Topical Reference Pages

Not only did America’s Post Office Department fund the nation’s commercial aviation industry, but from 1918-1927, the Department operated the nation’s airmail service. Postal officials hired pilots and mechanics, purchased airplanes and equipment, established aviation routes and led the nation into the commercial aviation age.

The Museum celebrates Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander history by providing online resources about the role of Asian and Pacific Americans in the postal service and philately.

The Museum celebrates the 1893 World’s Columbian Exposition and the story of Christopher Columbus’s journeys to the New World as told through the nation’s first commemorative stamps, the 1893 Columbians.

Every year Earth Day is celebrated globally on April 22 to raise awareness of the planet's health and to promote environmental education.

In celebration of French Language Day, the museum created this compilation of French language stories, collection objects and exhibitions that are available on the museum's website.

The Post Office Department inaugurated Highway Post Office (HPO) Service on February 10, 1941. This service was to be a mail distribution network comprised of rapid pick-up, sorting, and dispatch to key points en route between two principal terminal cities.

Find resources about holidays on the National Postal Museum's website.

In observance of Jazz Appreciation Month and International Jazz Day, the museum created this compilation of stories, exhibitions, and collection objects related to jazz that are available on the museum's website.

Find resources related to the literary arts on the National Postal Museum's website.

Find resources related to music and the performing arts on the National Postal Museum's website.

One of the most popular exhibits in the National Postal Museum is the story of Owney, the puppy who became the unofficial mascot of the Railway Mail Service in the late 19th century.

World Portuguese Language Day is celebrated every year on May 5 to celebrate the Portuguese language and Lusophone cultures. In celebration of Portuguese Language Day, the museum created this compilation of Portuguese language items that are available on the museum's website.

For more than a century, the core of America’s postal system was the Railway Mail Service. From its beginnings in the midst of the Civil War to its slow decline after World War II and the service’s last run in 1977, the history of America’s Railway Mail Service is one that was central to America’s postal history.

The United States Postal Service has issued semi-postal postage stamps which bear a higher-than-normal postage rate. The excess revenue is given to charity or some other cause.

Find stamp collecting resources on the museum's website.

Find resources about September 11 and the anthrax attacks of 2001 on the National Postal Museum's website.

In the heart of the Italian peninsula, nestled within the city of Rome, lies the world's smallest nation, Vatican City. It issued its first stamps on August 1, 1929. To celebrate the 80th anniversary of the birth of the Vatican City nation and its post office, the Smithsonian National Postal Museum has digitized its complete collection of Vatican stamps.

With millions of people deployed to the front, the number of letters, postcards, packages, and news exchanged rose substantially during World War I, 1914-1918. Social welfare organizations created opportunities, campaigns, and materials to encourage letter writing to sustain morale at home and at the front. Governments developed methods to control communication through censorship regulations and adapted logistical networks to move great quantities of mail.