History of the Western Philatelic Library

The Western Philatelic Library was established as the South Bay Philatelic Library (SBPL) in 1969. At that time, the Sunnyvale (California) Public Library provided space for SBPL in the mezzanine of its new building. By 1971, as the size, importance, and mission of the philatelic library had expanded beyond its original local context, it was deemed appropriate to change the name to the Western Philatelic Library.

The Western Philatelic Library includes several significant and historic collections. The oldest component is from the collection of Hiram Edmund Deats, who was born in New Jersey in 1870 and began assembling his philatelic collections in 1886. Deats was a founding member of the newly formed American Philatelic Association (APA), which served as a precursor to the American Philatelic Society (APS), established in 1886. He was actively involved in various philatelic circles as both a collector and exhibitor, and he created a philatelic library that, at the time, was second only to the John K. Tiffany Library. Within the APA/APS, Deats held multiple positions, including Secretary, Librarian, Vice President, and President. His library indexes and annual literature reports prepared for the APA are still of significant reference value. Additionally, he was the founding Librarian of the Collectors Club of New York. Upon his death, his literature collection was donated to the Philadelphia Free Library (originally established as the first public library in the colonies by Ben Franklin), and part of the Deats library was later sold at auction to Dr. Don Dahlquist, a prominent surgeon in Houston, Texas.

Dahlquist also acquired the stock of duplicate or overrun material produced by the APS. This material had originally been purchased by George Turner, curator of the Philatelic Section of the Smithsonian. All of Dahlquist’s library was bought by the Friends of the Western Philatelic Library (FWPL) through the negotiations of Herb Trenchard in 1971, when Dahlquist decided to sell his library for health reasons. FWPL member Jim Strietweister took charge of packing and transporting the collection from Texas to Sunnyvale, California. The material, consisting of 329 cartons and weighing nearly 18,000 pounds, was packed in a rental truck by an enthusiastic crew of college students who worked all night.

Pacific Philatelic Society (PPS)

The Pacific Philatelic Society was founded in 1884 by notable figures such as Henry J. Crocker, John N. Luff, Dr. E. S. Clark, H. B. Philips, and W. Sellschopp. The Society established a library collection initially located at 126 Kearny Street in San Francisco. In 1900, the collection moved to the building of the Mechanics Institute, which was lost in the 1906 earthquake. After approximately three years, the library was rebuilt.

Another group, the San Francisco Philatelic Society, formed in 1915, grew to become the largest philatelic organization in the U.S. by 1925, boasting 225 members. The depression impacted both the Pacific Philatelic Society and the San Francisco Philatelic Society, which merged in 1937 under the unified name of the San Francisco-Pacific Philatelic Society (SF-PPS). SF-PPS later loaned its library to the Philatelic Research Society (PRS), a group established in 1953 following the creation of another independently organized library, the Cano Library of Juan Gualtero-Cano. The PRS built its library in Oakland, California, in the basement of Fredrick B. Thomas's home, who served as APS President from 1961 to 1965. For fifteen years, PRS held its meetings in the Thomas home.

In 1968, it became necessary to place the library holdings in storage. In 1972, the PRS library merged its collection with the collections of the Western Philatelic Library. The PRS has continued to meet, and the members were eventually made life members of FWPL.

The merger of the holdings of PRS and WPL was negotiated between Jack Hughes, an Oakland stamp dealer, and Jim Jefferson, a former president of SBPL. The physical transfer of 189 boxes of materials (weighing 15,120 pounds and containing 2000 reference texts, along with handbooks, pamphlets, and periodicals) was completed in August 1972 and was stored in space in the basement of the Sunnyvale Public Library.

Many prime pieces of the WPL collection can be traced by their bookplates, which reflect the various homes of these items over the last century. The strength of the current library stems from the accumulated foundation of all these former notable collections and the tradition of donating books and personal libraries to the WPL.

The WPL Transferred Back to FWPL

A 1994 study by the Sunnyvale City Library revealed a need for expanding the general collection, but there was a lack of available library building space. In 1995, a study of the philatelic collection usage suggested relocating the collection to an area of the Raynor Activity Center that had recently been vacated by the Patent Library. At this time, the FWPL agreed to operate the WPL with volunteer assistance. Given these circumstances, the Sunnyvale City Council approved the relocation and returned ownership of the collection to FWPL.

It seems appropriate to provide a description of the library at this time for the historical record and for those distant members who cannot visit the library. What constitutes the Western Philatelic Library? The main collection includes books, periodicals, pamphlets, catalogs, and tear sheets, as well as duplicate books for sale. Located 25 miles south of San Francisco, the Western Philatelic Library is one of the largest public philatelic libraries in the United States, containing over 3000 linear feet of shelving filled with books, catalogs, and bound periodicals, along with 48 file drawers of unbound periodicals and 30 drawers of pamphlets. The computerized catalog from 2014 lists 16,000 books and pamphlets, 4000 bound volumes of journals, 2000 stamp catalogs, 2000 auction catalogs, and 12,000 tear sheets from the USA and around the world. Our collection encompasses works in over a dozen languages in addition to English.

A library is not a static collection of books and other media sitting on shelves. Instead, a library is ever-changing and relies on the efforts of many dedicated individuals. Often, specific tasks performed by volunteers persist for many years. Endless tasks include cataloging, binding, listing periodicals, compiling tear sheets, acquiring materials, sorting through a growing backlog of donated items, editing and mailing The Bay Phil newsletter, and negotiating new strategies for housing, mergers, and cross-cataloging with other libraries. Each of these activities represents a true challenge and a significant responsibility for the dedicated volunteers who keep it all running growing.

WPL has consolidated all its materials in one location, housed in a 5000 square foot facility acquired in 2013 in Redwood City, CA. Our greatest long-range goal for the library is to digitize the collection for client access via the web and internet. Our primary sources for library materials come from ongoing donations and cash contributions to fund our acquisition programs. Negotiations to incorporate orphaned libraries, both public and private, into the WPL collections are always ongoing considered.