Page 2 - Demo

I got interested in stamp collecting through the stamp-and-coin department at my dad%u2019s store, Bowers Cards and Gifts, where I worked part-time after school. He stocked a variety of stamp albums, packets of stamps with clear plastic windows so you could see what was inside, as well stamp hinges, and other odds and ends. In my free time I%u2019d look through the packets and albums. While the foreign stamps looked interesting, and I thought about collecting them, I ended up buying an album for U.S. stamps%u2014in 1959, when I was a 10-year-old.As time went on, I traded stamps with several friends at school who were also collectors, bought packets of stamps from Dad%u2019s store, as well as from mail-order sources that advertised in the backs of magazines. It was about this same time that, as a mechanically minded kid, I got my own personal subscription to Popular Mechanics. The clipping below shows two ads that it contained in 1960. Early on, I discovered that the Indianapolis Star had a column in its Sunday edition that discussed new stamp issues, postal history, or events of interest to collectors. From this, I learned about soon-to-be released new issues, and interesting stamp facts. It was the first thing I read every week.I also occasionally went to a Junior Stamp Club meeting that Lafayette%u2019s adult stamp club spon-