Joy of Museums Virtual Tours

Virtual Tours of Museums, Art Galleries, and Historic Sites

National Postal Museum – Virtual Tour

National Postal Museum - Virtual Tour

National Postal Museum – Virtual Tour

The National Postal Museum houses the National Philatelic Collection. Also, it hosts many artifacts and displays about the history of the United States Postal Service and of mail services around the world.

The museum is located across the street from Union Station in the building that once served as the main post office of Washington, D.C., from 1914 to 1986. 

The United States Postal Service is an independent agency of the executive branch of the federal government responsible for providing postal service in the United States.

It is one of the few government agencies explicitly authorized by the United States Constitution.

The Service traces its roots to 1775 when Benjamin Franklin was appointed the first postmaster general. The Post Office Department was created in 1792 with the passage of the Postal Service Act.

The Postal Service is legally obligated to serve all Americans, regardless of geography, at uniform price and quality. The Post Office has exclusive access to letterboxes marked “U.S. Mail” and personal mailboxes in the United States.

Today, the United States Postal Service competes with private package delivery services, such as UPS, FedEx, and Amazon.

National Postal Museum - Virtual Tour

Mail-carrying U.S. Mail plane

Highlights of the National Postal Museum

  • Pony Express exhibits
  • Exhibit on Railroads and mail services
  • Exhibition on the growth in direct marketing mail
  • John Lennon’s childhood stamp collection
  • 1856 British Guiana One-Cent Magenta, the world’s most valuable stamp ~ $10 million
  • Mail-carrying stagecoach exhibit
  • Air-mail plane exhibit
  • Dead Letters exhibit
  • Mail Truck
  • Mailbox Exhibits
  • Historical Stamp Exhibits
  • National Postal Museum Archives

National Postal Museum - Virtual Tour

Mail-carrying stagecoach

National Postal Museum

National Postal Museum - Virtual Tour

John Lennon’s stamp collection

National Postal Museum Map

National Postal Museum – 360 Views

National Postal Museum – 360 Views

National Postal Museum – 360 Views

National Postal Museum – 360 Views

 

National Postal Museum – 360 Views

Virtual Tour of the National Museums of the United States

National Postal Museum

National Postal Museum

National Postal Museum

Virtual Tour of American Museums

National Postal Museum

National Postal Museum

National Postal Museum

~~~

“The post-office is a wonderful establishment!
The regularity and dispatch of it!
If one thinks of all that it has to do,
and all that it does so well,
it is really astonishing!”

– Jane Austen

~~~


Photo Credit: 'Matthew G. Bisanz / CC BY-SA (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0); Billy Hathorn / CC0; Philafrenzy / CC BY-SA (creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0)

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