Reports of the Museums and Research Institutes 



55 



This mission was accomplished under Blount's leadership 

 in 197 1. 



Exhibition Highlights 



Since opening its doors in July 1993, the National Postal 

 Museum focused much of its attention to producing cutting- 

 edge exhibitions, rotating NPM collections through 

 permanent exhibits, and exploring new, innovative methods 

 for interpretation. In Fiscal Year 2000, the National Postal 

 Museum explored a wide variety of topics through several 

 new exhibitions that were enthusiastically received by our 

 visitors. Our success was reflected in our participation in 

 both national and international philatelic and postal events. 



On November 11, 1999, the National Postal Museum 

 was very proud to open the "Missing You: Letters from 

 WW II" exhibition. This incredibly powerful exhibition 

 presented the "last letters" written by servicemen before they 

 were killed in action during World War II. In May, the pop- 

 ular Graceful Envelope Contest celebrated the millenium by 

 asking participants to design artistic envelopes celebrating 

 significant events of the twentieth century. 



The National Postal Museum called attention to environ- 

 mental concerns with the renovation and reopening of 

 "Artistic License: The Federal Duck Stamp Story" on June 

 30. The museum celebrated Lance Armstrong's successful 

 defense of his Tour de France bicycle championship and his 

 victory over cancer in a July exhibition. 



The museum rounded out the year by presenting "Re- 

 counting Roosevelt Presentation Albums, 1903— 1905" in 

 a Philatelic Rarities Gallery exhibition that presented a 

 number of rare albums selectively given to friends of the 

 Theodore Roosevelt administration. Finally, "Town and 

 Country" showcased a few of the models in the museum's 

 collection of vehicles that moved the mail in urban towns 

 and the rural countryside. 



Collection Management 



The 13-million-object collection of the National Postal Mu- 

 seum is selectively expanded each fiscal year. In accordance 

 with the collecting policy, the museum acquires rare or sig- 

 nificant U.S. and international philatelic and postal history 

 objects and routine amounts of U.S. stamp material from the 

 U.S. Postal Service, Bureau of Engraving and Printing, and 

 U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. In Fiscal Year 2000 the most 

 notable addition was the George Boutwell album of U.S. 

 federal and private revenue proofs (ca. 1862—74). Other 

 notable acquisitions were the 1873 Government Printing 

 Office album of U.S. Post Office Department blank forms 

 for bureau use and an 1893 souvenir set of 12 Columbian 

 Exposition postal cards. 



Collection Management's agenda targets every aspect of 

 object care: research, retrieval, and distribution of object- 

 related data and images; object storage, shipping, and ac- 

 countability; preservation and treatment; and observance of 

 the legalities of custodianship over acquisitions and loans. 

 Continued goals of the Department are the greater accounta- 



bility, utilization, and visibility and better long-term care of 

 the collection. 



In Fiscal Year 2000 the museum continued its cooperative 

 projects with Smithsonian affiliates. The Women's Museum 

 of Dallas, Texas, was loaned Amelia Earhart's flight suit and 

 flight-related covers for its inaugural exhibit. The Black- 

 hawk Museum of Danville, California, was loaned a seven- 

 panel, 15-object exhibit that explores Franklin Delano 

 Roosevelt's impact as president and philatelic collector on 

 the design and issuing of postage stamps during his tenure 

 (1933—45). Technical support was given for the installation 

 of objects in both exhibits. Lastly, the 1941 White Motor 

 highway post office bus was returned to the city of its manu- 

 facture in a loan to the Western Reserve Historical Society. It 

 will be exhibited at the 2003/2004 opening of the Crawford 

 Museum of Transportation and Industry in Cleveland, Ohio. 



Nine major object rehousing projects were completed in 

 this period. The preservation staff finalized their efforts for 

 the U.S. -certified plate proof collection. Continued financial 

 support from the Center for Latino Initiatives enabled the 

 Collection Management Department to have a nine-volume 

 specialized collection of nineteenth- and twentieth-century 

 Paraguayan philatelic material professionally conserved and 

 rehoused. The 24-volume Eagle Collection of revenue die 

 proofs, the Loizeaux Collection of engraving equipment, the 

 U.S. collections of postal service badges and mailbags, half of 

 the Master and Reference collections of mint U.S. stamp 

 panes, and the collection of state waterfowl conservation 

 stamps were also rehoused by Collection Management staff 

 and interns. 



Gallery System, Inc., installed a beta version of The Mu- 

 seum System in the museum's updated server. The prototype 

 of the relational database contained the skeletal Access ob- 

 ject records supplied by the Museum in Fiscal Year 1999. 

 Collection Management staff analyzed System functions and 

 data and developed strategies for using the database as a true 

 research tool to present a synthesis of object information and 

 historical context in readable, searchable form. A unique de- 

 partment and classification system was partially completed 

 in draft and tested in the prototype system. An Access data- 

 base of original object location information was edited, 

 restructured and parsed for reconfiguration to The Museum 

 System (edition 9.1). 



The U.S. postal service badge collection was chosen as a 

 summer intern research and rehousing project. Service 

 badges were classified by the postal department and design 

 based on source information available from the U.S. Postal 

 Service, National Archives, National Association of Letter 

 Carriers, and Smithsonian Institution Libraries. 



The U.S. mailbag collection was also targeted as a re- 

 search, cataloging, and rehousing project. The objective was 

 to start to acquire comprehensive knowledge of this section 

 of postal history in order to accurately classify and name the 

 objects. Source information was obtained from the National 

 Archives and U.S. Postal Service. 



In Fiscal Year 2000 staff finished assembling half of the 

 U.S. stamp material and continued object preparation for a 

 new, comprehensive philatelic exhibition. Biographical and 



