Columbia Philatelic Society members celebrate the club’s 90th anniversary.
The Columbia Philatelic Society celebrated its 90th anniversary October 19 at its meeting place, The Tri-City Leisure Center in West Columbia.
Club member Bob Wilson talked about the history of the society.
“It looks like we’re celebrating the wrong date of the founding of the club,” he said. “On July 5, 1993, a meeting was held in Columbia in the banquet hall of the YMCA that established the Columbia Junior Stamp Club.”
According to a newspaper clipping there were about 50 people in attendance. The officers who were elected included Leonard Metz, president;
Paul Holcombe, vice president; James Moore, secretary; and Robert Chapman, treasurer. Frank Gilbert was acting chairman of the meeting.
“According to notes of longtime club member, Henry Kemp, ‘tradition has it that popular USC English professor, Havilah Babcock, and a few other professors formed the Collector’s Stamp Society of Columbia in 1935,’” Wilson stated.
This club lasted until 1938, which was confirmed by a banquet program. “It’s doubtful both groups operated in Columbia at the same time,” Wilson noted.
“Later in the 1930s, there’s a cover, an envelope cancelled on the day of a stamp show, and a philatelic exhibition award with the name Columbia Stamp Club. It’s most likely that prior to May 1938, the Collector’s Stamp Society merged with the Junior Stamp Club to become the Columbia Stamp Club,” Wilson added.
The 1940s and 1950s are blank spots since no stamp show or related materials have surfaced. It’s assumed the Columbia Stamp Club continued to meet. In 1962, and for the first time, the Columbia Philatelic Society is seen on a stamp show cover.
“Henry Kemp’s notes indicate he thought the Columbia Stamp Club changed its name to the Columbia Philatelic Society in the 1950s,” Wilson said. “While there are gaps in the story, the Columbia Philatelic Society operates today as the oldest known stamp club in South Carolina.”
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