USPS
Before Email, There Was V-mail
During World War II, microphotography was used to transmit letters between servicemen on the front lines and their loved ones back home. This not-so-instant-messaging system was known as Victory Mail (V-mail for short). Messages written on specially designated stationery were microfilmed and shippe...
December 06, 2008 |
By Jesse Rhodes
Smithsonian Events Week of 12/1-7
Monday, December 1 Resident Associate Program LectureFor some, the holidays can be disastrous. Not because the turkey came out overcooked or you couldn't find the one "gotta have it" toy for your kid—but because you live along a fault line or in the shadow of an active volcano. Come hear geologist ...
December 01, 2008 |
By Jesse Rhodes
What's Cooking: Turkeys at the Smithsonian
In honor of Thanksgiving, we pay tribute to that legendary American fowl: the turkey. Myth has it that the turkey was present at the first-ever Thanksgiving dinner between the Pilgrims and the Native Americans. When you visit the Smithsonian this weekend—and you should, because the museums are op...
November 26, 2008 |
By Anika Gupta
A Passion For Postcards
Back in the early 20th century, long before computers or telephones were standard, postcards were like e-mail. The letter carrier stopped by three or four times each day and postcards were cheap, costing a mere penny to mail. You could send a card in the morning to a friend across the city to set u...
April 08, 2008 |
By Kenneth R. Fletcher
Going Postal
If I can't be on a stamp, can I at least put in my 37 cents' worth?
February 2003 |
By Mary Roach
No Return Address
To the "detectives" who solve the mysteries of errant mail, every letter is a human tale
July 2000 |
By Sue Allison
Stamps What an Idea!
New commemoratives look like our first stamps, which were slow to catch on in 1847
January 1998 |
By John Ross
