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By Linn’s Staff
The American Philatelic Society and the American Philatelic Research Library annually acknowledge philatelic authors and research with three awards: the United States Stamp Society/Barbara Mueller Award, Thomas F. Allen Award and Charles J. Peterson Philatelic Literature Life Achievement Award.
The Mueller award recognizes the author of the best article published in a single year of the American Philatelist. This year’s recipients are Calvin Mitchell and Baasil Wilder.
The Allen award honors the writer of the best article appearing in the APRL’s Philatelic Literature Review during the previous calendar year. Rick Barrett received the 2026 award.
The Peterson life achievement award recognizes outstanding dedication to furthering philatelic knowledge through philatelic literature, with this year’s recipient being Yamil Kouri.
Mitchell and Wilder are recognized for their article, “A Study in Race, Racism and Presidential Politics,” which appeared in the March 2025 issue of the American Philatelist.
Mitchell has written many philatelic articles focusing on African American postal history. He co-authored two award-winning articles previously published in the American Philatelist.
After retiring from the federal government, Mitchell worked on the curatorial staff at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum and is a member of the Ebony Society of Philatelic Events and Reflections, American First Day Cover Society, Military Postal Society and American Ceremony Program Society.
Since 2010 Wilder has been the librarian at the National Postal Museum. He provides professional services for researchers. He previously worked at the National Air and Space Museum Library, the National Museum of African Art Library, the Anacostia Community Museum Library and the National Museum of American History Library.
His authorship includes articles of original scholarship spanning philately, presidential politics and the essential role of museum libraries.
Barrett, a previous Mueller award winner, is recognized for his article, “How the Epic Story of Captain Tim Unfolded,” published in the 2025 fourth-quarter issue of the Philatelic Literature Review.
Barrett is an avid researcher and student of history and has spent countless hours combing the resources of research libraries for details regarding the histories of some of philately’s most unique characters.
Barrett has also written a book, Buffalo Cinderellas: The Gentleman, the Huckster, and the Pan American Exposition, that explores his interest in collecting Pan-American Exposition souvenir stamps.
Kouri has been involved in many areas of philately, both in the United States and internationally. Currently he is the president of the Boston 2026 World Expo to be held May 23-30 in Boston, Mass., and has been the U.S. commissioner at a number of international exhibitions. He is an accredited FIP judge.
He has held leadership positions in the Postal History Society, American Philatelic Society, Federacion Interamericana de Filatelia, Cuban Philatelic Society, American Philatelic Congress, U.S. Philatelic Classics Society, and the Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History.
Kouri became interested in postal history in the late 1970s. His collecting interests focus on the stamps and postal history of Cuba, and he is the author of several publications, including the book tkilt Under Three Flags: The Postal History of the Spanish-Cuban/American War (1895-1898). tkilt
He has also written almost 200 articles on postal history, primarily dealing with the maritime and military mail of Spain, former Spanish colonies, Cuba, the United States and several European countries.
Kouri is a Fellow of the Royal Philatelic Society London, numbered member of the Real Academia Hispanica de Filatelia e Historia Postal, and member of the European Academy of Philately.
He is a U.S. Philatelic Classics Society Distinguished Philatelist, and in 2020 he signed the Philatelic Congress of Great Britain’s Roll of Distinguished Philatelists.
For more information about APS and APRL awards, visit the APS website at https://stamps.org/community/awards.
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