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Janet Klug
Candidate for APS Secretary
The two years I've spent as Secretary of the American Philatelic Society have been a learning experience for me. I am most pleased to have been part of a Board that has become more responsive to the members by conducting open town meetings at shows and clubs. I am proud of many of the achievements of this Board, most notably the approval of a new youth club support program and the passing of ethics guidelines for Board members. However, there is much left to do. Many critical issues will be facing the APS in the next two years. These include possible expansion to our Society headquarters in State College, Pennsylvania, and the status of the relationship the APS has with the U.S. Postal Service. I want to be part of the team that makes these decisions, and I want to discuss these issues at length with you, the membership of the APS, so that your views are adequately represented.Philately has been a part of my life since I was six years old and, with the exception of my teenage and young adult years, I've been involved ever since.
After completing my education, I pursued a career supervising data processing and computer departments for several large corporations. During this period I married my husband of 29 years. My interest in collecting was reignited during the mid-1970s when I began specializing in British Commonwealth. In 1979, I founded the Tonga and Tin Can Mail Study Circle and have served as this organization's editor since its beginning. I am an active member of my local stamp club - the Clermont County Stamp Club (I served as that club's first president and currently edit its bimonthly newsletter). I have also been Vice-President and Program Chairman for the Greater Cincinnati Philatelic Society, and Exhibits Chairman for that club's show CINPEX 1991 - 1995. I was Exhibits Chairman for STAMPSHOW 90, held in Cincinnati. In March 1996, I was co-instructor of the APS Leadership Conference "Building Better Stamp Clubs" held in St. Louis.
I was proud to have been part of the team spearheaded by Tom Current that successfully introduced an APS bylaws change that opened Board Meetings to members and made minutes of those meetings available to all members. I pledged to produce accurate and timely minutes of the Board Meetings during the last election, and I have kept that promise. The minutes are available on the APS website, or members may contact APS headquarters and ask that a transcript be sent to them.
Currently I hold the following offices not previously mentioned: Council Member and Publicity Director for the American Philatelic Congress, Area Editor for Society of Australasian Specialists/ Oceania, Director of the Great Britain Collectors Club, Vice-Chairman the APS Committee on the Accreditation of National Exhibitions and Judges, and Editor for the group Women in Philately. I have previously held these offices: Past President of Clermont County Stamp Club, Tonga & Tin Can Mail Study Circle, and Great Britain Collectors Club, Past Vice-President of Greater Cincinnati Philatelic Society and Great Britain Collectors Club. In addition to the clubs and societies already mentioned, I am a member of: Civil Censorship Study Group, Fellowship of Samoan Specialists, Indiana Stamp Club, Military Postal History Society, Pacific Islands Study Circle of Great Britain, Papuan Philatelic Society, and the Royal Philatelic Society of London. I have developed and maintain websites for several of these organizations.
I have written regular columns on Pacific philately for Global Stamp News, Stamp Collector, and Scott's Stamp Monthly. In June 1998 I began writing a regular column for beginner and intermediate collectors that appears each month in American Philatelist. My exhibits of Tonga and Samoa have been widely exhibited at shows across the country, and I've put together dozens of one-frame noncompetitive "just for fun" exhibits.
"Fun" is what this hobby is all about. We all need to make a conscious effort to present our hobby as an attractive, fun pastime to our friends and relatives. We should strive to eliminate the needless negativity that has been permeating our hobby so that predictions of philately's demise do not become self-fulfilling.
Please share your ideas on philately's future with me. My e-mail address is TongaJan@aol.com or P.O. Box 250, Pleasant Plain, OH 45162.