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-58- [[underlined]] Postal History Museum [[/underlined]] Mr. Ripley reported that, in response to informal inquiry earlier this year, William Bolger, Postmaster General of the United States, expressed an interest in exploring ways in which the Smithsonian and the Postal Service could work together to enhance the general public's appreciation for postal history. As discussions progressed it became readily apparent that much could, in fact, be done. For its part, the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History maintains one of the most comprehensive postage stamp collections in the world, numbering over 16 million items; an extensive supporting collection of postal history objects; and a core staff of knowledgeable philatelists. The Postal Service, for its part, has an excellent library and archives pertaining to postal history, and a large, historically and architecturally important headquarters building, just north of Union Station in Washington, D.C. The Service intends to diminish its use of that building by 1988 and has stated its desire to renovate it into a multi-purpose revenue-producing rental property, a postal service facility, and a postal museum. Discussions to date, while still completely informal, have been extremely encouraging. In brief, the Postal Service would consider renovating a substantial portion of its present headquarters building for the express purpose of providing greatly enlarged rent-free space to the Smithsonian in which to house, care for, and display the Museum of American History's postal history collections. In addition, the Postal Service would underwrite the increased annual cost to the Smithsonian which such an expansion would entail.