Omaha Philatelic Society Celebrates its Centennial Year!
The Omaha Philatelic Society (OPS) proudly celebrates the 100th anniversary of its 1926 founding!
Centennial Podcast with President
OPS President Ben Brick was on the Omaha Public Library’s The Book Drop podcast to talk about the centennial of the Omaha Philatelic Society. Click the image below to listen to the podcast:
Centennial Logo
The Omaha Philatelic Society held a Centennial Art Contest in 2025, and selected Joyella Brick’s artwork titled “Swartz Printing Stamp”, shown below, as the official logo celebrating our stamp collecting club’s Centennial.
Omaha Philatelic Society Founded April 23, 1926
During the winter and early spring of 1926, a group of stamp collectors made it a habit to stop in at the offices of Swartz & McKelvie Printing Company to talk about and exhibit their stamps to each other, as Mr. Swartz was dealing more or less in stamps. It was in that building that the group decided to create a stamp club, and they formed the Omaha Philatelic Society on April 23, 1926, with 10 charter members.
Society Publishes First Newsletter, Grows Fast
By February 1928, the Omaha Philatelic Society had an official publication, The O.P.S. Annual. Beginning in August of that year, a follow-on publication, “The Philatelian,” was published on a semiannual basis. The August 1928 newsletter reported that the club had about 70 members.
Our First Stamp Exhibition
The first stamp exhibition sponsored by the Omaha Philatelic Society was held on May 22nd to June 4th, 1929, at the Aquila Court Art Gallery. Seventy-five frames of stamps and postal history were exhibited.
OPS Hosts 1934 Trans-Mississippi Philatelic Exposition and Convention
The Omaha Philatelic Society hosted the 1934 Trans-Mississippi Philatelic Exposition and Convention. This major week-long event was held in Omaha, Nebraska, from Monday, October 8th through Sunday the 14th.
The Trans-Mississippi Philatelic Exposition souvenir sheet (Scott 751) was officially issued at the Omaha convention site. Below is the official first day of issue cover of the Omaha Philatelic Society.
Our Mission
The objective of the Omaha Philatelic Society is the advancement of philatelic interest and knowledge among the membership and its community, the formation of philatelic friendships, mutual benefit through the exchange of philatelic material, and the promotion of our collecting hobby.
Meetings
The club meets on the second and fourth Friday of each month. Meetings start at 7:30 PM. Doors open at 7:00. The only exceptions to our meeting dates are perhaps in April, depending on whether one of the meetings falls on Good Friday, in November, when the second meeting may be moved to the third Friday, and in December, when there is no fourth-Friday meeting.
Our current membership is 60 members strong. Each of our meetings is typically attended by about 20 to 35 members.
The second Friday of each month is a short business meeting followed by a presentation related to philately given by a member or guest speaker. If no presentation is scheduled, the club will usually hold a member bourse, where members are encouraged to bring stamps, covers, or any other philatelic item from their collection for selling, trading, or for show-and-tell.
The fourth-Friday meetings include a brief discussion on current club affairs followed by an exchange (auction) of philatelic items submitted by our members.
Guests are always welcome to attend our club meetings. However, membership is required to participate in our auctions or borrow books from our library.
Meeting Location
Pacific Hills Lutheran Church
90th and Pacific Streets (SW corner)
Omaha, NE 68124
Map