Foreword
Traditional Russian philately has produced many outstanding discoveries. A number of excellent societies exist to foster research and the exchange of information. Traditionally, these societies have selected a portion of the larger effort as their primary focus. The idea of having one “big” society is not practical. The sharing of information between these societies has been mainly achieved through the exchange of journals and bulletins/newsletters. However, there is one often overlooked area of information exchange that does not make it to the printed page. That area is the one of personal exchanges.
Most of us have exchanged letters, photocopies, or actual items with other philatelists in our quest for information. The availability of official Russian postal documents has been dismal at best and, as a result, a lot of research has “reverse engineered” much of the information currently known to collectors outside of Russia proper. Numerous articles by well respected philatelists have been printed in the literature. Libraries of the various societies have bits and pieces of the larger picture, but no single society has the “whole” picture.
As the world hurdles towards a paperless society, the electronic medium has taken on a new perspective. We believe that this medium will not replace the printed medium for some time to come. It should be viewed as simply another way to spread information. With that thought in mind, we are proposing the establishment the Society dedicated to the study of Russian philately . There are several advantages to such a society and some of them are listed here:
The basic concepts that we feel can be accomplished are listed below. They are not all inclusive, but represent our initial thoughts. We welcome any comments or ideas on the subject from people visiting the site and will incorporate ideas that have merit.
We would like to encourage as much interchange as possible as the site/Society takes shape. Once the final concepts and design are in place, controls will be put in place to restrict access to members only. We are not trying to make this a “secret” society. We believe that the members deserve their privacy. If someone wants to share knowledge, we will welcome them with open arms.
Anatoly Kiryushkin & Philip Robinson