Philippine Stamps and Topical Stamp Collecting, 2nd Edition

     Having gathered much of the materials we need, we can make our collection more interesting by doing a little research on our topic. We study the different types of eagle, their anatomical structure, their mating and breeding behavior, their habitats, their impact on the environment, and the myth and symbolism associated with the eagle. Thus, our collection has a story and meaning.

     This procedure can be applied to similar topics, especially to plants and other animals. Of course, subject contents will vary according to topics but the same procedure can be used in most topics. This was how topical collecting got started. Sometime during the 1940's, a French priest, the Abbe Lucien Braun, discovered that his pupils were collecting stamps according to topics because it was easier and more educational from the pupils’ point of view. Later, an American teenager, Jerome Husak, saw the wisdom of the idea. He began to organize a club for topical collectors, the American Topical Association. Soon after, topical collecting became so popular that it helped the growth of stamp collecting in terms of increased membership worldwide and, more importantly, in terms of increase in the number of special categories.