The Canadian Postal Museum is housed in the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada. It is considered one of the largest postal museums in the world, ranking second in the number of visitors per year.
Exhibit
The museum is not centered on postage stamps, although it does have a first-class collection of tens of thousands of postage stamps. First and foremost, the museum covers the general history of Canada’s postal heritage, including the social and economic role of the postal service in the country’s history. The museum also covers international postal topics.
The Postal Museum’s collections include a desk that belonged to Sandford Fleming, the artist of Canada’s first postage stamp, Canadian and foreign mailboxes and samples of postal employee uniforms, mailbags and rural mailboxes, post office signs and letter-sorting equipment.
The museum has a permanent exhibition, which is complemented by temporary or special exhibitions.
A notable exhibit is the National Postage Stamp Collection, which features every postage stamp ever issued in Canada.
In addition to these public displays, the museum’s mission includes collecting, preserving and describing tangible objects relating to Canada’s postal history.
History
The Canadian Postal Museum was established in 1971 and opened in 1974 as the National Postal Museum. It was merged with the Canadian Museum of Civilization in 1988, acquired its current name in 1996, and moved to its permanent location at the Museum of Civilization in 1997.
Department
The Postal Museum is operated by the Canadian Museum of Civilization Corporation, a federal government corporation (Crown Corporation), which is also responsible for the Canadian Museum of Civilization, the Canadian War Museum, the Canadian Children’s Museum, and the Virtual Museum of New France.
Membership in organizations
The museum is a member of the following organizations:
- Canadian Museums Association (Canadian Museums Association),
- Canadian Heritage Information Network and the Virtual Museum of New France.
- The Virtual Museum of Canada.
Toronto also has a museum of Canadian postal services. It is located on Adelaide Street, in the First Toronto Post Office, which was founded in 1834, when Toronto (then York) was the capital of Upper Canada. The post office is still in operation here.
Another exhibit on Canadian postal history is located in the old post office building at the Oakville Museum in Oakville, Ontario.