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We’re celebrating #WorldPhotographyDay with some of our favorite snaps of Owney! During the late 1800s, this playful and proud stray terrier named Owney was the nation’s most famous canine. He even had fans all the way across the world! After wandering into an Albany, New York post office during a rainstorm, Owney curled up among the sacks of mail where he was eventually discovered by the mail clerks, one of whom (allegedly named Owen) promptly adopted him. A loyal and energetic companion, Owney – who developed a lifelong affection for mail bags – took to accompanying carriers on their routes; at first, riding along in mail wagons. As mail delivery methods progressed, Owney began to travel with the bags on Railway Post Office (RPO) train cars across the state . . . and then the country! At a time when train wrecks and robberies were all too common, railway mail clerks considered the dog a good luck charm as no train Owney rode was ever in a wreck or robbery. In 1895, Owney even made an around-the-world trip, accompanying mailbags on trains and steamships to Asia and across Europe, before returning to Albany. These photographs were taken in the mid-1890s. Owney was commemorated with a U.S. postage stamp in 2011 and has made his forever home here with us at the National Postal Museum. Yes, that’s correct – you can see Owney in the flesh at the museum thanks to a handful of mail clerks who collected money to pay for the taxidermy procedure after his death in 1897.