The Cuban Philatelist

Official Journal of the CPSA

This journal has been published fairly continuously under several names by the CPSA and its precursors since July 1971. A brief history of the journal in its various incarnations follows.

The first four issues of the journal (July, Sep, Dec 1971 and Mar 1972) were published entirely in Spanish under the title El Filatelista Cubano by the Círculo Filatélico Cubano de Miami (The Cuban Philatelic Circle of Miami). Starting with the July 1972 issue, the journal's title was changed to its English equivalent The Cuban Philatelist and most information contained in the journal was published in both Spanish and English. This change came about when the former Círculo Filatélico de Miami was incorporated and renamed The Cuban Philatelic Club, Inc. of America.

The first four issues of El Filatelista Cubano and the subsequent 12 issues of The Cuban Philatelist were published in 8.5 x 11 inch format. In mid-1975 the Cuban Philatelic Circle changed its name to the Cuban Philatelic Society of America, Inc. (CPSA), and although The Cuban Philatelist conserved its name, it started being published in odd sizes ranging between 7 to 7.5 by 8.5 to 9.25 inches with an oversize issue in October 1978 of 8 x 10 inches.

In total, 23 issues of the journal were published under the name The Cuban Philatelist on a quarterly basis, each volume consisting of four issues numbered 1-4 corresponding to the months of July, October, January, and April. The last issue was published in March 1979. The journal resumed publication in an 8 1/2 x 11 inch format under the new name of El Boletín (The Bulletin) in October 1979 and continued under that name until the Nov-Dec 1988 issue.

Starting with the Jan-Feb 1989 issue, El Boletín was primarily dedicated to tri-annual philatelic auctions and The Cuban Philatelist was resuscitated as the official journal of the CPSA and was dedicated exclusively to articles on Cuban philately. Initially, publication of the bulletin and the journal was regular, with the bulletin appearing dated Jan-Feb, May-Jun, and Sep-Oct, and the journal appearing dated Mar-Apr, Jul-Aug, and Nov-Dec. The regularity of publication was maintained until 1993 when only one issue journal was published, followed by three in 1994, and two in 1995 and 1996. Starting in 1997 the journal has been published three times a year until present.

The editor of El Filatelista Cubano and the first editor of The Cuban Philatelist was the club's founder Agustín J. Cantens, Jr. In the fall of 1976, Bernabé de Varona took over as editor of the journal starting with Vol.6, Issue No.1, dated September 1976, and continued as its editor until the last issue of March 1979. Publication of the CPSA's official journal resumed under the name of El Boletín, in October 1979 under the leadership of new editor Silvia García-Frutos.

As mentioned in the preceding paragraph, at the beginning of 1989, The Cuban Philatelist was brought back to life as the literary journal of the Society by Silvia García-Frutos and El Boletín was dedicated to philatelic auctions and Society news, announcements, and advertisements. Mrs. García-Frutos continued as the editor of both publications until the Nov-Dec 1995 issue of The Cuban Philatelist and the Nov-Dec 1996 issue of El Boletín. In 1996, Dr. Yamil H. Kouri, Jr. took over as editor of The Cuban Philatelist starting with the July 1996 issue and continues in that capacity to date. In 1997, Ernesto Cuesta took over as auction manager and editor of El Boletín from the July 1997 issue until the May 1999 issue. Starting with issue No.60 of April-May 2000, Silvia García-Frutos took over once more as auction manager until 2005. Jack Thompson becomes the new auction manager and editor of El Boletín in 2006 and continues to this day. In 2009 Fernando Iglesias becomes the new editor for The Cuban Philatelist and continues to this day.

A MESSAGE FROM THE EDITOR

I would like to thank the Society's directors for trusting me with this position and the members of the Editorial Board who always gave me their support and encouraged me to take on this new challenge; thanks especially to Dr. Yamil Kouri Jr., our previous editor and one of the members of our Editorial Board. The Editorial Board's valuable comments, suggestions and their help in reviewing and correcting original manuscripts is greatly appreciated.

We are most grateful to Silvia Garcia-Frutos for her unselfish efforts to promote Cuban philately for over fifteen years and for her dedication as editor of The Cuban Philatelist The magnitude of this endeavor only becomes evident when one is in the process of doing it. We hope to continue to enjoy her help and contributions as a member of the editorial board.

We have an ambitious plan to include in every issue of this publication an article on each of the following areas:

  • Pre-stamp Letters and Postal History

  • Colonial Philatelic Period

  • US Administration and Revolutionary Mail

  • Republic

  • Special Sections

The special sections will include a variety of topics such as book reviews, auction results, practical information on collecting and exhibiting, news, interesting or difficult covers to be analyzed and explained, and anything else that might be appropriate.

The Cuban Philatelist's goal should be to stimulate and promote the exchange of ideas about Cuba's philately and we plan to make this publication an open forum for the discussion of any subject that could be of interest to our members.

In my opinion, the success of this type of publication can only be measured by the extent of member participation. It should not be simply a means of providing information, it is essential that as many members as possible contribute to the enrichment of this magazine. It is as important to ask questions and present problems as it is to give answers or offer solutions. Therefore I would like to encourage our readers to submit for publication any material they may have and to let us know what type of articles they would like to read in this journal.

Fernando J. Iglesias

 


Editor
  Fernando Iglesias
Editorial Board
  Silvia García-Frutos
Dr. Yamil H. Kouri, Jr.
Roberto Rosende