goSmithsonian - June 2008 - (Page 56)

THE BASICS HOURS: 10 to 5:30; closed December 25. ADDRESS: 2 Massachusetts Avenue at 1st Street, NE PHONE: 202.633.1000 (voice/tape) 202.633.5285 (TTY) WEB: www.postalmuseum.si.edu METRO: ● Union Station National Postal Museum Located on Capitol Hill next to Union Station, the National Postal Museum is housed in a Beaux Arts-style building designed by Daniel Burnham. From 1914 to 1986, the building was the Washington City Post Office. HIGHLIGHTS In “Moving the Mail,” see how a letter gets delivered to places like the bottom of the Grand Canyon and how early airplane pilots found their way cross-country in the dark. Learn the story of the stray dog, Owney, who became the mascot of the Railway Mail Service. Traveling thousands of rail miles, Owney was adopted, fed and cared for by postal workers along the route. A bronze sculpture of the peripatetic pup is located near the atrium. Just off the atrium, view three early mail-carrying airplanes: a 1936 Stinson Reliant, a 1919 de Havilland DH-4B and a 1911 WisemanCooke biplane. “Postal Inspectors: The Silent Service” spotlights one of the oldest federal law enforcement agencies and its role in fighting crime from the earliest days of our nation to today. “Victory Mail” showcases the museum’s collection of World War II V-mail correspondence. M metro ® (RED LINE) In 1918, 100 stamps showing an upside down Curtiss JN-4 Jenny went into circulation—an embarrassing error. Today, the Inverted Jenny is a collector’s item. See one in the “Rarities Vault of the Philatelic Galleries” on the Atrium level. NEW SHOW: “Alphabetilately” (opens Sept. 26) Twenty-six letters tell the story of stamp collecting and mail delivery in celebration of the museum’s 15th anniversary. Test your postal knowledge: did you know that from Sept. 16, 1940, when America’s first peacetime draft became law, to Sept. 2, 1945, after the unconditional surrender of Japan, the Post Office Department issued close to 52 billion firstclass and airmail postage stamps? That amounts to almost 20,000 stamps produced per minute. An alphabet soup of fun facts about the history of the postal service and U.S. stamps debuts at a new exhibition opening Sept. 26. 56 www.goSmithsonian.com MICHAEL OSBORNE Study philately and postal operations and see some of the rarest of U.S. postage stamps at www.arago.si.edu http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu http://www.arago.si.edu http://www.goSmithsonian.com

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of goSmithsonian - June 2008

goSmithsonian - June 2008 Contents Visitor Information Smithsonian Institution Building—The Castle The S. Dillon Ripley International Gallery Dining Guide Donald W. Reynolds Center Smithsonian American Art Museum National Portrait Gallery National Air and Space Museum The National Air and Space Museum’s Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center Discovery Theater, SITES, Folklife Festival and more National Museum of American History Map of the National Mall National Museum of Natural History National Museum of the American Indian Arthur M. Sackler Gallery/Asian Art Freer Gallery of Art/Asian and American Art Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden/Contemporary and Modern Art National Museum of African Art Renwick Gallery/American Art National Postal Museum Anacostia Community Museum National Zoological Park

goSmithsonian - June 2008

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