Past Exhibitions

Looks at the legend and the reality of one of America's most famous mail delivery services.

Learn more

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum is pleased and proud to host the official North American celebration of The Royal Philatelic Society London’s 150th anniversary from October 17 –20, 2019. The special theme of the program is the 1939 state visit of King George VI and Queen Elizabeth to Washington, D.C., which began next door to the Museum at Union Station. The royal visit marked the only time the world’s two most famous stamp collectors—The King and President Franklin Delano Roosevelt—met face-to-face. In the same way, eighty years later, the Smithsonian and RPSL will bring together some of the world’s leading philatelists for three days of activities. The exhibition will include displays of Empire and Commonwealth treasures and royal autographs from the National Postal Museum’s collection, as well as a non-competitive exhibition of single-frame exhibits by RPSL’s North American members. The exhibition will be open to the public on Friday and Saturday, affording visitors a deeper understanding of the range of material collected and studied by RPSL’s North American members.

Learn more

May 15, 2018 marks the 100th anniversary of the world’s first regularly scheduled airmail service. President Wilson was on hand in Washington, DC to watch the historic take off. At first the service only operated between Washington, Philadelphia and New York. By 1920, airmail raced from New York to San Francisco. It was dangerous work. More than 30 pilots died doing their best to fly the mail. Americans recognized the bravery of these Postmen of the Skies, treating them as heroes. In 1927 the Post Office handed off the last of its routes to private contractors, paving the way for what became the nation’s commercial aviation system.

Learn more

This exhibit explores the extraordinary life of Alexander Hamilton (1755-1804) through original mail sent and signed by him in his role as the first Secretary of the Treasury and through portraits of him and his contemporaries on postage and revenue stamps. The experience is augmented by in-gallery interactives and educational programming, all coinciding with the Washington dates of the national touring version of “Hamilton: An American Musical.”

Learn more

Through personal correspondence written on the frontlines and home front, this centennial exhibition uncovers the history of America’s involvement in World War I. The compelling selection of letters illuminates emotions and thoughts engendered by the war that brought America onto the world stage; raised complex questions about gender, race and ethnic relations; and ushered in the modern era. Included are previously unpublished letters by General John Pershing, the general who led the American Expeditionary Forces and a person who understood the power of the medium. In his postwar letter that begins “My fellow soldiers,” he recognized each individual under his command for bravery and service. My Fellow Soldiers: Letters from World War I was created by the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum in collaboration with the Center for American War Letters at Chapman University.

Learn more

Our museum actively collects objects that help tell stories about the postal service, the mail, and philately. Our curators seek out objects that have significant histories; objects that are rare or unique; or objects that reflect trends and customs. We invite you to peek behind the scenes to see how some of our recent acquisitions came to our museum. The objects selected for this exhibition were just a few of many items our museum added to the collection between 2012 and 2016, including: the marketing characters Mr. and Mrs. ZIP, postal workers’ uniforms and equipment, and decorative boxes for postage stamps.

In 1892 St. Louis, Missouri added specially-outfitted cars to their trolleys. The service sped up mail deliveries across the city and onto trains headed out of town. By 1908 there were mail trolleys in Brooklyn, Boston, Chicago, Cincinnati, New York, Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., San Francisco, Rochester, Pittsburgh, Seattle and Cleveland. While the trolleys were a great success, their life span was relatively short. Technological advances – underground pneumatic tubes and trucks would make the mail trolleys obsolete. Most cities had stopped using them by 1919. Baltimore’s mail trolleys held on until 1929, finally succumbing to trucks that could carry more mail and move freely through city streets.

Learn more

In 2013, President Obama signed an executive order combating wildlife trafficking in the US. To highlight this effort, a pan institutional team at the Smithsonian Institution created a traveling exhibition that would highlight the effects of wildlife trafficking and the ivory trade on elephant populations. As part of this team, the National Postal Museum hosted the exhibition along with a feature on the Saving Vanishing Species semipostal stamp, which raises funds for wildlife conservation, as well as several stamps showing the issues of elephant ivory poaching and wildlife trafficking.

Learn more

A chronicle of the African American experience told from the perspective of stamps and mail. Includes letters carried by enslaved Americans, mail to and from famous leaders of the civil rights movement, and a significant selection of original artwork for the USPS Black Heritage stamp series from the Postmaster General’s Collection.

Learn more

This exhibition looked at the relationship of China and the U.S. through the study of stamps and mail.

Learn more

Today about 2,000 postal inspectors are at work across the United States investigating crimes against the mail. Learn more about the inspectors and their job in this exhibit.

Learn more

As the largest, fastest, and most glamorous ships of their eras, Hindenburg and Titanic share many similarities. As anniversaries of the disasters are marked in 2012—seventy-five years since Hindenburg burned and a century since Titanic sank—many questions remain unanswered. Original objects include mail, postcards, menus, photographs, keys from the Titanic post office, and the salvaged postmark device from the Hindenburg.

Learn more