A corporal distributes mail from her tiny post office in Afghanistan, 2010. U.S Marine Corps photo by Corporal Eugenio Montanez.
Museum director Allen Kane is enthused about Mail Call. He comments, “Visitors can read the words of both personal messages and official letters that reveal the expressions, emotions and events of the time.” He adds, “Mail call is a moment when the front line and home front connect. Heartfelt letters, news and packages unite people, raise morale, and, in times of crisis, elevate the ordinary to the extraordinary.”
An airman prepares a container of mail for transportation to research bases in Antarctica, 2007.
Assistant Curator Lynn Heidelbaugh curated Mail Call as well as a previous exhibition titled Victory Mail. Victory Mail, widely known as V-Mail, involved microfilming letters to reduce the bulk and weight of mail sent to and from military personnel during World War II. Several V-Mail items from the museum’s collection are on display in the Mail Call exhibition, which explores how military mail operations have changed from the Revolutionary War to present day. Heidelbaugh observes, “Mail is still very important to military personnel because other communication options are not always available — and there is no other service for sending and receiving packages.”
USO center in Mayport, Florida, 2009: preparing care packages for deployed personnel
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Mail Call is a permanent exhibition. The National Postal Museum (2 Massachusetts Ave., N.E., Washington, DC 20002) is open seven days a week, 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m., except Dec. 25. Admission is free.
Top photo: Service personnel aboard the USS Boxer mail packages home for the 2006 holidays.
