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Anyone who thinks that a philatelic library is full of stamps neatly tucked inside small envelopes would be wrong.
The Western Philatelic Library, located in an industrial neighborhood in Redwood City, is not the place to go looking for stamps. But it is the place for researchers who want to find books and monographs about stamps. It’s also a setting to enjoy stamp-related postal displays — an old mailbox, a stamp machine, and collection of silver stamp carrying cases. Philatelic means the study, collection and appreciation of postal stamps and postal history.
Three members of the library were at the 3,000-square-foot building on a recent Saturday, explaining how it houses one of the largest philatelic libraries in the United States, with over 16,000 books and monographs about stamps.
Visitors can examine the esoteric library’s book selection, with such titles as “Australian Imperial Forces Postal History 1914-1918,” or head for bound journals with titles like “News of Hungarian Philately.”
Portola Valley resident and library member Joe Coleman, 72, said he was able to learn more about the stamps of the tiny country of Liechtenstein here. Coleman, retired after a career in finance, has a collection of over a half million stamps, which he says take up a whole room in his house.
The library has a computer system that can be used to look up information on the library’s collection, but the system is not online, Coleman said. Stamp researchers need to visit in person.
The philatelic library began in 1969 and was housed for many years at the Sunnyvale Public Library in Santa Clara County. The current building, which the non-profit library owns, has been its home for the past 11 years. The library has about 200 members, and is open to the public.
Stamp stores have largely disappeared from the retail landscape in recent years, and many collectors now buy stamps online. But based on the library’s collection of current stamp-related brochures, magazines, and advertisements for stamp shows, stamp collecting is still a viable hobby.
“Stamp collecting is like working on a jigsaw puzzle,” Coleman said, “but you’re never finished.”
Researchers, students and stamp clubs are invited to visit the library, although library members were the only ones there on a recent visit.
Eduardo Martino, 67, of San Carlos, Coleman and Jim Giacomazzi, 83, were sorting through recently donated stamp collections and books. The most valuable stamps are sold at fundraisers to support the library’s operations.
A parent encouraged Giacomazzi to begin stamp collecting as a child.
“I started in 1948, because we didn’t have a television,” he said. “I said Mom, ‘I’m bored.'”
But now, he said, “we tend to be an older organization.” He speculated that stamp collecting doesn’t appeal to generations that can look to its phones for entertainment.
Stamp collecting attracts many people who work with numbers in their careers, such as engineering and finance, Coleman said.
Martino said that stamp collecting’s benefits include learning about history, art, science and geography.
Coleman listed two ways that stamp collecting continues to attract younger collectors: school teachers, who pass their interest in philately onto their students, and Scouting America, which offers a merit badge in stamp collecting.
Some stamp collectors belong to clubs and attend meetings and shows to display and sell stamps. The library displays brochures of local stamp clubs from Fremont, San Jose, Novato, Alameda and Sacramento.
The Western Philatelic Library is located at 3004 Spring St. in Redwood City. It is open on Saturday mornings and other times during the week. Membership costs $25 a year, but the library is open to the public. More information is at fwpl.org.
