Collector teaches culture through stamps BY TOM CAIAZZA Staff Writer EDISON - Philately is a word few will ever come across, but for Wanda Garbett it has become a window to the past. The word, which literally means "freedom from charges," has ensnared Garbett, but it is better known under its unofficial title - stamp collecting. Garbett collects African American stamps - domestic and international. She collects them and learns from them and has begun showcasing her love of all things philately, so that others may learn. "I am trying to educate African Americans and also non-African Americans about stamp collecting," Garbett said, "and also about African American culture." The Edison native has spent seven years indulging her philatelic side ever since reading an article in Vi Services, an African American newsletter, that urged African Americans to take up the hobby. Garbett, who has sat on the African American Heritage Festival committee for 19 of its 20-year existence, found a desire to learn the system of stamp collecting and be able to apply African American history and culture to it. Her collection, 40 pieces of which are being exhibited at the Monmouth Museum at Brookdale Community College in Middletown this month, began with two towering figures in the black community - Malcolm X and the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. While differing in approach, Garbett feels the two men made large contributions to the civil rights movement and African Americans in this country. "I was eager to get his [Malcolm X] stamp because he played such an important role in the African American community," Garbett said. Since then, her collection has blossomed, and so has Garbett. She now exhibits her collection throughout the state, starting with a stint at the African American Museum of South Jersey and now at the Nilson Gallery of the Monmouth Museum at Brookdale. It is a road that she did not think she would travel when she began seven years ago. She has had help along the way, mostly from those affiliated with philately or African American culture. She credits Prescott Butler of the United States Postal Service, and Ralph Hunter, owner of the African American Museum of South Jersey, as co-conspirators in her exhibitions. "I had the ideas, but I didn't know how to market my products," Garbett said. It was Butler who showed her how to do that, but Hunter was the one who convinced her to showcase them for everyone. "He encouraged me to take the collection out on the road," Garbett said, "and I never looked back." She also thanked Avis Anderson of the Monmouth Museum for petitioning on her behalf and getting her a slot at the Nielsen Gallery. "If it wasn't for her this wouldn't be happening," Garbett said. Wanda Garbett sees herself as a storyteller, or at least, someone who brings the stories to the masses. Each piece she has collected has significance, not just to her, but to all cultures. "Every time a stamp is made, there is a story to tell about that African American," Garbett said. "My responsibility is to get the word out, let African Americans know there are educational hobbies that you can learn. Myself, my associates and stamp organizations can show you how to do this."