Home      NW Clubs     Federated Philatelist

Arn Symposium     Coming Shows     Directors and Volunteers

Arn Symposium

This year's Symposium will be Saturday, March 29, with events starting Friday evening.  As usual, the Symposium will be at the BEST WESTERN LAKE FRONT INN & CONFERENCE CENTER, MOSES LAKE, WASHINGTON.  Four scheduled speakers, two auctions, friendships, sharing philatelic interests with like-minded collectors: this is a very satisfying event for its participants.  See the Announcement and the Registration form.  Also see the full schedule and a page of the bios of the speakers.

John D. Arn was born in Cincinnati in 1925 and served in the U.S. Navy in World War II. After the war, he married his high-school sweetheart and went on to work for General Electric and Honeywell, moving around the country.  He enjoyed fishing and photography, and was a Boy Scout volunteer for many years. When he retired in 1987, he took a much more active role in philately. He presented award-winning exhibits at many shows and published a newsletter for the Elizabethan II Study Group for BNAPS.

John had been a participant in the philatelic seminars given by the American Philatelic Society in Pennsylvania, and he wanted to bring that kind of experience to the Pacific Northwest collectors. So in 1990, he started the Inland Northwest Philatelic Symposium at Moses Lake, Washington. The schedule would include a full Saturday event with four speakers. He added a silent auction and a live auction with lots provided by the participants. Lunch and dinner were available, with a Hospitality Room on Friday night for the people to get together and swap stamp stories over refreshments. The whole Arn family took an active role in the event which often saw over 50 participants.

John Arn continued to plan and produce the symposium for 19 years. He missed one year due to health reasons, and eventually Ruth Caswell (program) and David Harris (arrangements) agreed to take over as co-chairs. When John died in 2012, the following year saw the name changed to The John D. Arn Philatelic Symposium. David had scheduled the speakers for the 2020 event when the pandemic required that it be canceled. David died in 2021, forcing another cancellation.

Then for 2022, Anne Harris asked Jim Hirstein to join with her to restart the symposium. The thirtieth symposium was presented with most of the program just as David had planned for 2020.  With Anne scheduling the venue and events and Jim handling the mailing and registration, we have continued for three more years. The Northwest Federation of Stamp Clubs has been a tremendous help with its sponsorship and suggesting speakers. The loss of Anne this past year was a terrible blow to the planning part of the symposium. We are looking forward to continued help from the northwest philatelic community to keep this valued event available to the collectors in the area. Symposium speakers and participants bring a wide variety of philatelic knowledge and research to northwest collectors in a unique setting of fellowship and discussion.

Last update Feb. 11, 2025

Webmaster: George Struble