12/8/2007: Season’s Greetings Family Day

At this popular program, visitors compiled holiday stamp collections, enjoyed a holiday mail story reading corner, created handmade holiday cards, and decorated “mailing tubes,” the best way to transform socks into a glamorous gift. A local family literacy group crowded many of the tables and were joined by visitors from all over the globe. This diverse and highly international group exchanged creative inspiration in many different languages.

Image (upper left): Mom gets some help creating a holiday stamp collection.

Image (lower left): Fun materials inspired creativity in adults and children alike.

12/3-7/2007: Holiday Mailing Tips Demonstration

National Postal Museum educators made holiday mailing a little less complicated by providing tips and stamp advice at this gallery cart. Stationed in the museum’s historic lobby, this cart reached 210 people.

Image (left): Many people who stopped at the cart were impressed by the beauty of the Kwanzaa stamp.

12/1/2007: Holiday Card Workshop

About 120 adults and children sifted through materials to create beautiful holiday cards during two sessions of the workshop. A Girl Scout troop made one card each for a family member and a second card for a recovering soldier at Walter Reed Army Medical Center. Adults and groups of 20-somethings also enjoyed chatting while working on detailed cards. At the end of the first session, even the adults begged to stay for the second session.

Image (upper left): A Girl Scout shows off a holiday card full of cheer—and sparkles.

Image (lower left): Detailed paper cutting resulted in this dreamy scene on the inside of a card.

11/23/2007: Gallery Talk: Amelia Earhart’s Personal Collection

On one of the busiest museum visiting days of the year, Curator of Philately Cheryl Ganz showcased Amelia Earhart’s personal stamp and cover collection, photographs of the famous aviatrix and stamps celebrating her flights. Known for breaking flight milestones, Earhart was also a collector. Philatelists supported her flights by purchasing signed, stamped and postmarked mail flown on her adventures.

Image (left): Ganz shares Earhart’s collection with visitors as her talk is simultaneously interpreted in American Sign Language.

11/17/2007: American Indian Heritage Month Family Day

Visitors celebrated American Indian Heritage Month with songs, dances and hands-on activities, learning about the ways in which stamps commemorate American Indian culture.

Image (left): Dennis Zotigh (Kiowa, Santee Dakota and San Juan Pueblo tribes) explains a Raven Dance US stamp during the program before sharing American Indian songs and dances with visitors. Zotigh, who is friends with many of the dancers represented on this series of stamps, also discussed the need for inter-cultural understanding and the danger of stereotypes.

11/15/2007: The Secrets of Stamp Care

Visitors got to peek behind the scenes into the museum’s conservation lab as National Postal Museum preservation specialists set up their lab on the museum floor. Experienced and new collectors alike watched demonstrations of hinge removal, perforation mending and repairing tears on covers and enjoyed a preservation-focused tour of Rarity Revealed: the Benjamin K. Miller Collection.

Image (upper left): A museum preservation specialist shows off a tear she mended in a postcard while they wait for another mend to dry beneath two metallic weights.

Image (lower left): Experienced collectors learned tips to apply to their own collections.

11/3/2007: Mail as Art

Eighteen adults and young people joined artists Mare Dianora and Daniel Venne in a discussion of mail art followed by a hands-on session. Participants learned card embossing, envelope folding and other artistic techniques and went home with beautiful products of their experience.

Image (left): Participants learn how to make a very vintage wax seal on a handmade envelope.

10/19/2007: Philately in Action

Forty-two visitors tried their hands at stamp collecting, practicing philatelic vocabulary and beginning stamp collections. Happy National Stamp Collecting Month!

Image (left): Stamp bath: A young visitor removes stamps from envelopes by soaking them in water.

10/5/2007: Philately in Action

Visitors celebrated National Stamp Collecting Month by getting a closer look at stamps, soaking them off envelopes, sorting them, finding their countries in an atlas, and starting their own collections.

Image (left): A young visitor zooms in on a particularly interesting stamp.

10/1/2007: USPS Polar Lights Stamp Dedication

To mark National Stamp Collecting Month, the United States Postal Service held a First Day of Issue Ceremony for the Polar Lights stamps in the Museum's Atrium.

Image (left): H. Glen Walker, Chief Financial Officer and Executive Vice President of the U. S. Postal Service (left) and Allen Kane, Director of the National Postal Museum, unveil the Polar Lights stamp issue.

