953–1955). Although he ...

. The museum updated its name to ''Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History'' in the 1990s. It operates as an independent not for profit, 501(c)(3), self-supporting educational institution and is chartered by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.

The Spellman philosophy

The museum's principal mission is to engage and teach diversity,

history History is the systematic study of the past, focusing primarily on the Human history, human past. As an academic discipline, it analyses and interprets evidence to construct narratives about what happened and explain why it happened. Some t ...

, and

geography Geography (from Ancient Greek ; combining 'Earth' and 'write', literally 'Earth writing') is the study of the lands, features, inhabitants, and phenomena of Earth. Geography is an all-encompassing discipline that seeks an understanding o ...

through philatelic exhibits, a research library, resource center, educational programming and community outreach. Cardinal Spellman, around 1950, wrote:

Funding

The museum is supported by a membership program, grants, annual donations, admission and research fees, retail sales, and an endowment.

Organization

The museum is administered by a Board of Trustees and a Board of Corporators. Daily operations are addressed by a museum staff, led by an Executive Director, and supported by a cadre of dedicated volunteers.

Special services

For a nominal charge, the museum will evaluate philatelic collections, and extract archived collections for private viewing. The research library is open by appointment and houses an extensive international collection of philatelic literature, including thousands of books, catalogs, audiovisual media, and periodicals relating to stamps and postal history, as well as the history of philately and related subjects. The museum also operates a facility rental program for interested groups and for hosting private events. Special activities and public events are held at the museum, and are listed under Programs and Events tab on the museum website.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History Philatelic museums in the United States History museums in Massachusetts Museums in Middlesex County, Massachusetts Museums established in 1960 1960 establishments in Massachusetts Regis College (Massachusetts)