My grandfather collected stamps, my mom collected stamps, and they passed their stamp collecting passion on to my brother and me. I was given a blank stamp album, probably for my eighth birthday, and encouraged to save stamps.
At first I was dependent on my grandfather sending me the torn off corner of correspondence he had received in the mail. He was a Dean at the University of Buffalo, and had world wide connections. He and my grandmother also traveled widely, and he sent me letters from his travels. My first collecting skill was learning to soak this fragment of a letter to loosen the glue off the stamp. Then I took the wet stamp and pressed it flat between two pieces of paper with a book on top until it was flat and dry. Then I could use a special paper hinge to attach it to the appropriate page in my album.
I learned about commemorative stamps and looked forward to my mother bringing one home from the post office when one caught her eye. When I was a child, the first class rate was 3 cents, then 4 cents, so this was a small expenditure.
I suppose that stamp collecting has disappeared as a hobby. At least I know of no children who are interested. But looking back over my collection, I am struck with how much history it reveals.
More on that tomorrow.
Saved By Words 
I used to collect stamps too but when snail mail was out aside in lieu of the internet, I seldom got mails. Our kids nowadays are more into gadgets than anything else.
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Emails sure aren’t as much fun to collect!
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I was really fascinated by collecting stamps as a child and started, but it didn’t last. I then began to collect coins, but that didn’t last either haha. I’m a minimalist, so that naturally opposes any chances of collecting for me.
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I always wondered what was so fascinating about collecting stamps. I understand from reading your post 😊
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I’m glad. They are actually little pieces of history.
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My mother was a stamp collector and has collected over 500 stamps! While I’m not the biggest fan of tediously taking the stamp off the paper, my mom passed this hobby down to my brother who is 9 now, so the art of collecting stamps isn’t completely lost!
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That is good to hear. Thanks.
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