
The main gallery showing the evolution of mail delivery in the entrance to the National Postage Museum.
Most of my time in during my D.C. trip was spent hanging out with the family and just relaxing. I've been there a few times already, so I don't really do the whole monument tourist parade when I go anymore. The one thing I always try to do is stop by the F.D.R. memorial, because I just love walking through that space. (Did you know that his monument is considered a National Park? If you have a National Part Passport, you can get it stamped for that location in the gift shop. Super fun.)

I couldn't resist taking a picture of this old-timey truck with the war propaganda poster.
The one thing I embarrassed that I haven't done yet, even though I've been in the city so many times, is visit the National Postal Museum. I was at the will of my mom, as she had the car, and she wasn't exactly enthused that I wanted to visit this museum. I convinced her though and in the end she said she was "happily surprised & had a lot of fun."

My mother's fear, apparently, was that the information in the museum was going to be dense. I have to say that her fear was completely unfounded. The way they presented all the material was awesome. I especially liked one installation that allowed you to see the people behind the letters. (See image above.) There was a wall with pictures of individuals or families. When you push the photo panel, there is a copy of a letter that lights-up and the "person" begins to read it in their native tongue. They represented several ethnicities. It was a simple, effective way to get across the breadth of letters to all the population of the US.

Part of the V-Mail exhibit at the National Postal Museum
There was also a special exhibition about V-Mail, which was really interesting. Although I've done research about this WWII mail alternative, I never saw one in real life. I also had no idea that the reproduction V-Mail that was presented to the recipient was so tiny that most people needed a magnifier to read it!


Above is the negative strip of several V-Mail letters (to the left) with a reproduction of one letter. This was the best way to continue to have morale raising letters to the soldiers while still having enough space for shipping necessary supplies (food, ammo). The entire exhibit was really well curated. I may have shed a bit of a tear while reading / listening to some of the WWII letters.
If you find yourself in D.C. this summer, stop by the National Postal Museum and have a look around. It is right next to Union Station and it is free admission. There is even a microbrewery attached to the museum, so you can stop for a special pint of brew after your visit. Speaking of the museum's proximity to Union Station, one part of the museum I really enjoyed was the train car in the main gallery. There is a special "lad" there called Owney, who I am especially smitten with. I'll be doing a little post on this mail car pup next week!