AL Burns Some Biography Info

Does anyone have a link to a bio of Al Burns?

He was a printer by trade and published one or more stamp periodicals. Was he affiliated with the Gossip Printery and Philatelic Gossip during the 1930s?

Thanks for any info or leads.

Don

Found this reference in a 1941 newspaper:




I also found an obscure reference suggesting that Al Burns died in 1948 in Albany, Oregon, but I can't confirm it.

There is also reference suggesting his full name was "Alvin C. Burns".

That's all I could find (so far).

Thanks, wt1. What you have makes sense, although, I had it the other way around. I thought he published Al Burns Stamp Newsfirst, went to the Philatelic Gossip and then maybe moved to Oregon. Now that I think about it, I believe he may have worked for The Western Stamp Collector which was published in Albany, Oregon.

What prompted my question is the cover below. I did find that the Ames, Iowa, paper was published from 1941 to 1942.

I found this little snippet in the Canadian Stamp Bulletin of December 1948:



Page 4 at this link:

http://www.rpsc.org/CP_scans/C.P.S....,%201948.pdf

At least it confirms his date of death as October 19, 1948.

Another news clipping on Al Burns death:

All very interesting -- thanks again, wtl. I wonder what took him to Ames, Iowa. In 1941, it was a small, rural college town, certainly not a center of philatelic activity. Maybe he got a "good deal" on a print shop there. I can understand moving to Albany for a job with Western Stamp Collector. Small hobby newspapers must have had a difficult time getting newsprint during the war years.

Don

As a postscript, the addressee of the cover, H. B. Stough, appears to have been an accomplished academic at the University of Idaho. Below is his entry in the 1938 Blue Book of Philately.

I have Al Burns stamp collection,
Scrap book,

Hi Kathleen:

Thanks for replying to this thread.

Was his collection a large one? Would you post a few pages of it, and maybe comment on the scrapbook, i.e. what is in it? I'd still like to know what took him to Ames, Iowa.

Did you know Al Burns personally?

Thanks.

Don

Back in the early 70's, I attended Iowa State University in Ames, Iowa. At that time their library had a bound volume of a complete run of his Stamp News. It was a chatty, well done little magazine, digest sized. Burns was what you'd call a raconteur, he'd known a lot of the big names in Philately and could spin good stories about them, sort of like Herman Herst. Anyone collecting older periodicals would do well to look for it.

Stamps:

I, indeed, would like to read a few issues of his Stamp News. I'll have to check to see if the ISU library has it digitized, doubt it though. I grew up about 100 miles west of Ames in Denison, Iowa, and collect Iowa-related covers, and especially those relating to stamp dealers and philatelic publications.

Thanks for your reply. I hope Kathleen response positively. I'd like to know something of his collecting interests, and, maybe find out what took him to Ames.

Don