Tuesday, January 31, 2023

US pipe organ stamps?

Update winter 2023: I started writing this come time ago and never finished it. I am not why certain. I hope it can stand on its own as it is. 

Recently, in his on-going series of articles on pipe organ stamps for the Organ Club Journal (UK), Mark Jameson covered postal items from the US. While he mentioned several items of interest, there were no specifically pipe-organ related stamps issued by the USPS. In my opinion the closest thing was a pre-paid postal card issued in 1990. However the card featured specifically Orchestra Hall in Chicago, IL. The card was part of a much larger (longer) series of postal cards celebrating important architecture in the US. The presence of the organ facade on stage, visible from the seats, was coincidental for this particular card.

This evening I was reading an article on the restoration of the Kotchmer Memorial Organ in Portland, Maine, found in the most recent issue of The Tracker, journal of the Organ Historical Society here in the US. The author as part of the summation proclaimed that the instrument was of such stature that it should be considered a national treasure. That got me thinking, once again, about what pipe organs I would select to be celebrated on a hypothetical set of stamps to be issued sometime in the future by the USPS.

There is plenty of organ history in the US from the earliest instruments in New England to the very large and important series of music hall installations in recent years. Herewith my selections, totally personal, for inclusion in a set of postage stamps celebrating the pipe organ in the US, listed in order of priority, for a set of 4, 5, 6 or more stamps.

First Congregational Church, Los Angeles, CA
http://www.fccla.org/music.html
http://theatreorgans.com/laird/top.pipe.organs.html


Atlantic City Music Hall, NJ
http://www.boardwalkhall.com/organs.asp

US Naval Academy, West Point, NY
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/West_Point_Cadet_Chapel

Oldest organ in VA
http://www.classical.net/music/inst/organ.php
http://www.historicstlukes.org/history/collections/

Wanamaker Organ, Macy's Department Store, PA
http://www.wanamakerorgan.com/


Mormon Tabernacle, Salt Lake City, UT
http://www.mormontabernaclechoir.org/about/organs?lang=eng

Kotzschmar Organ, Portland Town Hall, ME
http://www.foko.org/
http://foko.org/kotzschmar/about-the-organ/

Fisk, Meyerson, Dallas, TX
http://www.kimmelcenter.org/facilities/organ/about.php

Dobson, Kimmel Center, Philadelphia, PA
http://www.kimmelcenter.org/facilities/organ/about.php

Glatter-Gotz, Disney Hall,Los Angeles, CA
http://disneyhallorgan.com/

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