@nationalpostalmuseum

#OTD in 1993, the National Postal Museum first opened its doors to the public. 29 years and millions of visitors later, the core purpose of the museum remains: to share the remarkable story of the US postal system and its philatelic program. If the core purpose remains the same, how we tell that story has certainly changed. When we opened in 1993, we were using the optimum software available at the time for our computer interactives (disk operating system!), and the best media of the day to hold our videos (laserdiscs!). Today, not only is our technology upgraded to meet 21st century demands, but we celebrate our birthday online with our social media community. Social media—fantastical if not unimaginable in 1993, but now so commonplace and arguably essential for a museum in 2022. The museum’s tiny staff, with invaluable support from dozens of Smithsonian colleagues across the Institution, managed to pull off what seemed to many to be impossible: opening a Smithsonian museum in 33 months! And though we opened on time, everyone was working feverishly up to that last day. As Ted Wilson, NPM’s former Registrar recalled: “The day before it was like total chaos. We had cherry pickers in the atrium cleaning the airplanes. We had just swarms of people around and construction workers and everything and then there comes opening day…the museum was completely filled and it was very exciting.” Pictured here are visitors to the museum on July 30, 1993, enthusiastically lined up to purchase the block of four commemorative stamps issued for opening day, to obtain a first day of issue cover, to receive a unique cancel for the occasion, or all of the above. The National Postal Museum gratefully acknowledges the continued patronage and commitment of the United States Postal Service, as well as our generous and gracious donors. And a very sincere thanks to our visitors and supporters on social media. Without you, what would we even have to celebrate today? ©USPS; all rights reserved.