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PHSC Symposium 2019

Sheraton Hamilton Hotel, July 18-21 2019

Not just another stamp show!

The PHSC Symposium is back for its third great year. If you were there for PHSC Symposium 2017 or 2018, you enjoyed many great postal historical events and camaraderie. One of our main goals in creating the Symposium is to foster new postal history research and to increase collaboration amongst our members. Once again, PHSC Symposium 2019 will give you a chance to interact and learn from experts and each other. The event will span four full days, from Thursday July 18 to Sunday July 21. Centered in Hamilton, Ontario, we will visit several different sites of historical interest in Hamilton and the greater Toronto and Niagara areas at which invited members will speak about a variety of postal history topics. We will also host a National-level postal history exhibition as well as a bourse with fifteen or more dealers concentrating on postal history.

Registration forms for the Symposium, as well as Exhibit Applications are now available.

The Hamilton Sheraton Hotel is located at 116 King Street West in Hamilton, and offers convenient underground parking. Additional contact information for the hotel may be found at the bottom of this page. It is of benefit to the PHSC if you make your booking directly with the hotel rather than using any of the online travel sites. See the getting there link for further travel information.

Or, don't hesitate to contact us for further information. We hope to see you there and will value your active participation! A registration form for the event, an exhibition application form and information about all events are available on the sidebar at left.

Postal History Presentations

One of the highlights of the event will be a series of 7-9 presentations by fellow members on a variety of topics in the postal history of Canada and British North America. These will take place at a variety of venues around the area in conjunction with our visits to historical sites.

Historical Tours

We will visit several venues in Hamilton and southern Ontario. On Wednesday July 17, the day before the Symposium begins, we will once again have a day of postal history in Toronto, hosted by Kathy Hartley, the librarian of the Harry Sutherland Philatelic Library. A visit to the Ontario Archives on the campus of York University is being planned, and further details may be found on the Symposium Registration form. Please note that this event is limited to 20 participants and will be available on a first-come basis. There is no charge for this event, being on a pay-as-you-go basis.

Thursday was devoted to an exploration of historical sites in the Midland area. After arriving in Port McNicoll, we will tour the SS Keewatin, a Canadian Pacific steamboat. We will then proceed to the Sainte-Marie among the Hurons National Historic Site, one of the earliest European settlements in Upper Canada. There we had a catered lunch, tours of the facilities and a postal history presentation. Following that cocktails were available at a cash bar, followed by a catered dinner. See what you missed!

On Friday, following a presentation in the morning, we will carpool to Dundurn Castle, a National Historic Site in Hamilton, and we will tour the main house. There, we will have a catered luncheon followed by two postal history presentations, along with ample time for touring the facilities. The day will end early in order to allow time in the evening for the setup of the Bourse and Exhibition at the Sheraton.

On Saturday evening, the Symposium awards banquet, in the form of an informal barbecue, will take place at the Hamilton Museum of Steam and Technology. At the banquet, we will present the Exhibition awards and introduce new PHSC Fellows. We are pleased to announce that the Juno Award winning blues musician Harrison Kennedy will be there to entertain us.

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Registration and payment for these events is required in advance. The cost of each event includes the catered meals and entertainment, as well as admission to the venues. For the Ste. Marie venues, motor coach transportation from Hamilton is included. All of these options may be selected on the Registration Form. Travel to all other events will be by carpooling.

Postal History Exhibition

The Exhibition has National-level accreditation and will comprise approximately 120 frames. It will be open only to Postal History of Canada and British North America, including military, transportation and postal stationery postal histories. Both single frame and multi-frame exhibits will be welcomed. An Exhibit Application form is now available on the exhibiting page. The deadline for submitting this application will be June 1, 2019, and thereafter the Symposium Committee will select those exhibits that will appear in the Exhibition, at their discretion.

More information about exhibiting and the Exhibition may be found on our exhibiting page.

Bourse

On Saturday and Sunday, we will have a bourse at the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel with about fifteen leading postal history dealers. Each dealer is urged to concentrate on postal history wares.

Breakout Sessions

In addition to the formal postal history presentations, we anticipate scheduling a number of more informal 'breakout sessions' that will concentrate on specific postal history topics. More information will be provided here soon. If you have an idea for a breakout session and would like to volunteer to lead such, please let us know.

Hotel Accommodations

As many of the events will take place at the Sheraton Hamilton Hotel, it will be most convenient for participants to find accommodation there. Reservations can be made directly at the hotel website, or by calling (905) 529-5515 or (888) 627-8161. As of July 6, there are no available rooms at the group rate, although other rooms may be available still. Parking is available for an extra daily fee.