What you can do to help stop the destruction

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum, in spite of overwhelming public opposition, still plans to destroy approximately 1.4 million revenue stamps. Mr. Allen Kane, director of the National Postal Museum, reiterated his intention to destroy the stamps in a recent letter published in the July 18 edition of Linn’s Stamp News. He states that their “plan is based on the premise that at least some of the duplicates will have to be destroyed to prevent major price fluctuations in the revenue stamp market.” In reality, the only reason to destroy any of the stamps is to manipulate the market value of those stamps that they plan to sell.

As many of you know, I have been leading the opposition to the destruction of stamps by the museum. Recently, a member of the museum’s Council of Philatelists accused me of embarrassing the museum. If the museum officials thought they were going to make public this plan involving destruction of stamps and manipulation of the market and not receive criticism, they were sadly mistaken. If the museum is embarrassed by any of this, they should look to themselves as the source of embarrassment.

The American public is offended by the museum’s plan. Museums exist to preserve objects, not to destroy them. Furthermore, it is our tax dollars funding the museum and the proposed destruction.

The public overwhelmingly opposes the destruction of stamps or anything else by a museum. The support for the museum’s plan to destroy stamps is negligible outside the museum employees and the Council of Philatelists. It is time for the museum to pay attention to what is happening in the real world.

As an example, in the real world, a company that depends upon the consumer for its very existence will reverse course as a result of negative public opinion. Remember the Coca-Cola fiasco with New Coke about ten years ago? Consumers voiced their opinions about New Coke and it wasn’t long before the New Coke plan was junked and Classic Coke was back.

But the museum is a part of our Federal Government and relies on our tax dollars and donations for funding. Bureaucratic arrogance rules. The opinions of the taxpayers who financially support the museum do not seem to matter to the museum officials.

The National Postal Museum is a showcase for our hobby. Allen Kane has shown promise as an effective leader of the museum. But if Mr. Kane follows through with the proposed destruction of stamps, I believe it will be his undoing and the museum will be tarnished as a result. It will be remembered as the stamp museum that destroys stamps and will serve as a case study for museum science students for decades. This has all the ingredients for a public relations disaster for philately. Certainly the museum can do better than this.

In order to stop this destruction of stamps, we need to take this to a higher level. Please consider writing to your Senators and Congressmen. Give them a brief history of this issue and tell them what you think of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum destruction of stamps.

U.S. Senate contact information is available by clicking here.
U.S. House of Representatives contact information is available by clicking here

Due to irradiation of mail to government offices in Washington, D.C., it is best to contact members of the Senate and the House of Representatives by email or fax or by writing to their home offices.

The American Philatelic Society is the advocacy group for philately in the United States, but they have been very quiet on this issue. Perhaps it is because the President, Janet Klug, and the Immediate Past President, Peter McCann, both serve on the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists. In any event, they were elected to represent the interests of the APS membership. At the APS Board of Directors meeting next month, I have presented two resolutions for discussion and a vote. They are as follows:

Resolution one: Be it resolved, that the American Philatelic Society opposes the destruction of stamps for any reason by any group, individual, or organization. The only exception is government stamp issuing agencies which routinely destroy excess stamps in their normal course of business.

Resolution two: Be it resolved, that the American Philatelic Society opposes the planned destruction of revenue stamps and inherent manipulation of the stamp market by the Smithsonian Institution's National Postal Museum.

I urge you to contact the APS board members and let them know your opinion and how you want them to represent you on this issue.

APS Board of Directors contact information is available by clicking here.

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Also, it might be helpful to write the Smithsonian Institution’s Board of Regents and the National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists.

Smithsonian Institution Board of Regents members:

William H. Rehnquist, Chief Justice of the United States, ex officio, Chancellor
The US Supreme Court Justices
The Supreme Court of the United States
One First Street, NE
Washington, DC 20543

Richard B. Cheney, Vice-President of the United States, ex officio
Fax: 202-456-2461
vice.president@whitehouse.gov

Thad Cochran, Senator from Mississippi
Contact Senator Cochran, click here.

Bill Frist, Senator from Tennessee
202-228-1264 (fax)
Contact Senator Frist, click here.

