National Postal Museum

America’s First Direct Mail Campaign

 In 1835, the American Anti-Slavery Society (AAS) took their campaign to a new level with what could be called the first use of a direct mail campaign. The Society, founded two years earlier by Arthur and Lewis Tappan of New York, mailed a number of anti-slavery newspapers and printed materials to religious and civic leaders in the south. They selected names from newspapers, city directories, and other published lists. The reception for these unordered and mostly unwelcomed publications was swift, widespread, and hostile.

On July 29, the steamer “Columbia” arrived at the Charleston, SC harbor, bringing mail sacks full of abolitionist tracts addressed to city leaders. Charleston postmaster Alfred Huger, torn between his federally-mandated responsibility to deliver the mail and his allegiance to the southern cause, set the abolitionist mail aside. That night a group called the “Lynch Men” broke into the post office and stole those mail bags. The next night, the group led a “celebration” of almost 2,000 spectators in cheering the burning that mail, along with effigies of northern abolitionists.

Illustration showing the mob pulling abolitionist mail out of the post office to feed their bonfire. A tattered notice for Arthur Tappan, a leader of the American Anti-Slavery Society, is posted on the wall of the building.

The Sinking of the “Golden Gate”

Illustrators Currier & Ives produced this lithograph of the last hours of the “SS Golden Gate”

The discovery of gold in California in 1848 led to a rush of hopeful fortune hunters to the west coast. The Post Office Department kept the area’s inhabitants connected with the rest of the world by moving mail on steamboats that traveled to Central America, where mail (and passengers) traveled across either the Panamanian or Nicaraguan isthmus to the opposite shore where steamers waited to take them the rest of the way.

National Postal Museum Presents Congressional Stamp Exhibit

The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum will display philatelic items from the personal collections of Senators Orrin Hatch, Carl Levin and Lisa Murkowski, and U.S. Representatives Gary Ackerman, Robert Aderholt, Lacy Clay, Joseph Pitts, and Silvestre Reyes. The exhibit will be open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. July 24 - 26 in the Rayburn House Office Building at Independence Avenue and South Capitol Street S.W., Washington, DC.  The exhibit is designed for collectors and non-collectors alike with unique philatelic material that has never before been seen by the public.

There will be an activity station called “Stamp Collecting 101” that will introduce the hobby of philately to non-collectors. Postage stamps, with their colorful images and real-life stories, have fascinated millions of adults and children over the years because they have something to interest everyone—nature, science, sports, music, etc. Activities and items for children will include a scavenger hunt, “eye-spy” game and a table where children can create their own mini-album page.

Long Life Vehicle (LLV)

 
The museum’s Long Life Vehicle on display in the “Moving the Mail” atrium exhibit.

On July 11, 1987, this white, boxy postal truck known as a Long Life Vehicle was brought into the Smithsonian Institution’s collection. The vehicle was added to the National Philatelic Collection, in the National Museum of American History. In 1993, that collection, including this vehicle, was shared with the public when the National Postal Museum opened in the old DC City Post Office building next to Union Station.

The Long Life Vehicle, or LLV, marked a major change in how postal officials approached buying vehicles. Until the 1980s, when new vehicles were needed, officials combed through existing models for the best fit. This often resulted in vehicles that met some, but never all, of the demands of moving mail.

Owney, Mascot of the Railway Mail Service, Makes an Appearance at the Smithsonian Folklife Festival

Owney held court in the “American Experience” tent at the 2010 Smithsonian Folklife Festival.  National Postal Museum staff and volunteers had three days during the festival to highlight the museum’s collection and its programming.  Owney had a day all to himself on July 5th.

Owney was a terrier mix who wandered into the Albany, New York Post Office in 1888 and was adopted and named by the postal workers.  He was fond of riding mail wagons and began following the mail onto the trains where he quickly became a good luck charm to the railway mail clerks.  Owney rode the trains across the country and even made a voyage around the world by steamer in 1895.  Beloved by postal workers and the public alike, he acquired tags and metals that were affixed to a jacket that was given to him by Postmaster General John Wanamaker.  Owney died in Toledo, Ohio in 1897.

The taxidermy specimen of Owney and some of Owney’s tags are on permanent display in the Postal Museum’s atrium.  At the Festival, we featured a fiberglass model of Owney created for us by the Smithsonian’s Office of Exhibits Central as well as a small stuffed Owney toy that traveled to South Africa and the World Cup with NPM staff member Rebecca Johnson.  The toy “Owney” had its own collection of tags and was a hit with our visitors.  Many teachers use a similar version of the toy dog in their geography curriculum.

Many varied and enthusiastic visitors were drawn to the life-like dog sculpture sitting on our table.  They included families who have visited the museum since its opening in July 1993 as well as those unfamiliar with our museum and Owney.  A canine even dropped by with his owner to visit and drink water before moving on to other displays.

  Long-time NPM volunteer Ida Marie Giusti stops by to visit Owney.

Former NPM curatorial intern Rachel Barclay and I had the pleasure of telling the public about Owney and his travels.  Rachel’s internship project last year was performing research on Owney and constructing a chronological timeline of his travels.  It was exciting for us both to be able to use this valuable list to answer the public inquiries about the details of his travels.

