National Postal Museum, museum of the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C., that explores the history of the United States postal service and celebrates the art of letter writing and the beauty and lore of postage stamps. The museum is home to the National Philatelic Collection, the nation’s largest and most comprehensive collection of stamps, postmarks, and related materials.
The museum opened in 1993 in the historic City Post Office Building, designed by Daniel Burnham and built in 1914. Exhibitions trace postal history as a reflection of the nation’s industrial, technological, and social progress.
The museum follows the development of national mail service, beginning with the American colonial era, when postal routes followed trails used by Native Americans. Exhibits also describe the operations of the Pony Express, the effect of urbanization and rural life on delivery systems, the importance of letters as windows on history, and the intriguing stories behind stamps and stamp design. The museum displays a rotating selection of more than 55,000 stamps.
For philatelic researchers, the museum offers a wealth of material, including certified plate proofs of stamps printed by the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. It also has a master collection of U.S. postage stamps dating to 1847, and a large collection of revenue stamps, which are issued as proof of payment for special government taxes.
The museum’s library, a center for postal history and philatelic research, is among the largest of its kind in the world.
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Monday, February 2, 2009
Stamps the Making
Engraving and Printing
Bureau of, agency of the U.S. Treasury Department, established by the Appropriation Act of 1869. Actual printing of currency notes by Treasury employees began in 1863.
The bureau designs, engraves, and prints U.S. paper currency; Treasury bonds, bills, notes, and certificates of indebtedness; U.S. postage, customs, and revenue stamps; and engraved items for the various departments and agencies of the federal government.
All U.S. currency notes are printed from plates made from hand-tooled steel engravings; this type of printing is known as intaglio, the most difficult process to produce and to counterfeit. Annually, paper currency with a face value of more than $35 billion is printed, averaging about 16 million notes a day.
The bureau began producing U.S. postage stamps in 1894; previously the work had been done by private firms under government contract.
Watermark
Watermark, term for a figure or design incorporated into paper during its manufacture and appearing lighter than the rest of the sheet when viewed in transmitted light. Watermarks first appeared on papers produced in Italy around 1270, less than 100 years after the art of papermaking was introduced to Europe by Muslims from the Middle East.
The watermark was made when the semifluid paper pulp (mixture of cotton or other fibers) was being drained on a grid of laid (warp) and chain (woof) wires. Fine wires forming the desired design were tied on top of the grid and impressed into the pulp. This impression made the paper thinner, and therefore, more transparent, where it appeared.
Early in the 19th century, papermakers began to solder the watermark wires to the grid frame, thus insuring uniformity of impression and aiding in the detection of counterfeiting and forgery. The first British postage stamps of 1840 bore a watermark, but stamps of the United States were not so marked until 1895. When paper began to be machine-made, the watermark wiring was simply transferred to the grid cover of the dandy roll, a turning cylinder that passed over the paper.
Bureau of, agency of the U.S. Treasury Department, established by the Appropriation Act of 1869. Actual printing of currency notes by Treasury employees began in 1863.
The bureau designs, engraves, and prints U.S. paper currency; Treasury bonds, bills, notes, and certificates of indebtedness; U.S. postage, customs, and revenue stamps; and engraved items for the various departments and agencies of the federal government.
All U.S. currency notes are printed from plates made from hand-tooled steel engravings; this type of printing is known as intaglio, the most difficult process to produce and to counterfeit. Annually, paper currency with a face value of more than $35 billion is printed, averaging about 16 million notes a day.
The bureau began producing U.S. postage stamps in 1894; previously the work had been done by private firms under government contract.
Watermark
Watermark, term for a figure or design incorporated into paper during its manufacture and appearing lighter than the rest of the sheet when viewed in transmitted light. Watermarks first appeared on papers produced in Italy around 1270, less than 100 years after the art of papermaking was introduced to Europe by Muslims from the Middle East.
The watermark was made when the semifluid paper pulp (mixture of cotton or other fibers) was being drained on a grid of laid (warp) and chain (woof) wires. Fine wires forming the desired design were tied on top of the grid and impressed into the pulp. This impression made the paper thinner, and therefore, more transparent, where it appeared.
Early in the 19th century, papermakers began to solder the watermark wires to the grid frame, thus insuring uniformity of impression and aiding in the detection of counterfeiting and forgery. The first British postage stamps of 1840 bore a watermark, but stamps of the United States were not so marked until 1895. When paper began to be machine-made, the watermark wiring was simply transferred to the grid cover of the dandy roll, a turning cylinder that passed over the paper.
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