Ralph Foster is the first to admit that it's low-tech. But, he says, he likes the idea of teaching history and geography the old-fashioned way. He thinks children and adults both can learn a lot while having fun by collecting stamps.
"Stamp collecting is a great way for kids to see America's history unfold," he says - especially the way he presents it."The Lost Stamps" is more than a book or an album. It's a complete kit that comes with stamp-collecting tools and a starter set of 100 stamps. The book has pictures of 780 stamps grouped by state. Many have the state's name on them.
The idea is that the stamps are lost until they are matched and returned home - an idea that was inspired by a youngster who told Foster that she "likes things that are lost because she likes to return them home." Stamps with state names can be easily matched, but those that don't can be matched by reading information and clues accompanying each state map and looking for other associations. Some of them take a bit of detective work.
Utah stamps, for example, include a 25-cent stamp with a honeybee, a 3-cent stamp issued in honor of the pioneer centennial and several with dinosaurs. There's also one honoring the Winter Special Olympics, which were held in Park City in 1977.
A stamp with country musician Hank Williams is placed in Alabama, the state of his birth. The Chesapeake Bay retriever was originally bred in Maryland, so a stamp showing the dog is placed there. The city of Red Cloud, Neb., was named for the Oglala Sioux chief, so his stamp finds a home in Nebraska.
Every stamp has a story to tell, says Foster, whether it's science, geography, business or history. And some of those stories are explained in little blurbs beneath each drawing in the book. "My hope," he says, "is that people will be inspired to learn more on their own. I think stamps raise questions and intrigue the mind."
Foster lived in Salt Lake City from 1946-1950, and in 1949, at the age of 8, he discovered the world of stamp collecting, he says, by buying stamps at Zimm's Stamp Shop, where the telephone company building stands today.
Once the reader has used all the original stamps in his kit, he can order more from the coin and stamp shop Foster owns in Berkeley, Calif. Or, he can go out looking for stamps on his own.
Just reading the blurbs makes for interesting browsing, and it is easy to see why the book has been endorsed by educators as well as stamp collectors. There's a whole country full of interesting stamps out there.
"The Lost Stamps" is available in selected book, educational and hobby stores. It can also be ordered for $29.95 plus $5 shipping and handling directly from Foster Publishing Co., 2189 Bancroft Way, Berkeley, CA 94704.