National Postal Museum

National Postal Museum Review

The Smithsonian's stamp collection, housed here, consists of a whopping 11 million stamps. Exhibits, underscoring the important part the mail has played in America's development, include horse-drawn mail coaches, railway mail cars, airmail planes, and a collection of philatelic rarities. The National Museum of Natural History has the Hope Diamond, but the National Postal Museum has the container used to mail the gem to the Smithsonian. The family-oriented museum has more than 40 interactive and touch-screen exhibits. The museum takes up only a portion of what is the old Washington City Post Office, designed by Daniel Burnham and completed in 1914. Nostalgic odes to the noble mail carrier are inscribed on the exterior of the marble building; one of them, "The Letter," eulogizes the "Messenger of sympathy and love / Servant of parted friends / Consoler of the lonely / Bond of the scattered family / Enlarger of the common life." Tours are offered most days at 11 and 1 from the information desk.