CRAWFORD FESTIVAL CELEBRATES PHILATELIC LITERATURE

The first annual Crawford Festival was organised by the Royal Philatelic Society London recently, with the theme of ‘How to write a book – a practical guide to producing a work of philatelic literature.’

The two-day event, which took place at the Society’s headquarters in the City was intended to celebrate the contribution of philatelic literature and featured a keynote address entitled ‘Crawford in Context, the place of the 26th Earl in philatelic history’ by David Beech FRPSL, former curator of the British Library Philatelic Collections.

The opening day also featured contributions on resources for research, and talks by Nicola Davies, Head of Collections, RPSL; Richard Scott Morel, Curator, British Library Philatelic Collections; Chris Taft; Head of Collections, The Postal Museum; and Prof. Charles Oppenheim.

The second day of the event concentrated on the practical aspects of producing a book, and was led by Brian Trotter RDP Hon. FRPSL. Speakers included Lynn Heidelbaugh, Curator, Smithsonian National Postal Museum; whilst a philatelic authors’ panel discussion led by Chris Harman and included participants Lars Engelbrecht, Hugh Feldman, Guillermo Gallegos, Maurice Hadida, Jonas Hällström and Peter Young.

The event also saw the announcement of this year’s winners of the Crawford Medal: Guillermo F. Gallegos and Joseph D. Hahn for their book The 19th century issues of El Salvador 1867-1900, published by RPSL, 2021.

Find out more about the Crawford Festival and the Crawford Medal on the RPSL website: www.rpsl.org.uk/language/en-us/home/library/ Events/crawford-festival