Field Trip to National Postal Museum

Tomorrow, Wednesday, August 19th, 2015, Stratford ESL is going to visit the National Postal Museum.  The Postal Museum is located at 2 Massachusetts Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002 opposite Union Station Metro. We will meet at 10 a.m. at the Metro Station and then walk across the street to visit the museum. 





Here are some questions that can be answered in the museum.  How many are you able to answer?

1. For how much was the Hope Diamond insured when it was mailed to the Smithsonian Institution in 1958?
2. In September 1918, the U.S. Post Office sent two pilots on a path finding flight between which two U.S. cities in an effort to expand the country's airmail service? 
3. A popular style of stagecoach was used in the late 1800s throughout the American west to carry passengers and mail between towns. From which New England town did these stagecoaches take their name?
4. This actor portrayed the character "Cliff Claven," the know-it-all mailman for 11 years on the television series "Cheers." 
5. The tunnel-shaped mailbox is a common sight on America's rural roads. What year was it designed? 
6. As train traffic began to slow, Highway Post Office Service was inaugurated in 1941 to replace portions of the Railway Mail Service. When did Highway Post Office Service end?
7. Dog sleds were used to carry mail in Alaska throughout the 19th century and into the 20th. What mode of transportation eventually replaced most of the sleds? 
8. Rural Free Delivery Service began as an experimental service in West Virginia. The service became very popular, and was soon in great demand. By 1906, how many miles of American roads were covered by Rural Free Delivery Service? 
9. V-mail was the name given to a process of reproducing miniaturized messages by microphotography from 16mm film during World War II. The system of microfilming letters was based on the use of special V-mail letter-sheets, which were a combination of letter and envelope. The letter-sheets were constructed and gummed so as to fold into a uniform and distinctively marked envelope. Why were they used during the war?
10. In the 20th century, postal vehicles were first painted olive drab, then in the 1950s, red, white and blue. In what decade did they begin to be painted almost all white? 

Check your answers here.