National Postal Museum Gets Our Stamp of Approval
A museum dedicated to the nation's largest group of public servants? We LOVE this place!
It's the National Postal Museum, located in the historic City Post Office building next to Union Station in Washington. The building--constructed in 1914-- served as the DC post office from 1914 through 1986. The Museum was created by an agreement between the Smithsonian Institution and the United States Postal Service in 1990 and opened to the public in 1993. Although it's one of the smallest and least known museums in the Smithsonian family, it's worth a visit—especially for young Feds looking to learn a thing or two at lunch time, (it's close to dozens of federal office buildings). It's also a great place to bring out-of-town visitors who think they've “seen everything” in DC!
Sorry, we can't help but say it: This museum really delivers... it's a letter perfect destination! Visitors enter the Museum through an elegant lobby of the building (the old Post Office) and proceed to escalators that transport them down to the floor level of the Museum's 90-foot-high atrium. The atrium, which features three suspended airmail planes, is one of five exhibit galleries that tell the story of postal history in America .
The history of the National Postal Museum is equally interesting: The National Philatelic Collection was established at the Smithsonian in 1886 with the donation of a sheet of
10-cent Confederate postage stamps. Gifts from individuals and foreign governments, transfers from government agencies and occasional purchases have increased the collection to today's total of more than 5.9 million items!
From 1908 until 1963, this mega stamp collection was housed in the Smithsonian's Arts and Industries Building on the National Mall. In 1964, the collection was moved to the museum that is now known as the National Museum of American History. There, the collection expanded to include postal history and stamp production. The collection was then moved to its present location and the National Postal Museum opened on July 30, 1993.
In addition to one of the world's largest collections of stamps and philatelic materials, (the poet W.B. Yeats once said that the artwork on postage stamps are the “silent ambassadors on national taste”) the National Postal Museum has postal history material that pre-dates stamps, vehicles used to transport the mail, mailboxes and mailbags, postal uniforms and equipment.
What's cool? Most popular permanent exhibits include: Binding the Nation, devoted to the early history of mail service from pre-Revolutionary America through the end of the 19 th century; Customers and Communities, a series of exhibits that looks at the evolution of mail delivery to vastly expanding urban and rural populations in the 20th century; the Art of Cards and Letters , which spotlights the important role mail has held as a medium for personal communications; and the Philatelic Gallery which hosts rotating exhibits on a variety of “stamptastic” topics.
And there's always a fascinating temporary exhibit that's worth a special trip. Until October, 2007, Trailblazers & Trendsetters: Art of the Stamp is on display... it showcases original artwork commissioned by the US Postal Service for stamps, “our nation's calling cards.” The exhibit rivals any art gallery in town.
We also love the online exhibits, especially John Lennon: The Lost Album, which showcases the famous Beatle's love of stamp collecting, and Mail to the Chief, that explores FDR's life-long interest in stamps. Who knew?
The Museum is open seven days a week (except Christmas) from 10:00 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. It also houses a 6,000-square-foot research library, a stamp store and a museum shop.
