The Spellman Museum was founded in 1961 to house and share the collection of Cardinal Francis Spellman. In 1950, he wrote a sentiment by which the museum continues to operate, “Stamps are miniature documents of human history. They are the means by which a country gives sensible expression to its hopes and needs; its beliefs and ideals.”
Cardinal Spellman had been introduced to wonderful world of stamps by seminarian Lawrence Killian while they were together at the North American College in Rome, Italy. Cardinal Spellman loved to use stamps as souvenirs, having them signed to commemorate church and world events. During his years in Europe, he shipped packages of stamps he collected to Sister Fidelma Conway, CSJ, his Regis College colleague, in order to keep them safe. With the size of his collection larger than could housed at Regis, a new building was required. Concurrent with this need, assets from the recently-dissolved National Philatelic Museum in Philadelphia were also transferred to the newly incorporated, independent and self-supporting Cardinal Spellman Philatelic Museum.
Ground for the Cardinal Spellman Philatelic Museum was broken on the campus of Regis College in March 1962. It officially opened on May 4, 1963, with Sister Fidelma becoming the museum’s executive director. In 2020, the museum rebranded to Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History.
Cover of the dedication program for the opening of the Cardinal Spellman Philatelic Museum