Creativity at the Postal Museum

Philatelic Foreward — By Jay Bigalke

An invitation to an exhibit opening at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum adds a special touch courtesy of the U.S. Postal Service.

Who doesn’t enjoy a beautiful work of art? For stamp collectors it’s easy to enjoy multiple works through our hobby.

In October the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum opened a new exhibit titled “Beautiful Blooms” that showcases botanical-related stamps and artwork from the United States Postmaster General’s Collection.

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Details of the new exhibit were highlighted in Linn’s Oct. 30 issue on page 21.

Museum Director Elliot Gruber said it best in his description of the exhibit: “Every stamp tells a story, and this exhibition tells the story of the design process and creativity resulting from the beauty of flowering plants on stamps.”

In advance of the exhibit opening, the museum invited guests to an Oct. 19 preview. Even the invitation went the extra mile for collectors by pairing a stamp and special postmark with the exhibit subject.

The invitation was franked with one of the recently issued Protect Pollinators forever stamps and postmarked with a digital color first-day cancel. Each invitation was protectively packaged by the U.S. Postal Service for delivery.

It was a small touch that definitely was noticed by recipients.

The new exhibit runs through summer 2019, so I encourage all who are able to check it out. If you can’t see it in person, the museum has a micro website for the exhibition.