Long-time philatelist Bill Schultz, of West Chester, Pa., has received the 2021 Ernest A. Kehr Award from the American Philatelic Society (APS) for “enduring contributions that help guarantee the future of the hobby.”
Schultz has introduced hundreds of people to the hobby as a philatelic instructor with the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute, which offers programs at 120 U.S. universities and colleges aimed at adults aged 50-plus. A volunteer of his local Chester County Historical Society, he also organized a well-attended postal exhibition, “You’ve Got Mail!” in 2018.
With more than six decades of philatelic experience, Schultz is also an APS-accredited judge and an award-winning exhibitor who has produced more than 50 different exhibits. He also bolsters the exhibiting world as a teacher at APS educational events; as a board member of the American Association of Philatelic Exhibitors, whose mentoring program he also leads; and as the author of the monthly “Facets of Exhibiting” column in American Stamp Collector & Dealer, a magazine published by the American Stamp Dealers Association.
Schultz has authored The Schultz Catalog, the first reference guide to the Rattlesnake Island Local Post, plus West Chester History: A Review in Post Cards, published in 2007.
He also recently unveiled an online census for the U.S. 6.25-cent rate launched in 1816 and used throughout much of the next three decades.
Established in 1991, the Kehr Award honours a living philatelist who has demonstrated for at least five years one or more of several hobby-boosting endeavours, including “making philately attractive as a hobby to newcomers,” “working directly with newcomers, especially young people” and “developing and administering programs aimed at recruiting newcomers,” according to the APS.