Dollar-for-dollar match!
Before you celebrate New Year’s Eve, will you take a moment to make double the impact at the National Postal Museum? There are just hours remaining in our year-end matching gift challenge, and so many supporters have already shown their commitment to this history museum like no other with generous donations. But we still need you.
Will you join your fellow philanthropic leaders? Your gift of any amount, made by 11:59 TONIGHT, will be matched dollar-for-dollar by our Council of Philatelists and go twice as far as we prepare for another year of sharing the story of America through the mail.
https://postalmuseum.si.edu/support
📫Know Your Stuff ft. Smithsonian's National Postal Museum
Do you Know Your Stuff? History teacher Emily Glankler is dropping hints about a key object of its time in the Smithsonian National Postal Museum. See if you can guess what it is! #KnowYourStuff
What’s in the box?
While caring for the illustrious and prolific Postmasters General’s art collection, we came upon a very unique work of stamp art...
What do stamp collectors and baseball memorabilia collectors have in common?
Baseball collectors and stamp collectors – similar, but different. Chief Curator Daniel Piazza explains how as he describes some of the rare items that will be featured in our upcoming exhibition “Baseball: America’s Home Run!”
#WorldSeries #Baseball #SmithsonianBaseball #Collecting #Philately #USPS #AmericasHomeRun
Behind the upcoming exhibition "Baseball: America's Home Run"
Did you know that baseball and postage stamps have a rich and intertwined history? The stamp images alone may not tell the full story, but we will in our upcoming exhibition “Baseball: America’s Home Run!” Hear a little more about some of the stamps that will be featured in the exhibition – along with rare accompanying objects like uniforms and artwork – from Chief Curator Dan Piazza.
How to Make a Time Capsule
How do we record the moments and the movements in which we are currently living? Do we want to remember them, and if so, how should we preserve our unique journeys? The answer is deeply personal, but a desire to capture the intensity of our current experiences is valid, and there are multiple ways to do so. Shared experiences and virtual conversations have immense power to change, educate, and impact each other. However, sometimes the best way to process the world around us is to record it solely for our future selves.
Bel Mills is a collage artist and book designer who, under the name of Scrap Paper Circus, upcycles vintage paper and common mail materials such as business reply envelopes and cancelled stamps. One of her most interesting and opportune projects is her time capsule, which she creates using materials many of us have around the house. Watch this instructional video to find out how you can make your own time capsule out of the following supplies:
6 Business Reply Envelopes
Ruler
Fine Tip Marker
Embroidery Thread
Needle
Button
Glue Stick
Washi Tape
File Label Stickers
Scissors
Support Your Smithsonian
Smithsonian Secretary Lonnie G. Bunch III shares how we’ve responded to the needs of teachers, students and lifelong learners everywhere. Today we're asking you to #SupportYourSmithsonian and help power our mission: https://postalmuseum.si.edu/support
Make a hand-stitched Mother's Day card!
Follow these simple instructions to make a hand-stitched Mother’s Day card using basic household items! We recommend young children work with an adult on this activity.
Supplies:
•Cardboard
•Cardstock
•Colored yarn/ribbon or home-dyed twine
•Nail
•Pen/marker
•Scissors
•Toothpick
•Tape
1. Find your yarn. If you don't have any on hand, you can dye any natural fibers (such as kitchen twine) using food coloring. Soak the twine for a couple of hours and hang to dry.
2. Fold your cardstock to make the card shape.
3. Using a ruler or lined paper, mark out your design on the card by creating evenly spaced dots. We made a heart, but you can make any shape you want!
4. With your card open, and the cardboard underneath, use the nail to puncture the cardstock on each of the evenly spaced dots. Ideally, use a nail that is at least as wide as your toothpick. You may need to lift the cardstock off the cardboard and push the nail so that the shaft goes through the paper, not just the tip of the nail.
5. Tie a knot around one end of your yarn or twine. Tape the other end to the end of a toothpick, making a needle.
6. From the inside of the card, select a hole to begin sewing with. Carefully and slowly pull your yarn or twine through the cardstock, making sure to not tear the paper in the process. Repeat to create the design you want.
7. Once complete, tie a knot on the inside of the card securing the needle-end of the yarn or twine. Cut off any remaining yarn or twine.
8. Write a message for your mom inside the card and present it to her with love on Mother’s Day!
If you’re in the card-making-game (especially with Mother’s Day on the way), 3-D hearts are fun and simple embellishments you can make at home! All you need is paper, scissors, and glue or tape.
Mother's Day Card making!
Here's a quick and easy Mother's Day Card that you can make using household items! Scissors are required for this craft activity, so we recommend adult supervision for younger children.
You'll need:
Paper (preferably cardstock)
A small photo or drawing
Paint (or washable marker)
Scissors
Glue (or tape)
*Draw two hearts on folded cardstock – a big one and a smaller one within the big heart
*Cut out the big heart to use for your card – make sure not to cut the folded side!
*Carefully cut smaller heart out of big heart (this will become a heart-shaped window)
*Draw a little picture or select a small photograph for the center of your heart
*Paste photo or drawing inside big heart
*Dip finger in paint (you can also color your finger with a washable marker)
*Place thumbprints along border
*Write a message to mom inside card and give it to her for Mother's Day!
Join us this weekend for our Valentine's Day Card Workshop! Saturday & Sunday, February 8 & 9, 10AM - 4PM. All ages are welcome at this free, fun annual event! 💝
Born Giuseppe Paolo DiMaggio and nicknamed “Joltin’ Joe” and “The Yankee Clipper,” DiMaggio was an All-Star in each of his 13 seasons as a New York Yankee. He helped the team win ten American League Pennants and nine World Series Championships. DiMaggio was honored with a postage stamp in 2012 as part of the "Major League Baseball All-Stars" issue. The portrait - created by the very talented Kadir Nelson - is based on an iconic photograph showing DiMaggio following through on a right-hand swing.
Did you know the National Postal Museum is set to open "Baseball: America's Home Run" in June 2020? And you can bet that this iconic player - and his stamp - will be a part of our exhibit all about America's iconic past time!
© USPS; all rights reserved. Artwork appears courtesy United States Postal Service, Postmaster General's Collection.