The Congress Book

Award-winning editions of The Congress Book have been published annually since the founding of the American Philatelic Congress in 1935. A complete set of these books contains hundreds of scholarly articles about various aspects of philately. Among the many articles are subjects such as specific stamp issues, postal markings, and postal history. These books provide the philatelic researcher the opportunity to present written, original research papers for the philatelist. Articles are contributed without financial reward; many of these writers are first-time authors.

The Congress sends a copy of the annual edition of The Congress Book to each member. A sample of the book, the contents of the 2011 edition of The Congress Book, is available as a free download from the Smithsonian National Postal Museum.

Collectors are invited to contribute articles of lasting philatelic interest for the annual book. Our Editor, Seija-Riitta Laakso, is finalizing the 2021 edition of The Congress Book. She is always looking for more high-quality original research articles. If you have something you’ve been meaning to develop into an article too large for a normal journal, contact the editor at seijulaakso (at) gmail (dot) com to see if it would fit into her plans for the 2022 edition of The Congress Book.

• “French Interzone Mail During the German Occupation (1940–1943), Louis Fiset
• “Letters to the Stars—Connecting a Movie Fan to a Movie Star,” Regis Hoffman and Thomas Richards
• “The Development of Airmail Services from Poland to Palestine Between the Wars,” Jerzy W. Kupiec-Węgliński an Andrzej Kłosiński
• “The Kolomyia Stamp Issues of Western Ukraine, 1918–1919,” Ingert J. Kuzycg and Ihor G. Kulczycky
• “Glamour in Finland—American Beauties on Finnish Picture Postcards, 1915–1923,” Seija-Riitta Laakso
• “The U.S. City Despatch Post—Further Observations,” Jay M. Weiss

• “North Carolina ship letters before the Civil War,” Richard F. Winter
• “The cachets for the first 1941 experimental Highway Post Office,” Peter Martin
• “St. Johns River mail: Steamboats, route agents, and railroad post offices,” Thomas Lera
• “Transcontinental Zeppelin Post,” Cheryl R. Ganz
• “Contested Capital: The occupation and relief of Lemberg, September 1914 to June 1915,” Ingert Kuzych
• “The Zhu De portrait stamps issued by the Shandong Wartime Post and their surcharges,” Hugh Lawrence and Richard Cates
• “The first adhesive postage stamp of the United States Post Office: A first-day cover,” Jay M. Weiss

• “Canada’s embossed excise revenue stamps,” Peter Martin
• “Peru’s first postage due issues 1874-1909,” Charles Wooster
• “The 3c Nashville provisional adhesive,” Frances J. Crown, Jr.
• “The Golden Age of Hollywood,” Regis Hoffman and Thomas Richards
• “Australian overprinted stamps issued for B.C.O.F. in Japan,” Janet Klug
• “Postal communications in Haller’s Blue Army 1917-1919,” Julian Auleytner
• “Austrian” postal products for Western Ukraine,” Ingert Kuzych

• “The Devil’s Post Office,” W.J. Duffney
• “Ukraine’s Vienna Issue: a nine-decade journey to postal fulfillment,” Ingert Kuzych
• “United States Postal Savings Certificates, 1911-1967,” Mattew Liebson
• “Hubs of Communications,” Nancy B. Clark and Will Keller

• “the Postage Age and the issue of 1851–1856,” Gordon Eubanks
• “Beginnings of the post in the independent Republic of Poland, November 1918–1920,” Dr. Julian Auleytner, RPSL, AEP
• “Guatemala, theCaribbean ports in the prestamp era,” Dr. James Mazepa, RDP
• “Resumption of mail service to Europe 1944–1948,” Louis Fiset
• “The growth of the U.S. movie industry during the silent film era,” Regis Hoffman and Thomas Richards
• “The stamp issues of Soviet Ukraine: 1919–1923,” Ingert Kuzych
• “Chattanooga straight-line cancellations 1863–1864,” Jim Cate
• “United Kingdom stamp & post office mechanization development,” Steve McGill

• “The decline of Nantucket whaling, 1841–46,” Douglas N. And Nancy B. Clark
• “Overseas mail routes from Victoria to the 1870s,” John H. Barwis
• “Indians at the post office: New Deal era murals and their legacy of American Indian representation,” Meghan A. Navarro
• “New Zealand: The short life of the 1935 1½d definitive stamp,” Robert P. Odenweller
• “National Firearms Act of 1934,” Thomas Lera
• “The postage due stamps of Hungary,” Lyman R. Caswell
• “The story of a stamp: 1949 Minnesota Territorial Centennial,” Kenneth R. Nilsestuen
• “Ukraine: The Twenty-Hryven Issue of 1919,” Ingert Kuzych

