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Past Meetings

Our Archivist holds about 700 handouts provided by displayers at meetings since 1918.
These range from single sheets of paper listing the items on display to extensive publications including complex images that can be regarded as significant contributions to the literature. Explanatory notes were at first provided only occasionally but have become normal practice since the 1980s. Many contain material of value to researchers and their production quality has steadily improved. These have been scanned and converted to a searchable pdf format.

More recently audio and video recordings of displays have been undertaken.

Recent Display information is available via the 'Recent Displays' menu (above). Historical information is available throught the RPSL Catalogue search facility.

Note: Some access is restricted to Members only.

Forthcoming Meetings

1 Mar 2012 at 1 pm  

Geoff Lewis: Philippines, Cuba, New Orleans, Inwards to Spain, 1836 Anglo-French Postal Treaty.

The five postal history collections each show different aspects of the development of rates and routes on international maritime stampless mail in the century up to 1875. Cuba, New Orleans and the Philippines were all busy commercial centres with mail to many parts of the world. Mail was carried by the ships of many nations, particularly the four super-powers: Britain, France, USA and Spain. The fourth collection of inwards mail to Spain shows covers from Spanish colonies, from Europe and from countries worldwide. Spain's rate system depended on the origin of the letter, rather than the point of entry and the internal distance travelled. The fifth collection shows how the agreement between Britain and France made it easier for people to send letters worldwide using the postal system. This had a big effect on many mail routes including transatlantic, via Suez, and from Europe.


15 Mar 2012 at 5 pm

Patrick Maselis: The development of Postal Services in New Zealand until the Introduction of Adhesive Postal Stamps (1827-1855)

A first section deals with postal history of Thierryan Territory, a short-lived Belgian colony around Hokianga. The second part describes the development of postal services in New Zealand, from private initiatives before 1831 to the creation of the New Zealand Post in 1848.


29 Mar 2012 at 5 pm

Alan Huggins: The Sir Daniel Cooper Lecture
Sir Daniel Cooper and 'Stamps with Large Margins'

The concept underlying the Sir Daniel Cooper lecture is that it should embrace philatelic material which Sir Daniel would have been familiar with, and could have collected. On this occasion his interaction with 'stamps with large margins' will be examined both in terms of his own personal interests and those of his contemporaries. In a more general context the display and the presentation will attempt to demonstrate the significant influence of the developments in Great Britain on the evolution of pre-stamped postal stationery and its progressive adoption by other countries.