9/21/2007: Out of the Mails Family Day

Visitors tried their hands at colonial correspondence challenges by writing with quill pens, folding colonial envelopes, creating seal designs and attempting to “deliver” their mail. 1775 may have been a difficult year for both loyalist and revolutionary letter writers, but program participants proved they were up to the challenge.

Image (upper left): Writing letters to parents and friends with quill pens.

Image (lower left): Designing colonial seals. Seals could include initials, a crown, fancy designs, and other symbols. What would your seal look like?

8/24/2007: Philately in action

150 visitors discovered stamp collecting and learn the basic skills of a Philatelist. From how to peel off a stamp from an envelope, to sorting and putting together a topical collection of their choice, visitors went trough all the different steps!

Image (upper left): Looking at so many stamps from around the globe raises many questions: where does this stamp come from and where is this on the map?

Image (lower left): A young visitor is putting together a topical stamp collection; she chose to collect stamps that feature animals.

8/4/2007: “Dog Days of Summer” Public Program

More than 100 museum visitors participated in eight different activities where all learned about the dog Owney, the mascot of the Railway Mail Service, and tracked his historic travels accross the country and around the world. Some of the activites included the Railway Mail Sorting Challenge, the Hound Hunt & Owney Trivia and Puppy Tales.

Image (left): An excited winner of the Railway Mail Sorting Challenge proudly display her winner's certificate inside the museum's railway mail car.

7/19/2007: Trailblazers & Trendsetters Family Festival

On this rainy afternoon approximately 600 visitors participated in the Trailblazers & Trendsetters Family Festival held at the National Postal Museum. Eight different activies such as Prepare to Explore! and Stamp Artist Techniques engaged visitors. The activities provoked thinking and stimulated the imaginations of visitors who gained knowledge about stamps and stamp art.

Stamp design artist Tom Engeman explained the secrets of how he creates stamp art using computer software. He also told stories of finding the right images and colors for certain stamp topics he has worked on. The demonstration fascinated lots of curious stamp lovers, as well as other artists who participated in the festival. Engeman also signed covers featuring his two most recent postal designs.

Image (upper left): Volunteer Julian Glover welcomed to the program many visitors as they entered the museum.

Image (lower left): Meeting with stamp design artist Tom Engeman provoked imaginations and desire to create.

6/22/2007: Vacation Postcard Special

In the heat of the summer, everyone’s minds turns to vacation. Whether visiting Washington, D.C. or dreaming of leaving town, visitors were inspired to create postcards to share the stories of vacations in words and images. Using a variety of collage materials and postcard templates ready for the mail, careful creations were stamped and sent all over the globe!

Image (upper left): Judging by their coneheads, this family must be vacationing to DC from a galaxy far, far away. They stopped long enough on their intergalactic travels to make postcards to send on their journey.

Image (lower left): These visitors selected pandas, the Lincoln memorial, dogs, and people to represent their DC vacation postcards.

6/16/2007: Trains!

Visitors experienced the tremendous lives of the Railway Post Office Clerks. Visitors sorted mail on board the museum’s authentic train car; they learned the short-hand language and whistle codes that the crews working on board trains used, while younger ones were delighted by train-related stories. Some of the visitors also shared their own train stories.

The Rappahannock Train club & DC Z-Bend Tracks, two train model associations and the Railway Mail Service Library joined the Museum staff and volunteers to share their passion for Trains and showcase train models and movies about mail.

Image (left): A family enjoys the model railroad layout on display at "Trains!".

5/30/2007: David Henkin Lecture

Visitors, staff and scholars gathered to hear David Henkin, Professor of History at the University of California, Berkeley. This award-winning author offers a cultural historical approach to understanding the foundation of contemporary communication expectations in his new book, The Postal Age: The Emergence of Modern Communications in Nineteenth-Century America. Professor Henkin opened a window on the time when sending and receiving mail became affordable and personal.

Image (left): David Henkin as he signs his book for visitors after his talk.

5/26/2007: Asian Pacific Heritage Celebration

To celebrate Asian Pacific Heritage visitors explored Chinese Zodiac and created their own commemorative stamp. Visitors discovered their own talent as they composed Haiku, a Japanese poem style.

Image (upper left): A young visitor and his dad design their own commemorative stamp using signs of the Lunar New Year.

Image (lower left): A mother and her daughter create the cycle of Chinese Zodiac that highlights their own family members.

