Texas Philatelic Association

The Texas Philatelic Association, Inc. (TPA) was founded on November 13, 1896 in San Antonio, Texas. A committee on organizing a new association consisting of Edward W. Heusinger and others, met with a philatelic club established the same year and located in San Antonio, the Metropolitan Philatelic Club. At this meeting the articles of Association were adopted and Frederic Noyes as president, Edward W. Heusinger as secretary, and Emil Gerlich as treasurer were elected for temporary office. The first annual meeting took place the following year on April 21, 1897 in San Antonio.

At the 28th annual meeting in Houston, Texas, from April 20 through 21, 1924, the existing constitution and by-laws were revised and newly adopted stating the change of the society's status from Association to State Organization. On August 12, 1940, TPA incorporated for the first time under the laws of the State of Texas receiving Charter No. 79425. TPA developed into an umbrella organization for many other philatelic clubs and societies in Texas. The first chapter admitted was the Houston Stamp Collector's Club at the 45th convention held in Dallas, Texas, from May 9 through 10 in 1941. On August 31, 1966, the American Philatelic Society issued a certificate granting the Texas Philatelic Society its life membership with the Chapter number 38, with the official APS number being APS# 0632-049588.

The primary function of TPA is the encouragement of the collecting of stamps and the research of the history of postal service as well as the collection and distribution of philatelic materials and the financial assistance of authors and researchers through grants and scholarships. The latter are furthermore supported through the Texas Philatelic Association Foundation, Inc., that was established on August 4, 1975 with the charter number 305108. TPA is affiliated with the Southwest Philatelic Foundation, host of the TEXPEX shows and the Wineburgh Philatelic Research Library at The University of Texas at Dallas being the official archive of the association. Today, the TPA is a very active association that enjoys a large membership counting over five-hundred and it is the publisher of The Texas Philatelist, the association's bimonthly journal. In April of 2008, TPA is holding its 112th annual convention in Dallas, Texas.