• “Connecticut revenue stamped paper (RSP),” Donald A. Woodworth, Jr.
• “Paying postage in antebellum America,” Diane DeBlois & Robert Dalton Harris
• “Use of British WWII Prisoner-of-War stationery,” Michael D. Dixon
• “Postmarks of the General Banks’ Division,” Jim Cate
• “Non-contract steamship mail during the pioneer steamship period,” Richard F. Winter
• “Ukraine’s ‘Index’ system of the 1930s: The world’s first postal code,” Ingert Kuzych
• “Ceylon’s economic evolution,” Kathryn Johnson
• “Centenary of postal services in the siege of Przemyśl (1914–2014): A fresh look,” Jerzy W. Kupiec-Węgliński and Janusz K. Bator

• “The road to postage due penalties between the UK and France, 1840–55,” Paul J. Phillips
• “Special post routes & special post offices: Local economies & the postal network of the United States to 1860,” Diane DeBlois & Robert Dalton Harris
• “James William Denver—his public life,” William Johnson
• “The World War One refugee camp at Gmünd and its postal operations,” Ingert Kuzych
• “Labels of the Air and Gas Defense League (L.O.P.P.) in Polish Aerophilately,” Jerzy W. Kupiec-Węgliński & Jacek Kosmala
• “Spanish Prisoner of War mail during the Spanish-Cuban/American War,” Yamil H. Kouri, Jr.

• “Ukraine: The Courier Field Post issue of 1920,” Ingert Kuzych
• “The disintegration of the Ottoman Empire 1918–1922,” Alfred F. Kugel
• “The development of airmail services in Poland (1929–1939),” Jerzy W. Kupiec-Węgliński & Jacek Kosmala
• “Why pay extra? Promotion of the use of airmail before WWII,” Arthur H, Groten
• “Messrs. Lanman & Kemp,” David D’Alessandris
• “Escape from the ocean floor—the story of the USS Squalus,” Edwin J. Hayes, Jr.

• “The disintegration of the Hohenzollern Empire 1918–1923,” Alfred F. Kugel
• “Prexies and the interaction of color ,” Diane DeBlois & Robert Dalton Harris
• “A census of Confederate covers bearing the 2¢ green stamp,” Daniel C. Warren
• “The underground railroad post office in Postumia Grotte 1872–1945,” Thomas Lera
• “The development of airmail services in Poland (1918–1928),” Jerzy W. Kupiec-Węgliński & Jacek Kosmala
• “The Salem ‘Pointing Hand PAID’ handstamps: America’s first pictorial postal markings,” Mark Schwartz
• “The puzzle of the Piscataqua postmarks,” Nancy B. Clark
• “The Court Delivery Stamps of Imperial Austria,” Ingert Kuzych

• “National Express and Transportation Company,” Bruce H. Mosher
• “The disintegration of the Romanov Empire 1917–1922,” Alfred F. Kugel
• “Aerophilately and the sieges of Przemysl (1914–1915),” Jerzy W. Kupiec-Węgliński
• “Exceptionally heavy covers flown on the world’s first regular airmail service,” Ingert Kuzych
• “Tasmania’s first barred numeral obliterators and provisional cancellation: 1853–1861,” David McNamee
• “Straightline town cancels on the Confederate general issue stamps,” Conrad L. Bush
• “Travel with stamp booklets,” Jeremy A. Lifsey
• “WWII internment of Polish seamen in Sweden,” J.J. Danielski
• “Freight money covers from Canada,” Richard F. Winter

• “Treatment of the eastbound airmail of the German North Atlantic catapult flights,” Jim Graue
• “Connections of a lady telegraphed,” Diane DeBlois & Robert Dalton Harris
• “The path to Philadelphia’s attainment of Exchange Office status for U.S.–British mails,” John H. Barwis
• “The disintegration of the Hapsburg Empire 1918–1923,” Alfred Kuzych
• “Tourism influences the growth of Mammoth Cave and Cave City Kentucky post offices from 1842 to 1915,” Thomas Lera
• “The birth of a new postal system: the Palestinian National Authority, 1994–2008,” Prof. Paul J. Phillips and Dr. Josef Wallach
• “A tale of two ships: the Milo and the Herald,” Mark Schwartz
• “Freight money covers: an update,” Richard F. Winter
• “The world’s first regular and first international airmail service,” Ingert Kuzych
• “The nineteenth-century postal history of Washington, D.C., hotels,” Peter Martin