History of the CAC

In the Beginning...
Courtesy of APS Director of Administration Frank Sente, we present here a brief look at the history of the APS Chapter Activities Committee.

Interestingly enough, the newsletter came about before a committee was established.

The Newsletter
The first APS Chapter Newsletter was issued in August 1943. Copies of its 5 pages can be seen here:

Chapters were clearly well established before this newsletter went to press. The first page greeting mentions that Chapters were, "scattered throughout the length and breadth of the United States and Cuba." The newsletter was to be the main communication channel between the Society and its Chapters, keeping them abreast of services and programs offered by the APS.

The author of that greeting was Donald Lybarger, Cleveland, OH, who was APS president at the time. It is believed that he prepared the majority of the newsletter content for many issues.

Lybarger was the driving force behind establishing a fulltime APS office. That occurred in 1945 when H. Clay Musser of State College was hired as Executive Director. He apparently had some local volunteers helping him in the post.

From that first CAC newsletter issue until November 1952, the newsletter appeared irregularly, 3, sometimes 4 issues per year. Fay Daley of Erie, Pennsylvania was credited as the editor of teh 1945 issues. Donald Frear of State College, Pennsylvania is listed as editor in the January 1946 issues. He was succeeded by Howard Hodge for a couple of years. From 1951 to 1952 it was a Donald Goertz of Cleveland, OH. Presumably that was someone Lybarger found to do it.

The American Philatelic Research Library (APRL) has a gap of missing newsletters from 1952 to 1964. However Herb Trenchard, current APS Historian, has found file card records and copies of the CAC Newsletter through 1978 in the Smithsonian Institution's Library Branch at the National Postal Museum's George T. Turner Library. The numbering of issues (from 1-24) stopped in 1950 and a new numbering scheme was used from January, 1959- July, 1964.

Emerson Clark and Robert Corless, in turn, were editors for the years 1964 to 1966.

George Turner edited 2 issues early in 1975, followed by an issue dated August 1975 with no editor named which Frank Sente recalls doing! David Lidman started edited issues in 1976.

In 1978 Frank again did 3 issues, this time with a byline. There's another gap of non-issues until John Hotchner took over as chairman of the Chapters Activities Committee in 1981. The CAC has been issued quarterly ever since.

CAC Newsletter Editors

Editor- Location	Dates (issues)
Donald F. Lybarger- Cleveland, OH	August 1943-October 1944 (issues 1-5)
Fay Daley- Erie, PA	January-July 1945 (issues 6-8)
Donald E. H. Frear- State College, PA	October 1945-January 1948 (issues 9-17)
Howard D. Hodge	October 1948-Fenruary 1950 (issues 18-24)
Donald W. Goertz- Cleveland, OH	January 1951-November 1952 (no issue numbers)
none listed	1953-1958
Fred B. Thomas	January 1959-October 1961 (issues 1-34)
Emerson A. Clark	November 1961-October 1965 (issues 35-56 + un-numbered)
Robert D. Corless	November 1965-August 1969 (un-numbered issues)
Kenneth R. de Lisle	November 1969-December 1972 (un-numbered + Volume 20 #1-Volume 22 #4)
George T. Turner	March 1973-June 1975 (Volume 23 #1-un-numbered)
Frank L. Sente	August 1975
George T. Turner (?)	November 1975
David Lidman	March 1976-August 1977
Frank L. Sente	February-August (?) 1978
unknown	1979-1980
John McNally, Fairport, NY	1981-1987
Diana Manchester, Columbus, OH	1988- Winter 1997 (97-1)
Jane King Fohn, Converse, TX	Spring 1997 (97-2)-present

