In the 1960’s and 1970’s there was a philatelic organization called the Society of Philaticians. This society was the brain child of a wonderful older man named Gustav Detjen who lived in the HudsonValley and who for his day job had been in the real estate business. Detjen felt that there were organizations for stamp collectors, societies for postal historians, and even topicalists had their group. But as there was no proper organization to represent the interests of philatelic writers, Detjen founded the Society of Philaticians, which had at its peak over 500 members.
The Internet has lessened the need to join and belong in order to do something. In 1970 there were several national philatelic organizations, and hundreds of prominent local clubs having thousands of stamp club meetings each year. There were specialty societies and fringe organizations, and it seemed that anytime two collectors met they thought about setting up a stamp society. Now we have the American Philatelic Society and little else. We do have fewer collectors today, but the most credible reason for fewer members and fewer societies is the change that being interconnected has meant to everyone, not just stamp collectors. Take this blog- thanks to you it has thousands of readers per month. Ten years ago to reach a collector audience the size this blog reaches would have meant that I would have had to write for one of only three stamp magazines-two of which the Internet has forced out of business.Today, anyone with an idea or a collecting need can immediately connect.