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United States Stamp Society

organization

Layered newspapers, civic records and oral-history reels arranged as chronological evidence
History and societyInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionApr 18, 2026
Entity authorityQ7892218
Source-derived summary

The United States Stamp Society (USSS) is the largest philatelic organization dedicated to the research and study of United States postage and revenue stamps. The Society is a non-profit collector-based organization with a world-wide membership of over 1700. The USSS is Affiliate #150 of the American Philatelic Society (APS). Since 1930 the Society has encouraged philatelic study through voluntary membership in specialized committees, including those for specific stamp issues like the Washington-Franklins, the Prexies or the Liberty Series, and areas of U.S. philately such as Plate Numbers, Marginal Markings, Private Vending and Affixing Perforations, Booklets and Panes, and Luminescence. Research is made available through published books, research papers and articles in the monthly journal, The United States Specialist.

History

The Society was founded as the Philatelic Plate Number Association in 1926. The name was changed in 1930 to the Bureau Issues Association, recognizing the Association’s enlarged scope of interest as the entire philatelic output of the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. At that time the Bureau of Engraving and Printing produced all United States postage and revenue stamps. Instead of plate numbers only, the Bureau’s output of postage and revenue stamps, coils, booklets, possessions, paper, gum, marginal markings, as well as methods of manufacture became subjects of study and collection.

In 2000, the organization became the United States Stamp Society.

Editorial summary

The public source identifies “United States Stamp Society” as organization. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around United, States and Stamp.

Editorial reviewMost valuable as an event-and-institution map that identifies actors, dates and record creators for deeper historical inquiry. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1700, 1930, 1926, 2000—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1926-01-01. Its value is orientation rather than verdict, with United, States and Stamp providing the first useful test.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

A short description can identify a subject without explaining its stakes. For “United States Stamp Society”, the useful work is to connect “organization” to the records capable of establishing context and consequence.

Evidence profile

The record creator and administrative purpose are central evidence, because official documentation reflects both action and institutional priorities. The source revision retrieved here is dated Apr 18, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q7892218. VIAF identifies the subject as 156143919. The Library of Congress control number is n2004102081. 2 of 4 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1700, 1930, 1926 and 2000.

Critical limits

Institutional narratives can privilege the records that survived while minimizing voices that were never formally collected. 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

Compare institutional narratives with records created by participants and affected communities. Dates and formal titles are useful anchors, but not substitutes for context.

Best used for
  • Event chronology
  • Institutional context
  • Locating named record creators
Verify next

Contemporary correspondence, government or organizational records, oral histories and cited historical scholarship.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “United States Stamp Society”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow United States Stamp Society primary sources, United States Stamp Society archive and United research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “United States Stamp Society”?
  2. What chronology connects this entry to wider political or social change?
  3. Which voices are present, absent or mediated by the institution?
Subject index

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from United States Stamp Society” 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.