By Mary Carter
EAGLE TIMES CORRESPONDENT
NEWPORT — Harold Perkins loved to organize. An earnest gardener at the age of 12, Perkins created floral arrangements as a part-time job during high school where he graduated as valedictorian of his class.
At the age of 31, Perkins undertook the task of compiling and recording the genealogical history of Newport and seven surrounding towns. After many years as an award-winning professor of mathematics, a leader and officer in the N.H. Board of Education and its camping program, which he named, a deacon, a devoted minister, council member and leader of Christian education, chapter secretary of Phi Beta Kappa, twice Boston University’s rep at the National Triennial Councils, an elder in the New England Southern Conference and a visiting professor at UNH, Perkins returned to Newport in 1997 to open its historical society.
When Perkins passed away in 2017 at the age of 85, he left his stamp collection to the historical society he helped to create. This was no ordinary hobby scrapbook. Housed in 28 three-ring binder notebooks, this is a meticulously detailed assemblage of nearly 25,000 stamps.
On July 17, Perkins’ friends and colleagues hosted a showing of his collection at the Sugar River Bank Community Room in Newport. Joyce LaPointe and Howard Hoke from the Upper Valley Stamp Club were on hand to share the history of postage stamps and the fun of collecting them. Joyce LaPointe began her habit with a love of accumulating anything Looney Tunes. From there, her passion grew.
“Franklin D. Roosevelt and Queen Elizabeth were greatly responsible for making stamp collecting popular,” Hoke informed the crowd.
As a very young child, Hoke used to re-address already delivered mail to members of his family. After marking up most of the house with his rubber stamps, Hoke’s father got him refocused by giving him his stamp collection. Just as it did with LaPointe, Hoke discovered something that was more than just an idle hobby. The world of postal printings became a fascination.
While stamp collecting doesn’t have the following it used to, the American Philatelic Society still has more than 24,000 members, according to the stamp-collecting organization. For anyone interested in further information on where to attend shows, trade and sell, or meet with experts, check out uvstampclub.com.
Priscilla Hagebusch, a member of the Newport Historical Society, is the current caretaker of Harold Perkins’ collection. Her husband and father-in-law also collected stamps, so Hagebusch is aware of their care. Digitalizing Perkins’ work is an expensive process, and is currently out of the question. Hagebusch would love to find a home for this marvelous collection. Arranged by country of origin or subject, each unique stamp has, thanks to Perkins’ patience and mindfulness, its own story to tell.
If anyone has an idea how to save, preserve and promote Harold Perkins’ special legacy, please contact the Newport Historical Society at [email protected] or by phone: 603-863-1294.
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