Henry Ellis Harris
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Henry Ellis Harris (January 21, 1902 – December 29, 1977), commonly known as H.E. Harris, was an American philatelist and
stamp dealer A stamp dealer is a company or an individual who deals in stamps and philatelic products. It also includes individuals who sell postage stamps for day to day use or revenue stamps for use on court documents. Stamp dealers who sell to stamp collect ...
who through his company, H.E. Harris & Co., popularized
philately Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting or the study of postage; it is poss ...
for many Americans, especially children.


Biography

Harris was born in
Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...
in 1902. At age 14, while living in
Washington, D. C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, Na ...
, he began his stamp career. He seized the opportunity to begin a mail-order stamp business when ''
The Washington Post ''The Washington Post'' (also known as the ''Post'' and, informally, ''WaPo'') is an American daily newspaper published in Washington, D.C. It is the most widely circulated newspaper within the Washington metropolitan area and has a large nati ...
'' offered free
classified ads Classified advertising is a form of advertising, particularly common in newspapers, online and other periodicals, which may be sold or distributed free of charge. Classified advertisements are much cheaper than larger display advertisements used ...
to teenagers. Harris later opened his first retail store in 1921 at
Kenmore Square Kenmore Square is a square in Boston, Massachusetts, United States, consisting of the intersection of several main avenues (including Beacon Street and Commonwealth Avenue) as well as several other cross streets, and Kenmore station, an MBTA ...
in
Boston Boston (), officially the City of Boston, is the state capital and most populous city of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, as well as the cultural and financial center of the New England region of the United States. It is the 24th- mo ...
. Over the years, advertisements by H.E. Harris, which offered a quantity of stamps for a small amount of money (usually less than $1) on the condition that additional stamps were sent on approval, became ubiquitous in many magazines and comic books. While the company was noted for selling low-cost packets of stamps, it sold rarities as well. The company developed a fully illustrated postage stamp catalog that sold for a fraction of the cost of the more detailed Scott Stamp Catalogue.


Stamp club

Procter & Gamble The Procter & Gamble Company (P&G) is an American multinational consumer goods corporation headquartered in Cincinnati, Ohio, founded in 1837 by William Procter and James Gamble. It specializes in a wide range of personal health/consumer hea ...
(P&G) sponsored the radio show ''Ivory Stamp Club of the Air'' during the
Great Depression The Great Depression (19291939) was an economic shock that impacted most countries across the world. It was a period of economic depression that became evident after a major fall in stock prices in the United States. The economic contagio ...
. The show was hosted by "Captain Tim" Healy, a former officer in the
Australian Army The Australian Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of Australia, a part of the Australian Defence Force (ADF) along with the Royal Australian Navy and the Royal Australian Air Force. The Army is commanded by the Chief of Army (Austral ...
, world traveler, and raconteur. H.E. Harris was contracted by P&G to send each new club member a stamp album, badge and packet of stamps in exchange for an Ivory soap wrapper. To receive more stamp packets, members could send two soap wrappers and 10¢. When the last show was broadcast in 1936, the club had 2.5 million members. Many of them became Harris customers and helped build the company into one of the largest stamp businesses in the world.


Kenmore Stamp Company

Harris purchased the Kenmore Stamp Company of
Kenmore, New York Kenmore is a village in Erie County, New York, United States. The population was 15,423 at the 2010 census. It is part of the Buffalo–Niagara Falls metropolitan area. Kenmore is in the south part of the town of Tonawanda, and together with th ...
, in 1943. His son, H.E. Harris Jr. (born 1925), had started selling stamps to various local drug, novelty, and variety stores while still in
elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...
. After serving in the
Eighth Air Force The Eighth Air Force (Air Forces Strategic) is a numbered air force (NAF) of the United States Air Force's Air Force Global Strike Command (AFGSC). It is headquartered at Barksdale Air Force Base, Louisiana. The command serves as Air Force ...
in England during World War II, the younger Harris purchased the Kenmore name from his father and re-established the company in
Arlington, Massachusetts Arlington is a New England town, town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, Middlesex County, Massachusetts. The town is six miles (10 km) northwest of Boston, Massachusetts, Boston, and its population was 46,308 at the 2020 census. History ...
. In 1951, the company was again relocated, to
Milford, New Hampshire Milford is a town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States, on the Souhegan River. The population was 16,131 at the 2020 census, up from 15,115 at the 2010 census.United States Census BureauU.S. Census website 2010 Census figures. Re ...
.


