NPM to host Cheryl Ganz at 20th Maynard Sundman lecture

By Linn’s Staff

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum will host Cheryl Ganz, president of the American Philatelic Society and former chief curator of philately at the National Postal Museum, for the museum’s 20th Maynard Sundman lecture Thursday, Nov. 2, at 4 p.m. EDT at the museum and also via the Zoom online platform.

Admission to the lecture is free, but registration is required on the website.

“Everyone wants to own a set of zeppelin stamps from the 1930s,” the museum said in a press release. “But why did the Post Office Department issue four zeppelin stamps to subsidize a German aircraft’s operations during the Great Depression? Why were the values of these stamps so high and who received all that money? How did the rates and routes change from 1930 to 1933? Why were zeppelins important to transoceanic mail service?”

In a lecture on United States Zeppelin postage stamps, Ganz will first trace the production of the issues from source materials to die proofs to certified plate proofs with marginal markings. Then she will cover the various city postmarks and private cachets on examples of first-day covers of the stamps.

The lecture will close with a discussion of when and where the Graf Zeppelin flew mail franked with U.S. stamps, as well as the ways that collectors, passengers and crew sought to create varieties.

A lifelong stamp collector, Ganz specializes in zeppelin posts and memorabilia. She edited and co-edited the Zeppelin Collector, the newsletter of the Zeppelin Collectors Club, for 37 years. Her 2021 book, U.S. Zeppelin and Airship Mail Flights, chronicles mail services from airships in the U.S. military, private airships, and commercial airships.

In addition to her role as APS president, Ganz currently serves as a member of the U.S. Postal Service’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee and as the U.S. north central representative of the Royal Philatelic Society London.

Her long list of philatelic achievements includes signing the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists and receiving the Luff award for exceptional contributions to philately and the Alfred F. Lichtenstein memorial award for distinguished service to philately.

The Maynard Sundman lecture series is named for the founder of Littleton Stamp Co. who later owned Mystic Stamp Co. of Camden, N.Y. The annual lectures feature talks on stamps and stamp collecting by authors and expert philatelists.

The National Postal Museum is located at 2 Massachusetts Ave. NE, Washington, D.C., across from Union Station. The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. every day of the year except Dec. 25.

For more information about the museum, call 202-633-1000 or visit its website.

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