NEW HEADQUARTERS Philatelic Society opens refurbished building

Collectors gave it their stamp of approval.
BELLEFONTE, Pa. (AP) -- Hundreds of curious visitors and enthusiastic stamp collectors turned out over the weekend as the American Philatelic Society opened its new headquarters.
The American Philatelic Society, founded in 1886, is the largest nonprofit society in the world for stamp collectors. It has roughly 50,000 members from more than 110 countries.
Most of the society's employees were at the official opening Saturday to give tours of the refurbished building, which boasts conference rooms, an exhibition hall, office space and a library that has space to hold about 9,000 linear feet of books.
The opening festivities, including gazebo concerts, trolley rides and a stamp show, continued Sunday.
"I was impressed (at Saturday's dedication), talking to people from all over. I talked to people that came from Texas and Tennessee. They just thought it was a beautiful setting, and it's great to hear that, because we might take it for granted," said Jean Gerber, executive director of the Bellefonte Intervalley Area Chamber of Commerce.
The site
The new headquarters are at the Match Factory, built in 1899 by the Pennsylvania Match Co., which occupied the complex until being shut down in 1947.
Gini Horn, director of library services for the stamp society, said Bellefonte, about 10 miles outside State College in Centre County, was one of the original stops in the early days of transcontinental airmail, making it an attractive choice for stamp collectors.
"Philatelists tend to be involved in history. There's a lot of history in stamp collecting. It's a good match, no pun intended, for us," Horn said.