George W. Brett and Barbara R. Mueller To
Be Honored by the National Postal Museum

Two of the United States Stamp Society's most prominent members will be honored by the National Postal Museum this Spring.

George W. Brett of Spirit Lake, Iowa and Barbara R. Mueller of Jefferson, Wisconsin, along with Thomas J. Alexander of Kansas City, Missouri, will receive the Smithsonian Institution's Philatelic Achievement Award at a ceremonial banquet to be held at the National Postal Museum on May 22, 2004.  All three stamp collectors, regarded as authorities on United States postage stamps, comprise the second group of recipients of the award, which the Washington Museum inaugurated in 2002.

Alan Kane, Director of the National Postal Museum, announced the selections this past December, noting that they will be presented at a black-tie dinner at the Museum.  The dinner will come shortly before the opening of an exhibit of stamps from the collection of Queen Elizabeth II of Great Britain, one of the major exhibits the Museum is hosting this year.

The Museum expects that 300 guests will attend the awards, and they will be given a preview of the exhibit titled "The Queen's Own: Stamps That Changed the World."

In 2002 the Museum presented the first three Smithsonian Philatelic Achievement Awards to U.S. collector John R. Boker; Charles Wyndham Goodwyn, keeper of the Queen's collection; and Prince Rainier III of Monaco, a stamp collector.  The awards were established by the Smithsonian's Board of Regents in hopes of creating stronger interest in the 10-year-old Museum by the nation's stamp collectors.

Brett is a retired geologist and former member of the Citizens' Stamp Advisory Committee.  A former employee of the U.S. Geological Survey in Washington, Brett is regarded as an authority on the Bureau of Engraving and Printing, which for most of the 20th Century printed most U.S. stamps.  His service to the United States Stamp Society is unparalleled.  He has been a prolific contributor to The Specialist and served as Editor in 1964.  Brett was President of the Society in 1966 and 1967, Chairman of the Board from 1968 through 1973, and since 1981, Chairman Emeritus.  In 2000 at the 75th Anniversary banquet of the Society held at the National Postal Museum, Brett was inducted into the Society's Hall of Fame.

Mueller was cited for her production of a wide range of philatelic publications, from booklets written on how to collect U.S. stamps to articles about Protestant personalities on stamps.  She has been a contributor to The Specialist for over seven decades and served as Editor from 1972 through 1977.  From 1963 to 1994 she edited The Essay-Proof Journal and since 1964, editor of the journal Paper Money, a publication of the Society of Paper Money Collectors.  She is only the third person to have received the U.S. Stamp Society's Century of Service Award.

Alexander of Kansas City, Missouri, like Brett and Mueller, is a philatelic research scholar especially noted for his highly regarded 950-page The United States 1847 Issue: A Cover Census.  Both Alexander and Brett serve on the Museum's council of philatelists, an advisory panel, and both are currently working with W. Wilson Hulme, the Museum's curator, on an analysis of early U.S. stamp production.

Members interested in making reservations for the award dinner should contact Kari A. Fantasia, Development Officer, National Postal Museum, 2 Massachusetts Ave, NE, Washington, DC 20560.  Direct Phone 202-633-5507, Fax 202-633-9393.

- Roger S. Brody
Chairman