5/11/2007: Rarity Revealed Family Day

The visitors had a chance to discover stamp collection and Benjamin K. Miller, the man behind the unique collection on loan from the New York Public Library and currently on display at the National Postal Museum. The visitors created their own Inverted Jenny, discovered what makes a stamp valuable and returned home with the 6 stamps of their own to start a stamp collection.

Image (upper left): After having a mustache painted on and putting glasses to “be like Ben”, these visitors discovered Benjamin K. Miller’s hobby: stamp collecting.

Image (lower left): These two visitors portrayed themselves as one of Benjamin K. Miller’s most famous stamps: the 1 cent Z-Grill.

4/5, 4/6, 4/26, and 4/27, 2007: Greetings from You! & Jazz Appreciation

Visitors celebrated Greeting Card and Letter writing month and jazz appreciation month at the National Postal Museum by creating their own cards using collage materials and listening to jazz music. The Nick Lipkowski Trio and guest vocalist James Zimmerman helped close the celebration by performing live jazz for the visitors on April 27.

Image (upper left): Visitors danced to the trio’s live music.

Image (lower left): Visitors looked through jazz magazines for inspirational collage materials in addition to materials already provided.

4/21/2007: Out of the Mails Family Day

Families explored the different postal systems in the American colonies in 1775. Role playing historical actors, visitors traveled through the woods meeting important postal system actors and discovered the challenges of carrying the mail during war times. Families also wrote with a quill pen, folded their letters like they did during this time period and created their own family seal.

Image (upper left): This family was stopped by William Goddard, an American who helped start what became the post office department.

Image (lower left): Families enjoyed discovering the difficulties in writing letters in addition to delivering them.

4/13/2007: The Museo Alameda Opening Ceremony and Inaugural Smithsonian Exhibition

On April 13th, The Alameda National Center for Latino Arts and Culture in San Antonio, Texas, opened its doors to the public with an inaugural exhibition, The Smithsonian in San Antonio. The public opening was part of a weekend long celebration of events featuring a family day festival and concerts. Ten Smithsonian Museums, including the National Postal Museum, lent objects for display for this exhibition that tells the “story of the Latino experience through art, history and culture.” The National Postal Museum objects featured in the exhibition explore the postal system in the American experience touching on aspects of the transportation networks and postal workers.

Image (left): Perfomers at The Museo Alameda opening event.

3/24/2007: Women’s History Celebration

In honor of Women’s History Month, families explored women in the postal service with primary documents and biographies. After looking at current stamps of women while creating their own stamp collection, visitors drew their own stamps of women they thought should be honored.

Image (upper left): These sisters looked at a mail bag, which was exactly like the one in the picture they were analyzing with other primary sources.

Image (lower left): Families were encouraged to think of women today who should be honored on stamps in the future.

3/3/2007: Welcome to Washington Lecture

Local historian and philatelist, May Day Taylor gave a “city tour” using stamps featuring people, monuments and places of Washington, D.C. Visitors learned more about the well-known monuments and discovered some rare facts about the nation’s capitol.

Image (left): May Day Taylor answers questions while other visitors look at her collection of Washington, D.C. stamps she brought in to share.

3/1 & 3/2, 2007: Philately in Action

Families visiting the museum learned about stamp collecting and started their very own collections. Some of the topics these new philatelists chose were the color red, buildings and maps.

Image (left): These families helped each other look for other stamps in their collection.

2/3/2007: Black History Month Celebration

After completing a quiz on famous African-Americans on stamps, and creating poems inspired by Langston Hughes, visitors created their own commemorative stamp honoring an African-American that they admire. They also enjoyed books and stories read out loud about African-Americans who have been on stamps.

Image (top left): This family won commemorative covers celebrating space exploration after completing the quiz by identifying 24 African-Americans honored on stamps.

Image (lower left): Both children and adults spent time carefully crafting their own commemorative stamp, such as this visitor who created a Jimi Hendrix stamp.

1/27/2007: Rarity Revealed Family Day

Donning glasses and a mustache, visitors read about Benjamin K. Miller, the man behind the rare stamp collection currently on display at the museum. They also created their own inverted jenny and pictured themselves as a rare stamp. Families explored why people, especially Mr. Miller, collected stamps and created their own stamp collection.

Image (upper left): This young visitor had a mustache painted on and wore glasses after learning about Mr. Miller, so she could be like Ben.

Image (lower left): After exploring the different rare stamps collected by Mr. Miller, this family posed as their own collection of rare stamps.