Washington, DC

I know, long title to today’s topic, but it sounded more interesting than just writing that today’s topic is the National Postal Museum. Anyways, this Smithsonian Museum is located right across the street from Union Station (on the Red Line for those unfamiliar with the D.C. Metro system). As someone who has collected stamps since I was a baby (well, my parents started it and then I continued), has competed in a junior stamp exhibit competition, and volunteered at a local postal history museum visiting the National Postal Museum has always been one of my favorite museums. The only museum I like better in D.C. is the National Museum of American History, which is currently closed until this summer.

My favorite of the permanent exhibits is the Binding the Nation exhibit. This exhibit tells the history of the beginning of the United States postal service and the expansion of the postal service as the United States expanded West. I especially enjoy the Pony Express part of the exhibit where they have a movie that plays of a guy acting as a Pony Express rider and reminiscing about his experience of the Good Old Days.

Other permanent exhibits include Customers and Communities with its very interactive exhibit called What’s in the Mail for You!, http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/exhibits/2c_moving.html with its display of different methods the mail has been transported via including a rail car, and the Philatelic Galleries with rare stamps and stamps from around the world on display.

There are currently two main temporary exhibits on display. One is Rarity Revealed: The Benjamin K. Miller Collection, which is currently displaying the second half of the collection with stamps from 1894 to the 1920s. This collection is interesting with its showing of early coil stamps. It is on display until January 12, 2009.

The other temporary exhibit currently on display is Trailblazers and Trendsetters: Art of the Stamp. This is on display until June 2, 2008. I found this to be a very fun exhibit to browse and was also amazed that so few of the visitors on this busy Saturday came into this exhibit and those that did only quickly went through in 5 minutes. The joy of this exhibit is not just seeing the art of the stamps in a larger version, but also that each art piece was shown with its stamp and had a great blurb that explained the significance of the art. There was also signs explaining the process of how art is selected for stamps, which were interesting to read and learn that the art for the stamps are usually commissioned after a committee decides what it wants the stamp themes to be.

Top 5 Things I Did in D.C. in 2007

National Postal Museum, postal, stamps, collecting, D.C., art