deltiologist

Deltiology (from Greek δελτίον, deltion, diminutive of δέλτος, deltos, "writing tablet, letter"; and -λογία, -logia) is the study and collection of postcards. The word originated in 1945 from the collaboration of Rendell Rhoades (1914–1976) of Ohio and colleagues at Ohio State University. A biographical sketch of Rhoades's life by his wife Nancy was provided to the Canadian Friends (Quaker) Historical Association in 1994. Rhoades had responded to a contest by editor Bob Hendricks in Post Card Collectors Magazine to create a more scholarly name for the hobby of postcard collecting. 'Philocartist' was a term used in the early 1900s, possibly coined by the noted early philatelist Fred Melville in his 1903 publication The A.B.C. of Stamp Collecting. In Vol. 3, No. 1, January 1945, the headlin...