Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
National Postal Museum Events
Public programs and events at the National Postal Museum.
Upcoming events
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Story Time
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Stamp your calendar for Story Time! Join us every week for a fresh story, a stroll through the Museum, hands-on postal play, and more. Together, we’ll explore mail and all the ways it connects us to people, places, and big ideas. Stop by anytime—whether you stay for one activity or the whole session, this program will get everyone’s “stamp of approval”. Meet in the Museum Lobby. If there are services or accommodations that can improve your experience (e.g., ASL interpretation, etc.), please contact [email protected]; 1–2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Dead Letter Office: Gallery Experience
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Could you be a postal clerk? In this activity, a volunteer challenges you to sort mail, deciding which letters will be delivered and which would be sent to the Dead Letter Office. Complete the challenge and leave with a prize!
Routes to a Nation Gallery Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
How did a collection of scattered colonies become a nation? Join one of the National Postal Museum's curators for a gallery tour exploring the communication networks that connected Americans during the colonial period and early republic. Learn about Benjamin Franklin's nearly forty-year postal career; how American revolutionaries challenged the royal postal system and established their own; and how merchants used transatlantic correspondence to participate in global commerce. Based on the new NPM book, Routes to a Nation, recently published by Smithsonian Books, this interactive tour highlights objects that reveal how mail shaped commerce, government, culture, and national identity. This 45-minute guided tour includes time for questions and discussion.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Story Time
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Stamp your calendar for Story Time! Join us every week for a fresh story, a stroll through the Museum, hands-on postal play, and more. Together, we’ll explore mail and all the ways it connects us to people, places, and big ideas. Stop by anytime—whether you stay for one activity or the whole session, this program will get everyone’s “stamp of approval”. Meet in the Museum Lobby. If there are services or accommodations that can improve your experience (e.g., ASL interpretation, etc.), please contact [email protected]; 1–2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45-minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Routes to a Nation Gallery Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
How did a collection of scattered colonies become a nation? Join one of the National Postal Museum's curators for a gallery tour exploring the communication networks that connected Americans during the colonial period and early republic. Learn about Benjamin Franklin's nearly forty-year postal career; how American revolutionaries challenged the royal postal system and established their own; and how merchants used transatlantic correspondence to participate in global commerce. Based on the new NPM book, Routes to a Nation, recently published by Smithsonian Books, this interactive tour highlights objects that reveal how mail shaped commerce, government, culture, and national identity. This 45-minute guided tour includes time for questions and discussion. Presenters: Lynn Heidelbaugh, Alison Bazylinski, Daniel Piazza (rotating).
Virtual Story Time
Join educators from the National Postal Museum for live, interactive story time. Designed for children ages 4-7, but all are welcome! Mondays at 11:00 (ET) National Postal Museum educators will read stories aloud and lead related activities in a Zoom meeting for children and their caregivers. Explore a range of postal-related topics and more! Sessions will be interactive and last approximately 45-60 minutes. Caregivers are expected to be present with children for the duration of the program.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour with the Postal Museum’s Director or Deputy Director
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
On this extra special tour with the Postal Museum’s Director or Deputy Director, explore the wonders of our museum like never before! Meet at the Information Desk for an exclusive 45-minute tour.
Research Conversations: The Post Office and the Rise of Photography with Natalie Pellolio
Since the early decades of photography, practitioners have relied on a growing international postal system to send photographs, materials, and information about technological developments to recipients near and far. The official announcement of the invention of photography in 1839 occurred just six years before the landmark Postal Act of 1845, in which the United States Congress reduced postage rates to allow the mail to be, for the first time, an affordable form of communication for most Americans. Central to the history of photography though rarely discussed within it, the mail facilitated the production of photographs and proved a key agent in the evolution of the photograph from a singular and costly object to a reproducible and disseminable image. Natalie Pellolio is a Visiting Professor in the History of Art and Visual Culture department at California College of the Arts. She received her B.A. in Art History at Reed College in 2009 and her Ph.D. in Art & Art History at Stanford University in 2018. She has held positions at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Portland Art Museum, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, and the California Historical Society. She is currently completing a book manuscript about the intertwined histories of photography and the postal service and the impact of the mail on American photographic aesthetics.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Story Time
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Stamp your calendar for Story Time! Join us every week for a fresh story, a stroll through the Museum, hands-on postal play, and more. Together, we’ll explore mail and all the ways it connects us to people, places, and big ideas. Stop by anytime—whether you stay for one activity or the whole session, this program will get everyone’s “stamp of approval”. Meet in the Museum Lobby. If there are services or accommodations that can improve your experience (e.g., ASL interpretation, etc.), please contact [email protected]; 1–2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Dead Letter Office: Gallery Experience
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Could you be a postal clerk? In this activity, a volunteer challenges you to sort mail, deciding which letters will be delivered and which would be sent to the Dead Letter Office. Complete the challenge and leave with a prize!
