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.

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

Mail-carrying stagecoach

National Postal Museum

Museum: National Postal Museum
City: Washington, D.C.
Country: United States
Opened: 1993
Type: Specialist Museum
Category: National Museum of the United States
Location: Postal Square Building, Washington, D.C.

John Lennon’s stamp collection

National Postal Museum Map

National Postal Museum – 360 Views

National Postal Museum – 360 Views

Virtual Tour of the National Museums of the United States

National Postal Museum

Virtual Tour of American Museums

National Postal Museum

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“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

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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)