After getting back into philately a few years ago, it didn’t take long for me to discover the Scandinavian Collectors Club (SCC), the premier stamp club for those of us who collect stamps from Nordic countries. Established originally as the Finnish Collectors Club, SCC has existed since the 1940s with numerous chapters.
To my surprise, and great delight, I found that the SCC Library (SCCL) is located within the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library, in Denver, CO. Given my proximity to Denver, this has become a tremendous resource for my philatelic research and writings. This past fall I had the honor of becoming part of the SCC Library Committee.
Over the decades, SCC has acquired volumes of books, catalogs, journals, and articles. However, these were in different locations and there was a desire to give this collection a permanent home. In 1997, then President of SCC, Roger Quinby, reached out to the Rocky Mountain Philatelic Library (RMPL) about the possibility of creating a permanent home for the SCC Library. The RMPL was founded in 1993 and had become the premier philatelic library in the Rocky Mountain region. There could be many win-win outcomes with such an arrangement. The SCCL would get a permanent home and access to volunteers from the local SCC Chapter. RMPL would gain the prestige of housing a major national society speciality-library. The central location would also be a benefit in terms of serving SCC members on both coasts.
Today, the SCCL has expanded to two rooms within the RMPL. SCCL librarian Roger Cichorz has been a major driving force behind the success of the library. His great organizational skills and countless hours (years) of cataloging and indexing titles has led to the fine library that it is today. I believe it is safe to say that the SCCL is home to the largest collection of Nordic philatelic literature in the US. You may check out a complete listing of all the books currently available on the SCC web site. As of this writing, all the catalogs and journals are also being added to our index.
You do not have to live close to Denver to take advantage of the SCC Library. SCC Members can request to borrow from the library and have items sent to them. Items can be checked out for two months at a time.
SCCL holds semi-annual auctions. With all the donations, the library often ends up with duplicates and triplicates. Those, along with philatelic materials, are offered to members during these auctions, which are organized by Roger Cichorz.
The SCC Library’s holdings include:
- Over 2,000 books primarily related to Scandinavian and Nordic countries, including Denmark, Sweden, Norway, Greenland, Iceland, Faroe Islands, Åland, and Danish West Indies.
- Several thousand philatelic periodicals from 65 journals, of which 20 are still active.
- Four hundred plus philatelic auction catalogs
- 500 plus philatelic exhibitions and show catalogs.
- 400 plus stamp catalogs, including extended runs of FACIT, Norgeskatalogen, AFA, and more
If you collect stamps from any of the Nordic countries and are not already a member of SCC and take advantage of the SCC Library, I strongly urge you to take advantage of this tremendous philatelic resource.