WONDERFUL US POSTAL MUSEUM IN WASHINGTON DC DOGGEDLY PURSUES EXCELLENT DISPLAYS
Whenever the winds blow me into Washington DC I make sure I visit the excellent U.S. National Postal Museum, conveniently located across the street from the cavernous Union Station and its handy Metro stop.
I was particularly glad I made it in November (2011) as a new display had just opened on military mail, and the recent release of the US Postal Service stamp honouring Owney the wandering postal dog has prompted the museum to expand its displays about this remarkable creature.
Owney was a mutt who lived the life of Riley, travelling about in rail post office carriages and picking up tags from postal clerks to document his comings and goings in the late 1800s. His presence delighted these hard-working clerks for, as well as breaking up the daily grind, he was seen as a good luck charm as no train he was on ever crashed, even though this was a common occurrence at the time.
Like many people I took a new look at the continuing displays, plus a new one about the creation of the recent Owney stamp, and marvelled at the map show the diverse places the nomad canine reached. I hadn’t realized, for instance, that he crossed the border into Canada quite a few times, from Quebec to British Columbia.
Perhaps best of all, if a bit macabre, is the fact that Owney still lives on in the flesh, so to speak. He was so popular that his remains were preserved by taxidermists – and so he sits in a glass case in the museum, as if waiting for his next train.
Anyone interested in Owney’s story or the new stamp should take a look at the preparatory work on the stamp that is displayed in the foyer, around the corner from the main display. The process was a quite involved one, with the main problem how to do justice to both Owney and the medals attached to his vest. I don’t think the stamp, by artist Bill Bonds, quite does justice to Owney’s striking appearance and I preferred some earlier versions of the issue that showed him full figure.
The museum has also created an "augmented-reality experience that brings to life ‘Owney the Dog,’ mascot of the Railway Mail Service. The experience, offered via iPhone and Web applications, is the first multidimensional, augmented-reality experience triggered by a U.S. postage stamp," according to the museum web site.
"A multidimensional virtual Owney appears above the stamp. Owney barks, trots, sits and listens to postal train whistles in full 3-D. When the stamp is moved closer to the camera, details of Owney’s collar and some of the tags he received from his many travels can be seen. When viewed from a slight distance, the stamp can be moved around to see Owney from any side or angle."
While I failed to spot this opportunity during my brief, end-of-the-day visit to the museum, I did purchase a small booklet, at just $US4, about the postal pooch.
I also had a good look at the new "Mail Call" exhibit, which documents the delivery of mail to service personnel over the ages and has a moving film in which letters are read out. The exhibit was of particular interest to me as my father is a D-Day veteran.
One of the most fascinating postal items on display is a WWII-era coconut shell from Hawaii to which a label bearing 37 cents worth of presidential series stamps has been attached. The unusual piece of post was checked by the US Department of Agriculture as well as censored.
Another key WWII item is a Dec. 6, 1941 postal handstamp from the USS Oklahoma recovered after the battleship was sunk by the Japanese air force at Pearl Harbor.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in Canadian Stamp News as one of my Commonwealth Communique articles for this excellent publication.
I was particularly glad I made it in November (2011) as a new display had just opened on military mail, and the recent release of the US Postal Service stamp honouring Owney the wandering postal dog has prompted the museum to expand its displays about this remarkable creature.
Owney was a mutt who lived the life of Riley, travelling about in rail post office carriages and picking up tags from postal clerks to document his comings and goings in the late 1800s. His presence delighted these hard-working clerks for, as well as breaking up the daily grind, he was seen as a good luck charm as no train he was on ever crashed, even though this was a common occurrence at the time.
Like many people I took a new look at the continuing displays, plus a new one about the creation of the recent Owney stamp, and marvelled at the map show the diverse places the nomad canine reached. I hadn’t realized, for instance, that he crossed the border into Canada quite a few times, from Quebec to British Columbia.
Perhaps best of all, if a bit macabre, is the fact that Owney still lives on in the flesh, so to speak. He was so popular that his remains were preserved by taxidermists – and so he sits in a glass case in the museum, as if waiting for his next train.
Anyone interested in Owney’s story or the new stamp should take a look at the preparatory work on the stamp that is displayed in the foyer, around the corner from the main display. The process was a quite involved one, with the main problem how to do justice to both Owney and the medals attached to his vest. I don’t think the stamp, by artist Bill Bonds, quite does justice to Owney’s striking appearance and I preferred some earlier versions of the issue that showed him full figure.
The museum has also created an "augmented-reality experience that brings to life ‘Owney the Dog,’ mascot of the Railway Mail Service. The experience, offered via iPhone and Web applications, is the first multidimensional, augmented-reality experience triggered by a U.S. postage stamp," according to the museum web site.
"A multidimensional virtual Owney appears above the stamp. Owney barks, trots, sits and listens to postal train whistles in full 3-D. When the stamp is moved closer to the camera, details of Owney’s collar and some of the tags he received from his many travels can be seen. When viewed from a slight distance, the stamp can be moved around to see Owney from any side or angle."
While I failed to spot this opportunity during my brief, end-of-the-day visit to the museum, I did purchase a small booklet, at just $US4, about the postal pooch.
I also had a good look at the new "Mail Call" exhibit, which documents the delivery of mail to service personnel over the ages and has a moving film in which letters are read out. The exhibit was of particular interest to me as my father is a D-Day veteran.
One of the most fascinating postal items on display is a WWII-era coconut shell from Hawaii to which a label bearing 37 cents worth of presidential series stamps has been attached. The unusual piece of post was checked by the US Department of Agriculture as well as censored.
Another key WWII item is a Dec. 6, 1941 postal handstamp from the USS Oklahoma recovered after the battleship was sunk by the Japanese air force at Pearl Harbor.
Editor's Note: This article originally appeared in Canadian Stamp News as one of my Commonwealth Communique articles for this excellent publication.
posted by Chad Neighbor at
16.1.12
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