CAC Newsletter Issues

Year	Month/Season Issued (Issue number)
1943	August (1), November (2)
1944	March (3), July (4), October (5)
1945	January (6), March (7), July (8), October (9)
1946	January (10), March (11), July (12), October (13), December (14)
1947	March (15), October (16)
1948	January (17), October (18), December (19)
1949	February (20), April (21), September (22), November (23)
1950	February (24)
1951	January, September, December
1952	February, March, April, May, November
1953-58	none issued
1959	January (1), February (2), March (3), April (4), May (5), June (6), July (7), August (8), September (9), October (10), November (11), December (12)
1960	January (13), February (14), March (15), April (16), May (17), June (18), July (19), August (20), September (21), October (22), November (23), December (24)
1961	January (25), February (26), March (27), April (28), May (29), June (30), July (31), August (32), September (33), October (34), November (35), December (36)
1962	January (37), February (38), March [39 but un-numbered], April (40), May (41), July (42), August (43), September (44), October (45), November (46), December (47)
1963	February (48), March (49), May (50), July (51), August (52), September (53), November (54)
1964	May (55), July (56), October [balance un-numbered], November, December
1965	February, April, July, August, October, November, December
1966	March, May, July, September, October, December
1967	February, April, June, October, December
1968	January, February, March, May, July, August, November
1969	January, March, May, June, August, November
1970	January (Volume XX #1- new numbering scheme), February (Volume XX #2), May (Volume XX #3), September (Volume XX #4)
1971	January (Volume XXI #1- new numbering scheme), March (Volume XXI #2), May (Volume XXI #3), October (Volume XXI #4)
1972	January (Volume XXII #1), February (Volume XXII #2), June (Volume XXII #3), December (Volume XXII #4)
1973	March (Volume XXIII #1), June (un-numbered here after)
1974	May
1975	March, June, August, November
1976	March, July
1977	January, May, August
1978	February, May
1979-1980	unknown
1981	February, April, July
1982	January, April, September, December
1983	April (#1), November (#4)
1984	January, April, July, October
1985	January, April, July, October
1986	January, April, July, October
1987	January, April, July, October
1988	January, April, July, October
1989	January, April, July, October
1990	January (90-1), April (90-2), July (90-3), October (90-4)
1991	January (91-1), April (91-2), July (91-3), October (91-4)
1992	January (92-1), April (92-2), July (92-3), October (92-4)
1993	January (93-1), April (93-2), July (93-3), October (93-4)
1994	January (94-1), April (94-2), July (94-3), October (94-4)
1995	January (95-1), April (95-2, Spring), Summer (95-3), Fall (95-4)
1996	Winter (96-1), Spring (96-2), Summer (96-3), Fall (96-4)
1997	Winter (97-1), Spring (97-2), Summer (97-3), Fall (97-4)
1998	Winter (98-1), Spring (98-2), Summer (98-3), Fall (98-4)
1999	Winter (99-1), Spring (99-2), Summer (99-3), Fall (99-4)
2000	Winter (00-1), Spring (00-2), Summer (00-3), Fall (00-4)
2001	Winter (01-1), Spring (01-2), Summer (01-3), Fall (01-4)
2002	Winter (02-1), Spring (02-2), Summer (02-3), Fall (02-4)
2003	Winter (03-1), Winter (03-1 mislabeled Spring issue), Summer (03-3), Fall (03-4)
2004	Winter (04-1), Spring/Summer (04-2), Fall (04-3)

The CAC Committee
A Committee for Chapter Activities didn't appear until 1952 when Donald Goertz was chair and editor.

Exact dates for committee chairs aren't known with certainty before 1978, but this information comes from past published membership directories.

1952 Donald Goertz Cleveland, OH
1955 Laurence D. Shoemaker, Sarasota, FL
1958 George T. Turner, Jackson Heights, NY
1961 Emerson A. Clark, Burbank, CA
1966 Robert D. Corless, Phoenix, AZ
1970 Kenneth R. de Lisle, Albany, NY
1976-1977 David Lidman, Southbury, CT
1978-1979 Frank L. Sente, State College, PA
1980-1987 John M. Hotchner, Falls Church, VA
1988-1989 Richard E. Drews, Morton Grove, IL
1989-1991 Lois M. Evans-de Violini, Oxnard, CA
1991-1997 Diana Manchester, Columbus, OH
1997-Present Thomas M. Fortunato, Rochester, NY

Help Us!
As you can tell, there are many gaps to the CAC's history. Can you fill some of them? If so, contact Tom Fortunato using the mail link below.