Cleaning objects in the museum’s collection is one of the simplest ways to decrease deterioration and elongate their life span. Even if the physical act of cleaning an artifact is simple, reaching the objects can often present a challenge. The artifacts that fall on this list are the three planes, carriage, mail train car, and beacon found in the museum’s atrium. These objects are so large that it is impossible and or unsafe to clean them with a ladder. So, once a year the museum hires contractors and a JLF Lift to come in and clean the 6 objects. In order to not disrupt a visitor’s experience, the cleaning begins right after the museum closes.

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About 30 years ago, 27 wooden crates filled with postal operations and philatelic objects from the Smithsonian Institution’s National Philatelic Collection were shipped to a Smithsonian storage facility. The crates went untouched until 2007 because of a lack of space for processing and storage. It was not until the United States Postal Service provided the National Postal Museum with a facility that the process of opening the crates and inspecting their largely unknown contents began.

Unsure what would be found in the crates once opened, museum technician Rebecca Johnson began the project of processing the crates and their contents in August 2007. Lacking precedence for this type of project, Johnson created original forms and procedures and confronted challenges as they occurred.

			Processing the Crates
			The Future of the Crates

For more information: NPMPreservation@si.edu

Depicting a dignified Benjamin Franklin with his hands gripping onto the edges of his suit vest as his robe drapes behind him, William Zorach created this pink Tennessee marble statue in 1935 on commission by the Section of Painting and Sculpture under the Treasury Department. The inscription identifies Franklin as “Printer, Journalist, Diplomat, Statesman, Philosopher and Father of the Postal Service.”

In 1936, the statue was displayed inside the former Post Office Department (POD) headquarters at Federal Triangle in Washington, DC, where it stood for many years among 24 murals depicting the country’s postal heritage and many other examples of civic art.

			The Artist
			Conservation

Folded letters, envelopes, post cards, postal stationery (aerograms, postal cards, stamped envelopes and wrappers)—if it has been sent through the mails (with or without franking), it is part of the Museum's Cover Collection.

For more than 20 years, the cover collection has been housed in 15 large, metal cabinets with their drawers overflowing. In every conceivable size up to and beyond the standard 9 ½ inch long envelope, these objects have been almost inaccessible because of overcrowding and poor organization. Some have been damaged by the unavoidable rifling by closing drawers and thumb searches.

With the help of dedicated volunteers, the Museum is methodically rehousing more than 300,000 U. S. and foreign covers. As the objects are removed from old glassine paper housing, they are placed in labeled, acid-free folders and boxes and stored in new inert cabinets with roll-out drawers. When the project is completed, the entire cover collection will be physically stable and secure, to be enjoyed by researchers and visitors for years to come.