Media Advisory: The Twelfth Blount Postal History Symposium: Political Systems, Postal Administrations, and the Mail
December 8, 2022 from 9:45 a.m. – 5:30 p.m. ET
December 9, 2022 from 10:30 a.m. – 4:00 p.m. ET
Zoom Registration is free but required.
Co-sponsored by the American Philatelic Society and the American Philatelic Research Library
In countries around the world, postal administrations and their missions, practices, and regulations serve as reflections and agents of state goals and ideals. Like the administrations, be they privatized, quasi or fully governmental, these ideals and goals can vary widely. In all cases, they shape the relationship that citizens, subjects, or residents have to the mail and the post office, including their expectations and decisions on how and when to use them. By sending and receiving mail or by using other offered services, individuals participate in communities or networks - familial, commercial, social, or other. Moreover, the acts of using and engaging - even the potential for these - with postal services may simultaneously reinforce and challenge the postal administration and its political foundations. Please register to attend the Zoom meeting here: Webinar Registration - Zoom
The symposium schedule and speaker bios are available at https://postalmuseum.si.edu/the-twelfth- blount-postal-history-symposium-political-systems-postal-administrations-and-the-mail
| SCHEDULE | |
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| (Subject to change) | |
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Thursday, December 8 |
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| 9:45 – 10:00 am | Welcome |
| 10:00 am – 12:00 pm | Session One - The Varying Purposes of Stamp Messaging |
| Moderator: Elizabeth Brown | |
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K. Andrea Rusnock Postal Politics: Soviet Stamps of World War II |
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Laura Goldblatt and Richard Handler The Eagle, the Rocket and the Moon: U. S. Postal Iconography at the End of History |
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A. M. LaVey Politico-Philatelic Semiosis in Russia’s 2014 Crimea Issues |
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| Discussant: William Moskoff | |
| 12:00 – 1:00 pm | Lunch |
| 1:00 – 3:00 pm | Session Two - Postal Networks and the Flow of Information |
| Moderator: Susan Smith | |
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Rocio Moreno Cabanillas The Reform Postal Systems in the Process of Structuring and Construction of Imperial States in the 18th Century |
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Perola Goldfeder ’Gathering Vassals Around the Throne’: The Political Economy of Postal Communications in 19th Century Brazil |
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Francesco Morriello From Three Months to Three Seconds: The Evolution of Mail Delivery from the Renaissance to the Present Day |
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| Discussant: Richard Morel | |
| 3:00 – 3:15 pm | Coffee |
| 3:15 – 5:15 pm | Session Three - The Postal Service in American Life |
| Moderator: Jenny Lynch | |
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Rebecca Brenner Graham Why the U. S. Ended Sunday Mail in 1912 |
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Alison Bazylinski Rethinking Postal Politics: The National Association of Letter Carriers Ladies’ Auxiliary, 1905-1925 |
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Diane DeBlois and Robert Dalton Harris Big Mail: From Public Good to Private Profit |
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| Discussant: Lynn Heidelbaugh | |
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Friday, December 9 |
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| 10:30 am – 12:00 pm | Session Four - Regimes in Flux: Their Impact on Postal Operations and Stamp Design |
| Moderator: Scott Tiffney | |
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Roger Santala Lion or Eagle: Sovereignty, A Postal Authority, and the Mails. Finland 1890-1918 |
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Earl Toops Regime Change in Vietnam: Issues of the Provisional Revolutionary Government and Restoration of Postal Services in the Defeated South |
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| Discussant: James Grayson | |
| 12:00 – 1:30 pm | Lunch |
| 1:30 – 3:30 pm | Session Five - Stamp Iconography in Fascist Regimes |
| Moderator: Sheila Brennan | |
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Daniel Piazza The ‘Fascist Style’ in Italian Philately, 1922 – 1941 |
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Zachary Agatstein ‘Hitler’s Mundane Messengers’: The Banal Nationalism of Third Reich Postage Stamps |
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Guillermo Navarro Oltra Historical Figures on the Postage Stamps of Franco’s Spain: The Catholic Monarchs |
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| Discussant: Stanley Brunn | |
| 3:30 – 4:00 pm | Closing Remarks |
About the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum
The National Postal Museum is devoted to presenting the colorful and engaging history of the nation’s mail service and showcasing one of the largest and most comprehensive collections of stamps and philatelic material in the world. It is located at 2 Massachusetts Ave. N.E., Washington, D.C., across from Union Station. The museum is currently open everyday from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. (closed Dec. 25). For more information about the Smithsonian, call (202) 633-1000 or visit the museum website at www.postalmuseum.si.edu.
Contact: Susan Smith, PhD, 202.633.1519, SmithSu@si.edu
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