Thomas M. Lera is an American philatelist who was the

Winton M. Blount Winton Malcolm Blount Jr., known as Red Blount (February 1, 1921 – October 24, 2002), was an American philanthropist and politician who served as the United States Postmaster General from January 22, 1969, to January 1, 1972. He founded and ser ...

Research Chair at the

Smithsonian National Postal Museum The National Postal Museum, located opposite Union Station in Washington, D.C., United States, covers large portions of the Postal history of the United States and other countries. It was established through joint agreement between the United ...

until 2021. He is also an expert on the preservation and the conservation of

bats Bats are mammals of the order Chiroptera.''cheir'', "hand" and πτερόν''pteron'', "wing". With their forelimbs adapted as wings, they are the only mammals capable of true and sustained flight. Bats are more agile in flight than most bi ...

and

caves A cave or cavern is a natural void in the ground, specifically a space large enough for a human to enter. Caves often form by the weathering of rock and often extend deep underground. The word ''cave'' can refer to smaller openings such as sea ...

and has been a vice-president of the

National Speleological Society The National Speleological Society (NSS) is an organization formed in 1941 to advance the exploration, conservation, study, and understanding of caves in the United States. Originally headquartered in Washington D.C., its current offices are in H ...

Early life

Lera received his advanced education at the

University of Illinois The University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (U of I, Illinois, University of Illinois, or UIUC) is a public land-grant research university in Illinois in the twin cities of Champaign and Urbana. It is the flagship institution of the University ...

from where he received a Bachelor of Science degree in 1969 and the

University of Pennsylvania The University of Pennsylvania (also known as Penn or UPenn) is a private research university in Philadelphia. It is the fourth-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and is ranked among the highest-regarded universitie ...

from where he received a Master of Science degree in 1971.Thomas Lera Winton M. Blount Chair in Research.
Smithsonian Institution. Retrieved 10 October 2016.

Philately

Lera was appointed the Winton M. Blount Research Chair at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum in 2008. H

November 1, 2021. During his appointment he created the NPM Philatelic Forensic Laboratory through the purchase of specialised scientific equipment for the examination of paper, ink and color.Tom Lera, Director and Senior Fellow.
Institute for Analytical Philately Inc. Retrieved 10 October 2016. Lera's research interests include the Underground Railroad Post Office and Confederate official and semi-official envelopes. In 2012, Lera and Leon Finik produced a book on the

Georges Henri Kaestlin Georges Henri Kaestlin (1892 – 18 February 1981) was a banker who formed a leading collection of Russian Imperial and Zemstvo stamps after he and his family were forced to leave Russia following the 1917 revolution. His collection was donated to ...

collection of

Russian Imperial The Russian Empire was an empire and the final period of the Russian monarchy from 1721 to 1917, ruling across large parts of Eurasia. It succeeded the Tsardom of Russia following the Treaty of Nystad, which ended the Great Northern War. The ...

and Zemstvo stamps held by the

National Postal Museum The National Postal Museum, located opposite Union Station in Washington, D.C., United States, covers large portions of the Postal history of the United States and other countries. It was established through joint agreement between the United S ...

which was published by the Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press in their

Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge The Smithsonian Contributions and Studies Series is a collection of serial periodical publications produced by the Smithsonian Institution, detailing advances in various scientific and societal fields to which the Smithsonian Institution has made c ...

series. Lera was elected to membership of the

Royal Philatelic Society London The Royal Philatelic Society London (RPSL) is the oldest philatelic society in the world. It was founded on 10 April 1869 as ''The Philatelic Society, London''. The society runs a postal museum, the Spear Museum of Philatelic History, at its he ...

in 2009 and became a fellow in 2012. He was inducted into the

American Philatelic Society The American Philatelic Society (APS) is the largest nonprofit stamp collecting foundation of philately in the world. Both the membership and interests of the society are worldwide. History The organization, originally named the ''American Phil ...

's writers hall of fame in 2015 and in 2016 received the Distinguished Philatelic Texan Award.

Bats and caves

Lera is an expert on the conservation and preservation of bats and caves about which he has written management plans for the

International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN; officially International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natu ...

. In 2006 he was appointed chairman of the Virginia Cave Board by governor

Mark Warner Mark Robert Warner (born December 15, 1954) is an American businessman and politician serving as the senior United States senator from Virginia, a seat he has held since 2009. A member of the Democratic Party, Warner served as the 69th governo ...

. He has been a vice-president of the

.Lera, Thomas, & Leon Finik. (2012
''The G.H. Kaestlin collection of Imperial Russian and Zemstvo stamps''.
Washington DC: Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press. p. 9. (Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge)

Selected publications

*''Bat management in the United States : a survey of legislative actions, court decisions and agency interpretations''.

Environmental Protection Agency A biophysical environment is a biotic and abiotic surrounding of an organism or population, and consequently includes the factors that have an influence in their survival, development, and evolution. A biophysical environment can vary in scale f ...

, United States, 1978. (With Sue Fortune) *''Bats in philately''.

American Topical Association The American Topical Association (ATA) is a US-based philatelic society and the largest organization devoted to topical stamp collecting. It was established in 1949 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin by Jerome (Jerry) Husak. It currently serves members in o ...

, 1995. *Winton M. Blount Symposia: 2006 - 2009 *''Cave post offices''. Cave Books, 2011. *''The G.H. Kaestlin collection of Imperial Russian and Zemstvo stamps''. Smithsonian Institution Scholarly Press, Washington DC, 2012. (With Leon Finik) (

)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lera, Thomas American philatelists Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Smithsonian Institution people Fellows of the Royal Philatelic Society London University of Illinois alumni University of Pennsylvania alumni American speleologists Bat conservation