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Is there a stamp collector in the house?

The Stamp Collecting Report, I'm Lloyd de Vries. 

There are ceremonies launching most commemorative stamps, and if you talk to the 
dignitaries -- the children of the honored person, people who were at the event 
commemorated, or experts in the field -- and ask them if THEY collect stamps, most 
of the time the best you'll hear is, "I do now" or "I collect THIS issue with Mom 
on it."

But something different happened at the Henry Wadsworth Longfellow stamp ceremony 
recently. The featured speaker was Dana Gioia, chairman of the National Endowment 
of the Arts.

"I've been a stamp collector ever since I was a kid, and I collect first day covers, 
Vatican, American, Italian stamps, and I have a huge collection of poets on stamps, 
and also of patriotic covers from World War II."
RUNS :14

That's right, the man who heads the federal arts-funding agency is one of us.

"I believe that stamps are extremely important cultural documents."
RUNS :05

And Gioia would love to have his N-E-A work with the Postal Service on choosing 
stamp subjects.

"You could do a very interesting series of stamps, not on authors, but on great 
books -- The Grapes of Wrath, the Great Gatsby, A Farewell To Arms, My Antonia, things 
like that. And other countries do this."
RUNS :12

Or, he says, perhaps great American classical music.

I'm Lloyd de Vries of The Virtual Stamp Club. For more about stamps and stamp 
collecting, visit virtual-stamp-club-dot-com

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