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Story Time
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Stamp your calendar for Story Time! Join us every week for a fresh story, a stroll through the Museum, hands-on postal play, and more. Together, we’ll explore mail and all the ways it connects us to people, places, and big ideas. Stop by anytime—whether you stay for one activity or the whole session, this program will get everyone’s “stamp of approval”. Meet in the Museum Lobby. If there are services or accommodations that can improve your experience (e.g., ASL interpretation, etc.), please contact [email protected]; 1–2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45-minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Virtual Story Time
Join educators from the National Postal Museum for live, interactive story time. Designed for children ages 4-7, but all are welcome! Mondays at 11:00 (ET) National Postal Museum educators will read stories aloud and lead related activities in a Zoom meeting for children and their caregivers. Explore a range of postal-related topics and more! Sessions will be interactive and last approximately 45-60 minutes. Caregivers are expected to be present with children for the duration of the program.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
“Representations of America: USPS Art Directors on Stamp Design” - 23rd Maynard Sundman Lecture
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
What can we learn about America – its cultures, history, landscapes, treasures – from its postage stamps? What are the challenges and joys specific to designing postal materials? Join us in person or online as we discuss these questions, the stamps celebrating the country’s 250th anniversary, and more with USPS Art Directors Antonio Alcalá, Greg Breeding, and Ethel Kessler.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Story Time
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Stamp your calendar for Story Time! Join us every week for a fresh story, a stroll through the Museum, hands-on postal play, and more. Together, we’ll explore mail and all the ways it connects us to people, places, and big ideas. Stop by anytime—whether you stay for one activity or the whole session, this program will get everyone’s “stamp of approval”. Meet in the Museum Lobby. If there are services or accommodations that can improve your experience (e.g., ASL interpretation, etc.), please contact [email protected]; 1–2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Dead Letter Office: Gallery Experience
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Could you be a postal clerk? In this activity, a volunteer challenges you to sort mail, deciding which letters will be delivered and which would be sent to the Dead Letter Office. Complete the challenge and leave with a prize!
Routes to a Nation Gallery Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
How did a collection of scattered colonies become a nation? Join one of the National Postal Museum's curators for a gallery tour exploring the communication networks that connected Americans during the colonial period and early republic. Learn about Benjamin Franklin's nearly forty-year postal career; how American revolutionaries challenged the royal postal system and established their own; and how merchants used transatlantic correspondence to participate in global commerce. Based on the new NPM book, Routes to a Nation, recently published by Smithsonian Books, this interactive tour highlights objects that reveal how mail shaped commerce, government, culture, and national identity. This 45-minute guided tour includes time for questions and discussion.
The Fourteenth Winton M. Blount Postal History Symposium - Revisiting American Postal History
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
2026 marks 250 years since the signing of the Declaration of Independence. To mark the occasion, the Fourteenth Blount Postal History Symposium will reexamine key developments and stories of over two hundred and fifty years of American postal history and consider lesser-known stories and new lines of inquiry. Sponsored by American Philatelic Society, American Philatelic Research Library, and the Smithsonian National Postal Museum
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Story Time
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Stamp your calendar for Story Time! Join us every week for a fresh story, a stroll through the Museum, hands-on postal play, and more. Together, we’ll explore mail and all the ways it connects us to people, places, and big ideas. Stop by anytime—whether you stay for one activity or the whole session, this program will get everyone’s “stamp of approval”. Meet in the Museum Lobby. If there are services or accommodations that can improve your experience (e.g., ASL interpretation, etc.), please contact [email protected]; 1–2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45-minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Virtual Story Time
Join educators from the National Postal Museum for live, interactive story time. Designed for children ages 4-7, but all are welcome! Mondays at 11:00 (ET) National Postal Museum educators will read stories aloud and lead related activities in a Zoom meeting for children and their caregivers. Explore a range of postal-related topics and more! Sessions will be interactive and last approximately 45-60 minutes. Caregivers are expected to be present with children for the duration of the program.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour with the Postal Museum’s Director or Deputy Director
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
On this extra special tour with the Postal Museum’s Director or Deputy Director, explore the wonders of our museum like never before! Meet at the Information Desk for an exclusive 45-minute tour.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Story Time
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Stamp your calendar for Story Time! Join us every week for a fresh story, a stroll through the Museum, hands-on postal play, and more. Together, we’ll explore mail and all the ways it connects us to people, places, and big ideas. Stop by anytime—whether you stay for one activity or the whole session, this program will get everyone’s “stamp of approval”. Meet in the Museum Lobby. If there are services or accommodations that can improve your experience (e.g., ASL interpretation, etc.), please contact [email protected]; 1–2 week’s advance notice is recommended but not required.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Routes to a Nation Gallery Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
How did a collection of scattered colonies become a nation? Join one of the National Postal Museum's curators for a gallery tour exploring the communication networks that connected Americans during the colonial period and early republic. Learn about Benjamin Franklin's nearly forty-year postal career; how American revolutionaries challenged the royal postal system and established their own; and how merchants used transatlantic correspondence to participate in global commerce. Based on the new NPM book, Routes to a Nation, recently published by Smithsonian Books, this interactive tour highlights objects that reveal how mail shaped commerce, government, culture, and national identity. This 45-minute guided tour includes time for questions and discussion. Presenters: Lynn Heidelbaugh, Alison Bazylinski, Daniel Piazza (rotating).
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Dead Letter Office: Gallery Experience
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Could you be a postal clerk? In this activity, a volunteer challenges you to sort mail, deciding which letters will be delivered and which would be sent to the Dead Letter Office. Complete the challenge and leave with a prize!
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45-minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Virtual Story Time
Join educators from the National Postal Museum for live, interactive story time. Designed for children ages 4-7, but all are welcome! Mondays at 11:00 (ET) National Postal Museum educators will read stories aloud and lead related activities in a Zoom meeting for children and their caregivers. Explore a range of postal-related topics and more! Sessions will be interactive and last approximately 45-60 minutes. Caregivers are expected to be present with children for the duration of the program.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.
Highlights Tour
Postal Museum · Postal Museum
Look for our friendly volunteer at the Information Desk for a 45 minute tour of the highlights of the museum.