Many of us who are retired know someone who collected stamps at some time. We may have even inherited a collection from a relative. We may even have collected them ourselves. Boy Scouts can still earn a merit badge for stamp collecting.This course will cover the history of postal systems, stamps, and stamp collecting as a hobby (philately) focusing heavily on examples from the United States, Britain, New Zealand, China, and Antarctica as well as the rest of the world. Examples from the instructor's personal collection will be used. This course will be of interest to students who are collectors or who are interested in the development of personal and commercial communication. It will also be of interest to people who wonder about the stamps attached to their mail. Attention will be given to philately both as a hobby and as a scholarly pursuit. Hands on activities will be used as much as feasible.Participants will learn about:?How and why postal systems developed.?How and why stamps came into usage.?The purposes of stamps.?The various types of commonly used stamps.?The physical characteristics of stamps that distinguish one stamp from another.?The process of collecting philatelic materials.?The tools of collecting.?What collections are worth.

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