Litigation

Harris gained media attention in 1962 when he went to court to prevent the
Canal Zone The Panama Canal Zone ( es, Zona del Canal de Panamá), also simply known as the Canal Zone, was an unincorporated territory of the United States, located in the Isthmus of Panama, that existed from 1903 to 1979. It was located within the terri ...
and the
United States Post Office Department The United States Post Office Department (USPOD; also known as the Post Office or U.S. Mail) was the predecessor of the United States Postal Service, in the form of a Cabinet department, officially from 1872 to 1971. It was headed by the postmas ...
from issuing large quantities of intentional error stamps to destroy the value of a few stamps that had reached circulation honoring the opening of the Thatcher Ferry Bridge (now the
Bridge of the Americas The Bridge of the Americas ( es, Puente de las Américas; originally known as the Thatcher Ferry Bridge) is a road bridge in Panama which spans the Pacific entrance to the Panama Canal. Designed by Sverdrup & Parcel, it was completed in 1962 at ...
) but lacking the silver ink used to depict the bridge. Harris had acquired some of the error stamps, and claimed that the issuance, which would reduce the value of the error stamps to a few cents each, violated his rights. He was successful in his lawsuit, for which he received the
Luff Award The Luff Award is awarded by the American Philatelic Society (commonly known as the APS) for meritorious contributions to philately by living philatelists. Established The award was established in 1940 in memory of John N. Luff, distinguished ...
from 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 ...
in 1966 for exceptional contributions to philately.


Later years

In 1975, Harris sold his business to the
venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth potential or which ha ...
arm of
General Mills General Mills, Inc., is an American multinational manufacturer and marketer of branded processed consumer foods sold through retail stores. Founded on the banks of the Mississippi River at Saint Anthony Falls in Minneapolis, the company orig ...
, which discontinued the stamps-on-approval mail-order service. Harris died in 1977 at
Newton-Wellesley Hospital Newton-Wellesley Hospital (NWH) is a community teaching medical center located in Newton, Massachusetts on Washington Street. It is affiliated with Tufts University School of Medicine and Harvard Medical School. Founded in 1881, part of its ca ...
in
Newton, Massachusetts Newton is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is approximately west of downtown Boston. Newton resembles a patchwork of thirteen villages, without a city center. According to the 2020 U.S. Census, the population of Ne ...
. In 1979, Harris was posthumously elected to the
American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame The American Philatelic Society Hall of Fame award honors deceased philatelists who have contributed significantly to the field of national and/or international philately. History The APS ''Hall of Fame'' award was founded at the 1940 American P ...
. In 2003, H.E. Harris & Co. consolidated with Whitman Coin Products, becoming
Whitman Publishing Whitman Publishing is an American book publishing company which started as a subsidiary of the Western Printing & Lithographing Company of Racine, Wisconsin. In about 1915, Western began printing and binding a line of juvenile books for the Hammi ...
.


References


External links


H.E. Harris Stamps & Supplies
via
Whitman Publishing Whitman Publishing is an American book publishing company which started as a subsidiary of the Western Printing & Lithographing Company of Racine, Wisconsin. In about 1915, Western began printing and binding a line of juvenile books for the Hammi ...

Kenmore Stamp Company
website {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris 1902 births 1977 deaths People from Atlanta People from Boston American philatelists American stamp dealers 20th-century American businesspeople American Philatelic Society