To celebrate the announcements of the 2009 Nobel Prizes, the National Postal Museum through its award winning virtual museum has created an online exhibit highlighting this year's winners and their accomplishments. The exhibit also showcases previous winners of the different Nobel Prizes who have been honored on U.S. postage stamps.

On Friday, September 18th, the National Postal Museum held its first ever annual member event where members of the museum were invited to an after-hours curator talk and cocktail reception.

A loud rendition of the ABC’s rang out through the National Postal Museum today, signaling the unmistakable start of another great year of school tours.

Stamps shed their stuffy reputation this month as stamp fans around the country celebrate Stamp Collecting Month with style.

Since the certified plate proofs were too large to be scanned by equipment available at the National Postal Museum, we worked with National Geographic to get the job done.

Before 1863, packages were sent through private shipping companies and dropped off at the nearest depot where customers then had to go out and pick them up. The United States Postal Act passed on February 27, 1861 allowed packages weighing less than four pounds to be sent by mail directly to the consumer. It was followed by the Postal Act passed on March 3, 1863, which set up a system of classification and standard rates for mailed items.

In the midst of the Cold War, Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield approached the Secretaries of Defense and the Navy with the idea of test firing a mail-carrying missile.

On September 23, 1846, Astronomer Johann Galle pinpointed the planet Neptune through a telescope at the Berlin Observatory in 1846. To celebrate this event, the National Postal Museum has created a mini-exhibit highlighting different postage stamps with connections to the Planet Neptune and the timeline of its discovery.

The volunteer team is a diverse group of people, including philatelists, history buffs, and the children of US Postal Service employees, as well as Capitol Hill neighbors, museum buffs, and people who just moved to the area.

Mr. ZIP just moved into a new house! Mr. ZIP’s previous living quarters were less than perfect. He was elevated off the floor with a Tyvek (a high density polyethylene fiber) sheet draped over his head in a haphazard fashion.