Topical, or thematic, stamp collecting is the fastest-growing arm of the stamp-collecting hobby today. The American Topical Association serves members in 90 countries. It is the largest philatelic society devoted to a specific phase of stamp collecting. Organized in 1949, ATA has over 50 years of service to its members.

Study units are a large part of ATA with the first unit chartered when ATA was only a year old. Today there are over 50 study units chartered with ATA, with topics as diverse as lighthouses, wine, Churchill and women on stamps.

While members of a particular ATA Study Unit may be spread out geographically, they all have more or less the same collecting topic. ATA Chapters are the corollary, where members with varied collecting interests live in the same area. There are over 40 ATA chapters around the United States and the rest of the world.

ATA members receive a bi-monthly journal, "Topical Time," can attend the annual convention (now part of the National Stamp Show) and have a broad array of services available to them. For more information e-mail americantopical@msn.com or visit the website:

http://www.americantopicalassn.org