William Carlos Stone called “Uncle Billy” by his friends, of Springfield, Massachusetts

Springfield, Massachusetts

Springfield is the most populous city in Western New England, and the seat of Hampden County, Massachusetts, United States. Springfield sits on the eastern bank of the Connecticut River near its confluence with three rivers; the western Westfield River, the eastern Chicopee River, and the eastern...

, was a philatelist

Philately

Philately is the study of stamps and postal history and other related items. Philately involves more than just stamp collecting, which does not necessarily involve the study of stamps. It is possible to be a philatelist without owning any stamps...

 who specialized in the collection of philatelic literature

Philatelic literature

Philatelic literature is written material relating to philately, primarily information about postage stamps and postal history- Background to philatelic literature :...

 related to revenue stamp

Revenue stamp

A revenue stamp, tax stamp or fiscal stamp is a adhesive label used to collect taxes or fees on documents, tobacco, alcoholic drinks, drugs and medicines, playing cards, hunting licenses, firearm registration, and many other things...

s and postal stationery

Postal stationery

A piece of postal stationery is a stationery item, such as a stamped envelope, letter sheet, postal card, lettercard, aerogram or wrapper, with an imprinted stamp or inscription indicating that a specific rate of postage or related service has been prepaid...

.

Collecting interests

Stone collected and studied United States revenue stamps, and, at the same time, accumulated a large library consisting mostly of philatelic literature related to revenue stamps. He assisted his fellow philatelist William Reynolds Ricketts

William Reynolds Ricketts

William Reynolds Ricketts , of Forty Fort, Pennsylvania, was a philatelist who created the largest index of philatelic literature available during his lifetime. He was considered as the “greatest philatelic indexer of all time.” Ricketts was the son of R...

 in the preparation of Ricketts’ famous index of philatelic literature.

Philatelic activity

Stone helped found the American Philatelic Association, which later became the American Philatelic Society

American Philatelic Society

The American Philatelic Society is the largest nonprofit stamp collecting and organization of philately in the world, with almost 44,000 members from 110 countries...

, and he continued to support the organization his entire philatelic career.

Legacy

Stone’s collection of revenue stamp philatelic literature was sold in 1939 to George Townsend Turner

George Townsend Turner

George Townsend Turner , of Washington, D.C., was considered a leading philatelic bibliophile of his era, amassing a very large body of philatelic literature over his lifetime.-Collecting interests:...

, who later donated it to the Smithsonian Institution

Smithsonian Institution

The Smithsonian Institution is an educational and research institute and associated museum complex, administered and funded by the government of the United States and by funds from its endowment, contributions, and profits from its retail operations, concessions, licensing activities, and magazines...

 where it now resides in the National Postal Museum

National Postal Museum

The National Postal Museum, located opposite Union Station in Washington, D.C., USA, was established through joint agreement between the United States Postal Service and the Smithsonian Institution and opened in 1993. The museum is located across the street from Union Station, in the building that...

 in Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....