Now in our 92nd year, the club is in the enviable position of being able to plan the program far enough to publish a printed schedule for distribution to members and friends. Programs cover a wide range of subjects of general interest, and those who attend the meetings will be well rewarded.

Of the four clubs once in the Greater Albany area — itself, the Women’s Seal & Stamp Club of Albany, the Schenectady Stamp Club, and the Uncle Sam Stamp Club of Troy, Fort Orange is the sole survivor. The Schenectady and Uncle Sam clubs disbanded in the spring of 2014 following several years of declining membership. Many members of the former clubs joined Fort Orange.

The club was incorporated into the Fort Orange Stamp Club in 2004 at the request of Vera Bunkhof.This club was founded May 7, 1936 by Mrs. George J. Skinner and Mrs. William Weigmann, as a club where women stamp collectors could get together to enjoy their hobby, as membership in nearly all of the organized stamp clubs of that time was restricted to men only. The club continued over the years and remained primarily a club where women collectors could meet to discuss their philatelic interests before the merger with the Fort Orange club.

The Uncle Sam Stamp Club, formerly the Troy Stamp Club, was founded in 1944.Its roots go back to 1943 when a small group interested in coins and stamps started meeting about once a month in a coin shop owned by Charles French. In October 1944 the group officially organized under the name of the Troy Coin and Stamp Club and began to meet at the Troy YMCA.

In 1947 it affiliated with the American Philatelic Society as Chapter No. 240. In 1966 the bylaws were amended to eliminate the word coin and the organization became the Troy Stamp Club. In 1986 then vice president Biff Owen, made a motion to change the name to the Uncle Sam Stamp Club, as Troy is where provisioner Sam Wilson became known as Uncle Sam.

The club was active in creating covers to commemorate local and national special events. These included covers for inductees into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, Elvis Presley, Marilyn Monroe, and James Dean. It also created covers for Troy’s annual Uncle Sam Day Parade and Victorian Stroll held in. In 1959, Governor Nelson Rockefeller signed a proclamation making September 13 Uncle Sam Day in the State of New York.

A small item appeared in the December 10, 1930, issue of the former Schenectady Union-Star: “Stamp collectors will meet tonight at 8 o’clock at 254 State St. to organize a club which will include members from the county as well as the city.” It was noted that “it is believed there will be a large membership as there are many enthusiasts in the section ... Promoters emphasize that juniors are not to be included in the organization.”Nine men were present for the organizational meeting. The Alling Rubber Company, where the initial meeting was held, would be the site for future meetings. Later, meetings also would be held at the YMCA. Finally, the Schenectady Chamber of Commerce provided a room in its building for use by the club, which had attained a membership of fifty four within about a year. During its initial year the club held its first exhibit in the Schenectady County Historical Society building on lower Union Street. In August 1931, the stamp club, together with the Schenectady Chamber of Commerce, sponsored a cachet celebrating the Centenary of Steam Railroading. There were about fifteen hundred covers prepared.

The club celebrated its seventy-fifth anniversary with a pictorial cancel on December 10, 2006, at the Schenectady County Historical Society.

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