Patricia Raynor and Rachel Barclay with Owney

At the end of the day, the story of Owney was highlighted on the discussion stage, “The Commons” as part of “Stories from the Vault.”  I shared the stage with my colleague Harry Adams from the Office of Exhibits Central who spoke of their office’s crafting of the fiberglass model and the construction of our Railway Post Office “RPO” car that is behind Owney in the Museum.

Marjorie Hunt, Folklife;  Harry Adams, OEC,; Patricia Raynor, NPM

Hopefully, during Owney’s special day, he captured the interest and imagination of future museum visitors.  For those of you who live in the Washington DC metro area stop by the Postal Museum on August 6 and 7 to help us celebrate the dog days of summer during our Owney Family Festival.

For more information on Owney visit http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/owney/

  

Patricia Raynor, Museum Specialist, National Postal Museum

2010 Federal Duck Stamp First Day of Sale Ceremony

 
The First Day of Sale for the 2010 Federal Duck Stamp was held on Friday, June 25, 2010 at the Bass Pro Shop at Arundel Mills Mall in Hanover, Maryland. This program cover shows both the Federal Duck Stamp (top) and the Junior Duck Stamp.

    Paul Schmidt, Assistant Director of Migratory Birds at the U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service, was the master of ceremonies.

The news is good—both for the Federal Duck Stamp Program and the waterfowl it conserves.  Sales of Federal Duck Stamps are up in recent years, with the self-adhesive stamp outselling the gummed variety three to one.  It is widely distributed by Bass Pro, Wal Mart and others.  It is also available in post office lobbies and vending machines. The gummed variety remains the favorite with collectors. Waterfowl  populations are up, with few exceptions, continent-wide according to aerial counts of ducks on their breeding grounds this spring.

Collector Frank Gniazdowski gave a scholarship check for $5,000.00 to Rui Huang, Junior Duck Stamp winning artist.  Rui’s mother and father were there with cameras to capture the moment.

 

U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service director Rowan Gould couldn’t attend as he was detailed to a team cleaning up the Gulf oil spill. Here Paul Schmidt holds a photo of Rowan Gould as he purchases the first 2010 Federal Duck Stamp from Hanover postmaster Christopher Vaeth.

 

 

After the speeches were over, the artists, the speakers, and all the honored guests signed uncut press sheets of this year’s issue.  Here winning Federal artist Robert Bealle signs a sheet of self-adhesive stamps as judge Peter Martin waits his turn.

 

 

Collectors lined up to buy duck and postage stamps. Postal workers cancelled programs, cards and stamps with a special First Day of Sale pictorial cancel. Since a duck stamp is not valid for postage, the postal service requires a postage stamp to be affixed to your program, souvenir card or stamp to cancel  it.

 

 

The speakers signed programs, stamps and cards for the public. Here Federal artist Robert Bealle signs a card.

 

 

A First Day of Sale Ceremony Program with a First Day of Sale dated cancel, signed by all the listed participants, such as this, is a valuable collectible. For more information on duck stamps, visit the Federal Duck Stamp Office’s website at http://www.fws.gov/duckstamps/.

By Jim O'Donnell, Museum Specialist, Smithsonian National Postal Museum

Harbor Mail Boat Service

In the last years of the 19th century, mail and people crossed from Europe and Asia to the United States by boat. Just as we spend time in line at customs at international airports, ships to the US docked first at Quarantine stations before proceeding to port. In 1895, postal officials experimented with the idea of sending a mail boat to the quarantine station to relieve ships of their mail sacks, speeding away to various piers where mail was taken to post offices or train stations for processing and delivery. The successful experiment led to the implantation of the service on a regular basis in 1898. All this completed before the ship left quarantine.

NY harbor mail boat “Postmaster General,” operated between 1921-1937 under contract to the NY Central Railroad, moving mail from ocean liners at quarantine to city piers.  

The service used one mail boat at first, the “Peekskill.” By 1909 it had become so successful that an additional boat, the 167-foot “President,” was added to keep up with not only the European mail, but to allow officials to remove mailbags from liners coming from South America as well.

Today, with instant messages the norm, it may be difficult to appreciate the anticipation that greeted this effort to speed mail delivery by as little as four hours. Most mail was processed and transported in the US by train. If letters could not make the last trains heading west or south, they had to wait until morning. This could be the difference of a day or two in mails from Europe to southern and western states. And even when measured in hours and days, for businesses, time was money. Faster communication translated into faster and better business decisions.

The harbor mail boats moved thousands of sacks of mail in each trip, stopping at a series of piers and docks where mail wagons waited to take sacks to post offices and railroad stations. The European lines tended to carry most of the mail that traveled into New York harbor. Each year brought a new record number of mails aboard one of those liners. During Christmas seasons, 6,000 and 8,000 sacks of mail per liner were common sights.

The service ended in 1917 as war department needs trumped even civilian mail needs. The service began anew in the spring of 1921. This time, three mail boats were operated around the clock to bring in mail from quarantined liners. The service finally came to an end on April 15, 1937, when changes in public health practices eliminated the quarantine stop.