Charles J. Starnes of Michigan

Michigan

Michigan is a U.S. state located in the Great Lakes Region of the United States of America. The name Michigan is the French form of the Ojibwa word mishigamaa, meaning "large water" or "large lake"....

, was an active student of postal history

Postal history

Postal history is the study of postal systems and how they operate and, or, the study of postage stamps and covers and associated material illustrating historical episodes of postal systems...

 and a prolific writer of philatelic articles

Philatelic literature

Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history- Background to philatelic literature :...

.

Philatelic activity

Starnes created significant collections of postal history, with emphasis on covers as opposed to postage stamps. He was particularly interested in foreign mail usage. His impressive and important collection of postal history of United States Department stamps was stolen and never recovered.

Philatelic literature

Charles Starnes was a prolific writer, and, in 1982, he published United States Letter Rates to Foreign Destinations, 1847 to GPU-UPU, which he later revised and updated in 1989. He was one of the editors of the Chronicle of the U.S. Classic Postal Issues, and was responsible for the Foreign Mails Section.

Honors and awards

Charles Starnes was named to the American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame

American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame

The American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame award honors deceased philatelists who have contributed significantly to the field of national and/or international philately.-History:...

 in 1995. He received the Luff Award

Luff Award

The Luff Award is awarded by the American Philatelic Society for meritorious contributions to philately by living philatelists.-Established:...

for Distinguished Philatelic Research in 1986.