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Philately - Learning about the World

General Genealogy

Tim Firkowski

Wednesday, 21 January 2015

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I was writing my 2014 Christmas cards and I was remembering my first learning experience about the world. When I was a boy, I had discovered the joy of Philately (Stamp Collecting). At the time, I was fascinated mostly with the graphics and variations of stamps from around the world, but now I realize how much it had a direct impact on my life.

My father also had a stamp collection, which was much larger than mine. His main collection had 3 of each stamp whenever he had three to put in it. Many of the stamps came from family and friends that had written to my grandparents after they came to the US in 1950. Every stamp collector has a doubles album (an album that has duplicates of what is in the main collection.) and my father was no exception. He would not give me any of his stamps, but he made me trade stamps I had in my doubles album.

I never knew how much stamp collecting would help me when I was older. I was able to learn about the many countries around the world just from stamps I had added to my collection.

With many of the new stamps having self adhesive, I miss the days of soaking pieces of envelopes in order to extract a stamp. I could spend a whole day soaking stamps off envelopes and drying them only to later sort them and add them to either my collection or doubles album.

I think that engaging the younger generation in stamp collecting can be a precursor to getting them interested in their ancestry. They will gain a better knowledge of the world and the country changes that have taken place over the years.

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About the author

Tim Firkowski

I have been doing genealogy research since 2002 & have worked full time as a Professional Genealogist since 2008. I specialize in Polish and American-Canadian Genealogy. As a member of APG, I was the 2010/2011 President of the New England Chapter of the Association of Professional Genealogists (NEAPG). I have Certificates of Completion for studies in "Foundations of Forensic Genealogy" and "Advanced Forensic Genealogy Techniques". I have been a volunteer librarian at the local Family History Center, and a genealogy research consultant at “Ask the Expert” Ancestry Road Shows. I have traveled to Poland numerous times & researched in churches and archives. At conferences and special events, you may find me dressed up in my Sherlock Holmes outfit, or my Kujawy (the folk costume from the region in Poland where my ancestors came from).

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Comments 1

Guest - Sara Campbell on Wednesday, 21 January 2015 10:19

Clears the room faster than starting a discussion about dead people. I would pull out the stamps, and the kids went straight to bed. I tried making little art projects with them - Australian animal stamps could be set in a crayoned landscape. No luck.

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