The 12th International Philatelic Exhibition of the United States (colloquially "The World Expo Boston 2026") happens this coming May 23rd-30th. To those that are able to attend, it is the premier stamp collecting event held in this country. I had the pleasure of attending in New York City in 2016 and can stand behind that claim!
Those on Facebook can visit the Expo's information pages for all the details, press releases, lists of exhibits, and all the updates.
Our humble club is proud to have played its part in the preparation for the show. Last April (2025) the call came out to clubs, collectors, and dealers, to generously donate 3 million (!) stamps that would be given to show attendees who were new collectors of all ages. Hearing that call, we decided at SOPS to set an ambitious goal of donating one million of those 3 million just ourselves.
By February 2026, the Boston 2026 Leadership Team was overwhelmed with donations from across the country, and have already vastly exceeded their goal for the show. They have collected over 5 million stamps, and have suspended the donation campaign as of this month.
I am proud to say that our generous SOPS members have contributed and shipped a total of 908,000 stamps to that total. We all feel proud of this concrete effort to advance the hobby by providing new collectors visiting the show a bootstrap collection to start from.
Congratulations to Ed P., Jim B., and Larry C., who placed first, second and third respectively in our club contest to motivate donations. While they won't receive the official Expo medal pictured above (while well earned!) each will receive a credit toward the next club auction in May. Well done!
