Dear Members and Friends of the Fort Orange Stamp Club:

             

From President Dave Dittmer and the other officers of the  Fort Orange Stamp Club , welcome to another year at the  Club.


A copy of the schedule of programs for the 2026-2027 season is posted below. I hope you will find many topics of interest and plan to attend as many of the programs as possible. 

The program at our first meeting on Tuesday, September 8th, is titled " Single Page Night". The club has scheduled single page night many times in the past but a reminder of what single page night follows. Everyone is encouraged to bring a single item whether a page from your collection, a single stamp, an interesting cover, a book or any other philatelic item to show to the group and briefly describe. The diversity of items and entertaining , and gives everyone a chance to present. While you are not obligated to participate, we hope many of you will as you attend our first meeting of the new season.

 Each regular meeting with a scheduled program we'll include a short presentation which we call show and tell. We have a slight of the short presentations planned. Note also we have several programs on the scheduled by guest non member speakers, Which always enhances the variety and scope of our schedule.

 Thank you to all FOSC members who assisted in putting the program together, And to all the speakers who agreed to share their knowledge and enthusiasm by providing a program about one of their chosen philatelic fields.

 I urge all our members to make the most of their membership in the Fort Orange Stamp Club by attending meetings and participating in all our activities. See you on September 8th! Our Treasurer Dave Vale will be collecting annual dues which are unchanged at $10 come at 7:00 PM and greet your fellow members. The meeting will begin at 7:30 PM and will be followed by the program. We anticipate having an APS circuit on hand for your browsing pleasure.

 Sincerely,

 Maris Tirums, Secretary, September 2,2026

 

The Fort Orange Stamp Club (FOSC) is proud to be an organization which helps to promote philately by providing an opportunity for people with a wide variety of stamp collecting interests to come together in an atmosphere of fun and friendship. We cordially invite anyone who is not already a member of our group to join us in 2026-2027, our 101st Year. An Informal trading session from about 7 to 7:30 PM precedes each meeting. This is followed by a business meeting which starts at 7:30 PM after which the program for the evening is presented. Our meeting room is located in the Bethany Reformed Church at 760 New Scotland Avenue in Albany. There's ample parking in the church parking lot.


 This website is intended to serve the membership and the collecting community beyond.  


UPCOMING AREA SHOWS 


SYRACUSE  SUNDAY SHOW , SEP13,2026, and NOV8,2026, Feb 14,2027, April 11,2027,June 13th,2027,Sept.12, 2027

 Sunday (dealer only set up at 8-9am).,

When: 10am to 430pm   

Where: Maplewood Suites 400 7th North Street Syracuse (Exit 36 off I-90 south to first Exit 25 off I-81) 

Details: Free parking and admission. Excellent Lighting, Door Prizes. Dave Houseman 315-437-4901 for info.


FORT ORANGE ALBANY SUNDAY STAMP AND POSTCARD SHOW

When: Sunday , OCT 18,2026 April 18,2027, July 25,2027. Hours 930 am to 4pm.

Where: AMERICAN LEGION HALL 4 EVERETT RD. EXT. Albany NY 12205

Details: Free Parking and Admission. 14+ vendors . no refreshments-kitchen closed.

Vendors: Contact MIKE AT 518-875-6104 or Antone at 518-229-2184 for contracts & questions.



ADDITIONAL SHOWS CAN BE FOUND AT:   www.istampshows.com     www.msdastamp.com

Just enter your zipcode and how far you are willing to travel in miles to find a show in your area.

If using the MSDA select the state from the dropdown to find upcoming shows in that state.




We Want You As a Member!

The Fort Orange Stamp Club meets at 7 p.m. on the second and fourth Tuesdays of each month, (except January, February, and March of 202021), at Bethany Reformed Church Community Center, 760 New Scotland Avenue,Albany 12208. If you are not already a member, please attend one of our meetings as a guest.  Please refer to the "Programs" page for details. Our annual dues remain  at only $10 a year.  
You may download a printable PDF membership application form  by clicking this button:
Dealer and Member Advertisements
Click on the Ads for more information or to go directly to their website,ebay store, or email.
Click on Home tab to return.

 MEMBERS ONLY SECTION   Click on the tab at top of home page and enter members' only password 

 Send Us a Message

Send Us a Message

Our History

History

The first meeting of the Fort Orange Stamp Club was held on April 9, 1926. Early meetings were held first at the YMCA and then at the Lavender Book Shop. In 1936, the club moved to the Albany Institute of Art, where meetings were regularly held. The club has called the Bethany Reformed Church Community Center home for many years.
In its  ninth decade, the club is in the enviable position of being able to plan the year’s program far enough to publish a printed schedule for distribution to members and friends. Programs cover a wide range of subjects of general interest, and those who attend the meetings will be well rewarded.
Of the four clubs once in the Greater Albany area — itself, the Women’s Seal & Stamp Club of Albany, the Schenectady Stamp Club, and the Uncle Sam Stamp Club of Troy, Fort Orange is the sole survivor. The Schenectady and Uncle Sam clubs disbanded in the spring of 2014 following several years of declining membership. Many members of the former clubs joined Fort Orange.

