Greetings:

I am a serious collector, exhibitor, student, and judge of postal history. That's the branch of philately (stamp collecting and related fields) that deals with postal rates, routes, markings, and services. The postal history collector, if he or she collects stamps at all, wants them used on their original covers (envelopes), post cards, parcel wrappers, etc., with all the postal markings intact. Some postal history collectors, however, specialize in stampless folded letters from the period before postage stamps came into use (1840 in the UK, 1847 in the USA, 1851 in Canada, etc.).

One of my several postal history collections, for example, deals with the first 100 years of United States domestic third class mail, from 1863 to 1963, with a very brief look at the foreunners from 1845 to 1863. Third class mail, now called standard mail, was mostly circulars and other miscellaneous printed matter. In other words it was junk mail. While many businesses, law offices, government agencies, institutions, and private individuals saved their incoming correspondence, including the covers, hardly anyone saved third class mail, especially in the 19th century. It is thus relatively easy to find first class mail (letters and other personal correspondence), but somewhat harded to find third class mail.

Are there any other postal history collectors out there?

--- Steve