Several dozen people, most of them in later life, were recently asked if any of them collected stamps. Of that number not a single person does.

Had you asked the same question in the 1930s and 1940s, many adults middle-aged and older would have been proud to identify themselves as stamp collectors. After all, Franklin D. Roosevelt, the American president during much of that era, led the way. He was famous for this hobby, as many newspaper photos of the time attest.

In those days, children galore were engaged in that same activity. As hobbies among America’s youth, stamps ranked right up there with model airplane building and doll collecting.

Now, like their elders, children no longer fill scrapbooks with stamps from around the world. Stamps have lost their hold on the imaginations of young people who let them get thrown away with most of the mail that comes into their house.

But when you hear about the history of stamps, they can still fascinate you. That has been my experience listening to Henry Lukas, the education director at the Spellman Museum of Stamps and Postal History.

On a recent visit to the museum, I profited from the wide-ranging knowledge that my friend Henry shared with me. He showed me how an interest in stamps can lead to learning more about science, art, and history.

Located on the grounds of Regis College in Weston, the museum provides a home for the impressive collection of Cardinal Francis Spellman, the late archbishop of New York. It also serves as a resource for both children and adults who take an interest in the multi-faceted lore that lies behind stamps.

What is the only country in the world not to print its name on the stamps it issues? Why, Great Britain, of course, which contents itself with the image of the reigning queen or king.

This same country is where adhesive stamps were invented. In 1840, the British Parliament approved the Penny Post, a system devised by a man named Rowland Hill. Thereafter, letters were affixed with small squares of glued paper  ─  an improvement on the prior system in which letters always C.O.D.

This historical fact came as a surprise to me; I would have expected this invention to have come much earlier in history. But it happened only some 90 years before my birth.

In 1847, the United States put Benjamin Franklin on the face of its first stamp, one worth five cents.  He deserved it, if only for having served as first postmaster general.

Ultimately, all the U.S. presidents have gained this distinction, though only after they have died. Incidentally, the face of the current president, George W. Bush, has already adorned a stamp ─ one issued by Albania!

It must say something about America’s cultural values that the most popular stamp ever issued was one bearing the image of Elvis Presley.

The recent democratization that has allowed us ordinary Americans to make our own stamps ranks as quite amazing. On my desk I am looking at three sample stamps: a bride and bridegroom with the legend “Just Married;” a wide-eyed young baby looking ahead with wonder; and a bewildered dog.

These stamps, approved for use by the United States Postal Service, have been made by zazzle.com, using the digital photos sent them by ordinary citizens. No such stamp has come my way yet, but I look forward to receiving mail so crafted by friends (with the help of Zazzle.)

Early one recent morning I reached Norm Shufrin, an avid stamp fan, during his morning walk at a local mall. Though himself a resident of Framingham, he has been active with the Waltham Stamp Club since 1991. It currently boasts 85 members, most of them older people from surrounding cities and towns.

Norm is president of this stamp club, a group of people who find ongoing pleasure in stamps and all things connected with postage. He also serves as a trustee and volunteer at the Spellman Museum. In the latter role, he gives an impressive 600 hours a year to the museum.

To explain the fall-off in the numbers of young people interested in stamps Norm cites competition from other activities, most of them computer-related. But he sees the retirement stage of life as a time when some people who were collectors in childhood return to this activity.

Demanding some esthetic quality to our stamps strikes me as reasonable in an era when their cost keeps rising. My current favorite is “Take Me Out To The Ball Game,” a stamp that features an old-fashioned strong-armed mustachioed baseball player who looks ready to throw hard.

Some zealous stamp collectors of the future may be deceived into taking this particular stamp as a product of the 1890s ─ but who, in that era, could have imagined paying 42 cents for a small rectangle of glued paper?

Richard Griffin