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Special Events

Through the years, the JPL Stamp Club has acknowledged history of the region in which JPL lives, and special activities in which JPL, the Stamp Club, or both have taken part. This section describes those events and the covers produced for them.

LERCPEX 84

The first event in which the Club got involved in preparing cachets for a non space event was the Lockheed Employees Recreational Council Stamp Show - LERCPEX. The club was invited to co-host with the Lockheed Stamp Club. Both clubs used common designs, with only the organization names different. The two day show used a special cancel for each day. The LERCPEX 84 (this will be another grouping) covers incorporated the Space Shuttle design - and the artwork used by Don Burcham to design the rubber stamp which we use to cachet STS Launch covers for collectors who send them in for servicing.

LERCPEX 85

The second of the two years of co-hosting the LERCPEX was also a two-day affair. The cachets were again jointly designed, with special cancels. The LERCPEX 85 (this will be another grouping) covers celebrate the use of the Lockheed aircraft in which JPL flew scientific instruments through the NASA Ames Research Center Flight Program for many years - developing and demonstrating remote sensing techniques as well as conducting exciting science missions.

Pasadena Centennial

On June 19, 1986, the city of Pasadena California, in which Caltech resides, and JPL claims as its postal home, celebrated its 100th anniversary. Since the Pasadena Post Office would be taking part in the celebrations, and offering a special cancellation, the Stamp Club was asked to participate. The Pasadena Centennial cover was produced using the City's logo design, and the covers were made available to the celebrants in the centennial square in front of the Pasadena city hall. The covers were subsequently made available to collectors through the club's mail list.

California Institute of Technology Centennial

The Caltech Centennial in 1991 was celebrated in campus events, and with a special open house at JPL on August 3, 1991. There was a special award for scientific achievement awarded to Caltech in the name of Theodore Von Karman that same day. This ceremony was held at the Science and Technology Museum in Los Angeles. Our friend Dr. Shirley Thomas, who was the next year to be of such assistance in the event of the Von Karman stamp First Day of Issue, arranged for a cachet designed by Don Paglia, an artist of local renown, for our covers. The JPL Centennial EXPO cover incorporated a special cancel for the occasion provided by the Pasadena Post Office. The Von Karman Centennial Achievement Award cover also used a special cancellation - this one provided by the Los Angeles Post Office. The stamp club had a booth and sold these covers at both events.

JPL EXPO II

The next year, 1992, Jpl held another open house celebrating the International Space Year. The club produced JPL EXPO II (this will be another grouping) covers for that event, for both days (June 14 and 15) of the event. The cachet recognizes the Mars Observer and the TOPEX/ Poseidon Missions which were launching that year. Since our primary cover designers were no longer available, the club had to get our heads together and create by committee some original art work and cobble together a design - just beginning to learn about computer art work.

Von Karman Picture Hanging

The last event in the celebration of the Von Karman stamp issuance was the ceremony at which the artwork for the stamp was presented to the California Institute of Technology. A special cancel was provided by the Post Office for this event as well, and programs and covers were stamped with the new stamp and cancelled for the guests of the event. Hanging of Stamp Art covers, using the same FdoI cachets, were also sold for a short time thereafter.

JPL 50th Anniversary Open House

On July 16 and 17th, 1994, JPL celebrated their 50th anniversary by opening the doors to the public and showing all of the latest programs and technology. As usual, some 40.000 - 70,000 people attended the two-day event, and the JPL Post Office participated with a booth and special cancellations. The club produced two different but related cachets. The July 16th JPL 50th Anniversary cover included a special cancellation for that event. The July 17th Apollo 11 25th Anniversary cover celebrated the upcoming (July 20) anniversary of the first Moon landing. The special cancellation for that day also honored that event. This cover design in red was repeated in blue for the actual stamp First Day of Issue 3 days later (see chapter 3 - First Day of Issues).

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