The Public Representation of Schools in Philately

This work aims to investigate the contribution of philately to the public representation of school and key figures of the pedagogical and educational world. In particular, eighteen commemorative or celebratory stamps issued by the Italian Republic from 1954 to 2001 will be reviewed. The main purpose is to study not only the possible effects on the collective imagination, but also the official reasons that motivated the production of philatelic artifacts. The major sources will be the decrees published in the «Gazzetta Ufficiale» («Official Gazette») from which all the formal elements can be identified (size, value, colour, circulation, subject represented, text and series), and above all the Bollettini illustrativi (Illustrative Bulletins). These last sources – in lengthy texts signed by illustrious personalities (from the Minister of Education to eminent figures in culture and pedagogy, including the principals of the schools celebrated) – report the official reasons that inspired the creation of the stamp. By analysing the text it will be possible to see the gap between history and memories and the political nature of some biographical "re-interpretations". I refer, for example, to the commemorative stamp on occasion of the fiftieth anniversary of the death of Giovanni Gentile, issued in 1991, or the commemorative stamps of historical schools designed to magnify - together with the role played by these institutions at local and national level - the commitment historically made by the Italian State in the field of education. Until now, the philatelic sources were largely neglected by historical-educational studies, but if properly investigated they can open interesting and never-seen-before opportunities to understand the public representation of history, and in particular of the school and educational past.