Joseph M. Clary
American philatelist

Joseph M. Clary (January 18, 1905 – August 8, 1996), of San Francisco, California, was a philatelist who dedicated himself to the advancement of the hobby of stamp collecting in California and on a national scale.
California philatelic efforts
Clary was one of the founders of the California Collectors Club in 1937. He was a member of a number of stamp clubs in the San Francisco area and was active in their activities. He was celebrated for his role, starting in 1960, as a director for the philatelic exhibition WESTPEX.
National efforts
Clary was active within the American Philatelic Society (APS), served as director-at-large and as vice president, and was responsible for overseeing the transfer of the Sales Division to its current location in State College, Pennsylvania. He was also chairman of the APS Convention Committee from 1961 to 1979 and was responsible for the APS organizing its own conventions and philatelic exhibitions. The first show was the 91st APS Convention, held in 1977 in San Francisco, and Clary was its chairman.
Honors and awards
Clary was awarded the Luff Award for Outstanding Service to the Society in 1964, and, in 1997, he was named to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame.
The public source identifies “Joseph M. Clary” as american philatelist. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around Joseph, Clary and American.
Why this record matters
A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “Joseph M. Clary”, the useful work is to connect “american philatelist” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.
Named sources, stable identifiers and responsible institutions provide the strongest route from overview to verifiable evidence. The source revision retrieved here is dated Mar 8, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q6285096. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1905, 1996, 1937 and 1960.
The absence of detail may reflect summary conventions rather than a lack of surviving documentation. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “Joseph M. Clary”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow Joseph M. Clary primary sources, Joseph M. Clary archive and Joseph research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Joseph M. Clary”?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “Joseph M. Clary” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.