In a room crowded with seven decades worth of memories, Rosemarie Close bustles back and forth, pulling albums off shelves and flipping through pages. From her first stamp album, created in 1963, to her most current 2005 collection, she has stamps that commemorate everything from statehood to storybook characters.

"I've got the history of the world," Close said. "It's unique and it's wonderful."

Close, 78, is a familiar face at the downtown Corvallis post office. She subscribes to a philatelic catalogue that gives her the exact date of each new stamp's release date, so she can go down to post office on the date they're issued.

"I know what's going to be issued before (the post office workers) do," she said with a delighted giggle.

In her earliest album, Close flipped through pages of 1 cent and 3 cent stamps, and collections of foreign stamps that friends gave her from around the world.

"I put all the information about stamps that you can get," she said, including newspaper articles about postal rate increases, or details about different stamp series.

Close works seven days a week, but takes time in the mornings that the stamps are released to pick up her sheet. She doesn't discriminate about designs or themes.

"I take every single one," she said. In fact, since she started collecting, she believes she's only missed one edition.

She began collecting stamps when her son John took an interest in "philately" or the collection and study of postage stamps. As he grew up, John lost interest, but his mother kept on collecting.

She said she wishes she had more time to devote to stamps, which is just one of the things she collects. Spoons and photographs are two of her other favorite things.

"I don't travel, but my friends get me stamps or spoons (from other places)," she said.

While Close enjoys flipping through magazines to see which stamps are going to be released, she said she doesn't get too worked up when a new series is released.

"I've got so much to do I don't have time to get excited," she said.

United States Postal Service Supervisor Joe Donahue, who works in the downtown Corvallis branch, has been collecting stamps since he was 9 years old and living in England. There he started collecting British stamps, and he's been a stamp enthusiast ever since.

"I buy the commemoratives that come out every year," he said, "and I try to keep up on the definitives (regular issue stamps) that come out."

Donahue said it's getting a little more expensive to be a stamp collector. He estimates it costs about $45 a year to buy the entire year's collection of commemorative stamps.

For young and new collectors, Donahue suggests starting with a used stamp collection. Collectors can buy used, older edition stamps through stamp wholesalers or through catalogues or stamp clubs.

Donahue said it's the personal satisfaction of assembling a collection that keeps him interested in stamps. And being a postal employee doesn't exactly give him an edge on collecting.

"I personally don't have a lot of time," to complete his collection, he said, so like Rosemarie Close, he takes it one stamp at a time.

Glossary of Philatelic (stamp related) terms

Block: An unseparated group of stamps, at least two stamps high and two stamps wide.

Bogus: A completely fictitious, worthless "stamp" created only for sale to collectors.

Cancellation: A mark placed on a stamp by a postal authority to show that it has been used.

Commemorative: Stamps that honor anniversaries, important people or special events.

Definitives: Regular issues of postage stamps, usually sold over long periods of time.

First Day Cover: An envelope with a new stamp and cancellation showing the date the stamp was issued.

Freak: An abnormal variety of stamps occurring because of paper fold, over-inking, perforation as opposed to a continually appearing variety or a major error.

Pane: A full sheet of stamps as sold by a post office.

Philately: The collection and study of postage stamps and other postal materials.

Revenue stamps: Stamps not valid for postal use but issued for collecting taxes.

Topicals: Indicates a group of stamps with the same theme, for instance, space travel.

Unhinged: A stamp without hinge marks.

— Courtesy of the

United States Postal Service

To learn more

The Albany Stamp Club meets from 7:15-9:15 p.m. the second Thursday of the month at the Albany Senior Center, 489 Water Avenue W., September through June. For more information, call 752-1433.

ON THE NET: For more information on commemorative stamps, go to http://shop.usps.com