Patrick J. Leahy, Senator from Vermont
202-224-3479 (fax)
Contact Senator Leahy, click here.

Sam Johnson, Representative from Texas
972- 470-9937 fax
Contact Representative Johnson, click here.

Robert T. Matsui, Representative from California
202-225-0566 fax
Contact Representative Matsui, click here.

Ralph Regula, Representative from Ohio
202-225-3059 fax
Contact Representative Regula, click here.

Hanna H. Gray, Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor of History at the University of Chicago and former President of the University of Chicago; a resident of Illinois
Hanna H. Gray
SS Box 109
Harry Pratt Judson Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus
Dept. of History, 501 South Ellis Ave.,
The University of Chicago
Chicago, IL 60637
Phone # (773) 702-7799, Fax # (773) 702-4600
h-gray@uchicago.edu

Anne d’Harnoncourt, the George D. Widener Director of the Philadelphia Museum of Art and a Fellow of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences; a resident of Pennsylvania
Anne D'Harnoncourt
Director
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 26th St.
Philadelphia, PA 19130
Tel. 215-763-8100 and/or 215-684-7600
FAX: 215-236-4465
pr@philamuseum.org

Manuel L. Ibáñez, President Emeritus and Professor Emeritus (Biochemistry), Texas A&M University in Kingsville; a resident of Texas
Manuel L. Ibanez
Phone: 361-854-5818 7737
Starnberg Lake Dr
Corpus Christi TX 78413-5288
Manuel.Ibanez@tamuk.edu
M-Ibanez@tamuk.edu

Walter E. Massey, Physicist and President of Morehouse College in Atlanta
Dr. Walter Massey
Morehouse College
830 Westview Drive SW
Atlanta, GA 30314
wmassey@morehouse.edu

Roger W. Sant, chairman emeritus and cofounder of the AES Corporation and chairman of the board of The Summit Foundation in Washington D.C.
Roger W. Sant
The Summit Foundation
2100 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 525
Washington, DC 20037
202.912.2900
202.912.2901 fax

Alan G. Spoon, managing general partner in Polaris Venture Partners, former President of The Washington Post Company; a resident of Massachusetts
Alan G. Spoon
Polaris Venture Partners
1000 Winter Street
Suite 3350
Waltham, MA 02451
781.290.0770
781.290.0880 fax
aspoon@polarisventures.com

Patricia Q. Stonesifer, co-chair and president of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation; resident of Washington State
Patricia Q. Stonesifer
Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation
PO Box 23350
Seattle, WA 98102
Phone: (206) 709-3100
info@gatesfoundation.org

Wesley S. Williams Jr., of Washington, D.C., Partner in the law firm of Covington & Burling
Wesley S. Williams, Jr.
7706 Georgia Ave.
NW Washington, DC 20090
202.662.5628
wwilliams@cov.com

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National Postal Museum’s Council of Philatelists members

Thomas J. Alexander talexander@kcrr.com
Harvey Bennet info@bennettstamps.com
Guido Craveri investphila@bluewin.ch
Harry Hagendorf harryhagendorf@aol.com
Tim Hirsch thirsch@spinkandson.com
John M. Hotchner hotchnerjm@state.gov
Alvin R. Kantor bobmar47@aol.com
Marjorie Kantor bobmar47@aol.com
James Kloetzel jkloetzel@amospress.com
Janet Klug tongajan@aol.com
Van Koppersmith van@acsaccess.com
Curt Livingston wclinc@aol.com
Thomas Mazza tommazza@interport.net
Peter P. McCann 103226.706@compuserve.com
Arthur Morowitz championstamp@aol.com
Elizabeth C. Pope elizcpope@aol.com
Wade Saadi wadesan@pencom.com
David Sundman dsundman@littletoncoin.com
Donald Sundman dsundman@mysticstamp.com
Patricia Stilwell Walker walke96@attglobal.net
Irwin Weinberg 952 Mellon Bank Center, Wilkes-Barre, PA 18701
Richard Winter rfwinter@bellsouth.net

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National Postal Museum
Allen Kane, Director, National Postal Museum kanea@npm.si.edu
Wilson Hulme, Curator, National Postal Museum whulme@npm.si.edu

Lastly, forward this email to other concerned stamp collectors and citizens and ask them to act as well.