Museums | Spatula, Spade & Sojourns

Date of Sojourn: January 2018

Location: 2 Massachusetts Ave., N.E., Washington, DC 20002; Map

The Smithsonian Institution’s National Postal Museum occupies the ground floor of the former DC City Post Office Building, next to Union Station in downtown Washington. The building served as the city’s central post office from its opening date in September 1914 to September 1986 after which the Postal Service began a major renovation of the building, including restoring the lobby to its original design. A glass-enclosed atrium was created and became the central feature of the National Postal Museum. The Postal Museum opened in this location in 1993.

A visit to the Postal Museum provides an opportunity to see the grand restoration of the City Post Office Building along with a variety of exhibits on the history of the US Postal Service. The The William H. Gross Stamp Gallery takes up much of the original building. In the atrium and associated space in the addition are several exhibits including the history of the Postal Service, the Postal Inspection Service, and the technology to sort/distribute/deliver mail today.

Picture Gallery

Date of Sojourn: January 26, 2018

Location: 201 18 St NW, Washington, https://www.google.com/maps/@38.8950269,-77.0470261,15.8z

For nearly forty years I worked for the U.S. Department of the Interior in the Main Interior Building at 1849 C St, NW (now known as the Stuart Lee Udall Department of the Interior Building). Across the street is the Organization of American States in buildings originally built for the the Pan American Union in the early 20th Century. In one of those buildings is the Art Museum of the Americas. In those four decades I never ventured inside the museum that for many years I could see from my office window.

One recent afternoon Janet and I visited the museum. We found a building built circa 1908 as the home for the Director General of the Pan American Union. (Adjacent to this building in the same complex is the main Pan American Union Building, built at the same time.) We toured the two floors of exhibits at the museum and then walked through the surrounding grounds, including a sculpture garden. There we met the museum director and had a fascinating impromptu conversation about the buildings, the history of the area, the art collection, and the challenges he faces. We learned that the Pan American Union buildings sit on the site of the Van Ness House, bounded by 18th St, F St, 17th St, and Constitution Ave., circa 1813-1816. The house was torn down for the construction of the Pan American Buildings but the carriage house was moved to the NW corner of the site and houses the offices of the museum.