Malcolm Groom took pages from recognized Social philately exhibits of the Newcastle & District postal services and the ANZAC Legend and demonstrated the scope of material that add depth to the story and the range of material which could be adapted as relevant to the subject if treated as a postal history exhibit. This material included post office forms, postcards illustrating ships which carried the troops and mails as well as the contents of letters.

Leo De Clercq concluded by showing illustrative material used in his collections of Shipping on the Atlantic and Postal History of Antwerp. These pages featured contemporary illustrations of the relevant ships and old maps explaining the routes of the postal services of Antwerp. Some of his illustrated envelopes are very attractive indeed and remind us how the world has changed.

The important points that arose during the discussion from the speakers and the audience were that:

Care must be taken with the proportion of the total exhibit made up of illustrative material. It was given as a guideline that up to three such items using three half pages per frame were a good balance (being less than 10%)

The material must be relevant to the subject covered by that section of the exhibit

The acceptance of illustrative material was linked to the interpretation of  "strictly  necessary"  and  our President made it clear that illustrative material is necessary to make our postal history exhibits more understandable and interesting to the viewer

There is a need for an education programme for all postal history judges to ensure a more accommodating interpretation of Article 3.2 Examples of pages using appropriate illustrative material should be gathered and used through a publication to guide postal history judges and exhibitors in their acceptance and use of illustrative material

By way of clarification it was also explained that the rules for Social philately  were  more  accepting of illustrative material and had a wider definition of acceptable material than allowed in a postal history exhibit.

After our successful meetings in Seoul and Amsterdam time has come to prepare our suggestions e.g. propositions for the 2004 Congress.

In order to procure new and younger enthusiasts to collect postal history, four points were concluded bv the Commission  bureau  proposing slight adaptations to the rules. In addition to the mentioned meetings I was able on several sessions hold in philatelic societies,  to observe the reactions of the participants, among which were some jury members, I may say that, at all times, the response was very positive.

To bring the exhibits on a more comprehensive and attractive base, we must attach greater importance to Article3.2 of the Postal History SREV's stating "A postal history exhibit may contain, where strictly necessary, maps, prints, decrees and similar associated materials. Such items must have direct relation to the chosen subject and to the postal service described in the exhibit".

This proposal needs no change of the regulations. However article 3.2. needs further explanation.

The illustrative material should not be chosen the way it is done in the open class, as in this case it is used in relation to the title. In postal history the illustration should be in close relation to the postal item or the marking. It was concluded that  illustrative  material  should be shown only on maximum three places per frame. We notice more often that in many exhibits at least three half pages are disposable. Since years some exhibitors have brought illustrative material in their exhibits. If this point is not stated, many other exhibitors will be reluctant to show illustrated material.

A Postal History up to 1875 - pre UPU
B  Postal History 1876 - 1945
C  Postal History 1946 to date

At the 1875-1876 period, through the creation of the UPG and UPU, important changes in postal history took place in most of the countries. The 1945-1946 period with a flood of countries becoming independent, brought the world in a crucial turn and renewed the postal relations. Each collection should be situated in the period where they start.

This period division introduces a possibility to create separate sections in exhibitions. Thereby the period C (1946 to date) will become more important and less underestimated. In every jury team we need for this period one or more specialised member. Colleague jurors can learn from them and become all-round jurors at last.

The actual different point systems are to complicate or to unintelligible for many collectors and visitors. Other scales have been proposed for the new classes. If we try to make the system understandable for everyone we must ascertain the exhibitors that other than the presentation, one third of the points are designated to three more base criteria
 

1/3 for treatment	30	.
1/3 for knowledge	30	.
1/3 for the material	30	.
Presentation	10	.
Total	100	.

Most  jury  members  obviously regret that actually only 5 points arc reserved for presentation. An attractive presentation of an exhibit is so important that jurors often intend to grant half points. This slight change solves the problem. Even more, outsiders can understand and get now a better view on the point system. Each of the criteria of 30 points can again be split up in different parts: plan and treatment, knowledge and research, and (material) quality and rarity. 
 

Both kinds have been discussed fore several years. In Australia and New Zealand "Social Philately" is a famous class. In several other countries it is a promoted class, but never a world-wide clear view is given on the subject. Some regulations have been published in "Flash". Same story for Special Studies: a great deal of supporters is to be found in the USA and also regulations have been drawn up.

We also notice new exhibit genres during the past years coming up: Open Class, One Frame, etc. but in the maine time the important and interesting branches were forgotten. Still they have close connections with postal historical material and, instead of leaving this out, it seems appropriate to take them both as a third part into the postal history class:

1  Postal History
2  Marcophily
3  Social Historical and Special Studies

Should we open the door for the use of limited illustrative material in postal history, this would automatically bring an higher percent of application in the third group. Several international jury members have judged collections of this group. It is necessary to include in each jury one or more specialised members.