Women’s Seal & Stamp Club of Albany
The club was incorporated into the Fort Orange Stamp Club in 2004 at the request of Vera Bunkhof.
This club was founded May 7, 1936 by Mrs. George J. Skinner and Mrs. William Weigmann, as a club where women stamp collectors could get together to enjoy their hobby, as membership in nearly all of the organized stamp clubs of that time was restricted to men only. The club continued over the years and remained primarily a club where women collectors could meet to discuss their philatelic interests before the merger with the Fort Orange club.

Uncle Sam Stamp Club of Troy
The Uncle Sam Stamp Club, formerly the Troy Stamp Club, was founded in 1944.Its roots go back to 1943 when a small group interested in coins and stamps started meeting about once a month in a coin shop owned by Charles French. In October 1944 the group officially organized under the name of the Troy Coin and Stamp Club and began to meet at the Troy YMCA. 
In 1947 it affiliated with the American Philatelic Society as Chapter No. 240. In 1966 the bylaws were amended to eliminate the word coin and the organization became the Troy Stamp Club. In 1986 then vice president Biff Owen, made a motion to change the name to the Uncle Sam Stamp Club, as Troy is where provisioner Sam Wilson became known as Uncle Sam.
The club was active in creating covers to commemorate local and national special events. These included covers for inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean. It also created covers for Troy’s annual Uncle Sam Day Parade and Victorian Stroll held in. In 1959, Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed a proclamation making September 13 Uncle Sam Day in the State of New York.

Schenectady Stamp Club
A small item appeared in the December 10, 1930, issue of the former Schenectady Union-Star: “Stamp collectors will meet tonight at 8 o’clock at 254 State St. to organize a club which will include members from the county as well as the city.” It was noted that “it is believed there will be a large membership as there are many enthusiasts in the section ... Promoters emphasize that juniors are not to be included in the organization.”
Nine men were present for the organizational meeting. The Alling Rubber Company, where the initial meeting was held, would be the site for future meetings. Later, meetings also would be held at the YMCA. Finally, the Schenectady Chamber of Commerce provided a room in its building for use by the club, which had attained a membership of fifty four within about a year.
During its initial year the club held its first exhibit in the Schenectady County Historical Society building on lower Union Street. In August 1931, the stamp club, together with the Schenectady Chamber of Commerce, sponsored a cachet celebrating the Centenary of Steam Railroading. There were about fifteen hundred covers prepared.
The club celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary with a pictorial cancel on December 10, 2006, at the Schenectady County Historical Society.
William B. Winne: The ‘Penny Postman’

By Stefan Bielinski
retired Senior Historian of the New York State Museum History Office

Winne’s silhouette was widely distributed during the late 19th and early 20th centuries.
William Bancker Winne was born in 1769, the son of Albany tanner Daniel K. Winne and his second wife, Schenectady native Jannetje Bancker. By that time, his father had purchased some tanning lots along Foxes Creek. Over the next two decades, Willie Winne and his brothers would learn the process that transformed animal skins into leather.

By the 1790s, the young man began to purchase lots on the North Side of Foxes Creek. By 1804, he was identified as a cordwainer (shoemaker) and was a member of the Albany Mechanics Society. Winne left leather work to become a letter carrier. His “three penny post” would deliver mail anywhere in the city for three cents. According to his obituary, he served in that capacity for 48 years. That occupation made him an everyday fixture on Albany streets.

Winne was among the more colorful and legendary characters of early nineteenth century Albany. In August 1831, the “penny postman” had a seat amid the dignitaries in the first train between Albany and Schenectady — powered by the DeWitt Clinton locomotive — on the Mohawk & Hudson Railroad, renamed the Albany & Schenectady Railroad in 1847.

By 1816, he also was the “front door-keeper” at the Albany Theater and was toasted in the newspaper for “his long and meritorious services — having punctually fulfilled the duties of his station through wind and rain, fair weather and foul.” At the same time, he maintained a connection to leathermaking and held a municipal post with the title “Inspector of Leather.”

Winne continued to buy and sell real estate in the Arbor Hill section of the city through the remainder of his life. As the years passed, he watched the Foxes Creek ravine change from a marginal area dotted with tanning pits to a working-class, residential neighborhood. His wife, Rebecca, died in 1845. He died at at age 90 in January 1848.


 RESOURCES from Home Page

 Excerpts may be Freely used for non commercial purposes as long as Authors are given credit

 National and International

New York & Regional Clubs 

Computers and Stamp Collecting                                Videos on YouTube etc                              

Philatelic Bulletin Boards
 Sites for Collectors