BNAPS Archives

Welcome to the BNAPS archives

Here you will find information about BNAPS activities since its founding in 1943 and the resources it has provided to BNA collectors over the years. Here also is a recognition of the many volunteers who transformed BNAPS from an idea in the mind of its founder, Jack Levine, to the organization it is today.

Offices and Committees

Volunteers and their roles

BNAPS established offices and committees to provide services to its membership, undertake its publication programs, promote BNA philately, and manage its activities and finances.

Key to its success is the large contingent of dedicated individuals – among them, many famous names in BNA philately – who volunteered their time and expertise to the Society.

Here are the offices, office holders, committees, and committee members.

Exhibit & Service Awards

Contributions to BNA philately

Over the years, BNAPS instituted a number of awards that recognize excellence in exhibiting, expertise in BNA philately, support for the BNA collecting community, and service to the Society.

Here are the awards and their recipients.

Publications

Journals, newsletters, handbooks, ...

The first issue of BNA Topics was published in March 1944. The first BNAPS handbook, The Squared Circle Postmarks of Canada, came out in 1954. The first Exhibit book, William G. Robinson’s Canadian Participation in the Anglo-Boer War, 1898 to 1902, was published in 1996.

These initial steps led to the wide choice of reference material that BNAPS has published for the enrichment of BNA philately and the benefit of collectors. The publications are listed two ways:

A Brief History

Who created BNAPS? How? When? Where?

And, while we're at it ...

  • Who was the first President?
  • When was BNAPS incorporated?
  • Who created the BNAPS seal?
  • What was the first Study Group about?
  • When was it formed?
  • How about the first Regional Group?
  • When was the BNAPS website born?
  • How old is the Exchange Circuit?
  • When was the Order of the Beaver created?

This brief history of BNAPS answers these burning questions and many more.

BNAPEX Conventions

What happens at a BNAPEX convention?

The first BNAPS Convention – BNAPEX – was held at Hotel Statler in Buffalo, NY, in 1949. BNAPS has held an annual convention ever since.

The conventions feature competitive exhibits with diverse displays of BNA philately, some from the finest BNA collections assembled. There are Study Group meetings where collectors with common interests meet and share information about their specialities. There is a bourse that offers a wealth of BNA material. There are opportunities to meet BNAPS officials and fellow collectors both informally and at the banquet where the exhibit and service awards are handed out.

Here are programs, photos, and palmares that provide a snapshot of the activities from bygone conventions.

Here is a list of the BNAPEX juries that judged the competitive exhibits.

And, for dedicated collectors, there's Convention memorabilia.

Help Save the Past!

If you have historic material related to BNAPS - photographs of early conventions, letters, documents, programs, menus, etc. - please consider submitting it for inclusion in these pages.

  • You can send original material for scanning and it will be returned to you (BNAPS will pay postage costs).
  • You can scan the material yourself (jpg file format preferred) and submit by email.
  • You can submit photocopied material although scans are preferred because they are usually of higher quality.

If you have something you think might be of interest, please contact the Webmaster.

The Society acknowledges the work of the first BNAPS Historian for compiling the initial lists of award winners, officers, and conventions upon which these pages are based:

Ed Whiting

Thanks to the following individuals for their contributions to these pages:

John Frith, Edmund A. Harris, Mark Isaacs, Susan Jamieson,
Art Klass, Ken Kutz, Bob Lane, Doug Lingard, Bill Longley,
Cimon Morin, Mike Street, John Walsh, Bill Walton


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The documents on this website are for informational and non-commercial or personal use only.
Documents on this website shall not be used on other websites or for commercial purposes without permission.

This page was last modified on 2021-09-10