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[[underlined]]National Postal Museum[[/underlined]]

Mr. Adams introduced the following report for the Regents' information.

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Outgoing Postmaster General William Bolger has favored a staff proposal to construct a $14.7 million facility for a national postal museum within the Washington City Post Office building near Union Station. Although the Postal Service's Board of Governors elected not to discuss the subject at it's December meeting, it is thought that incoming Postmaster General Paul Carlin favors the proposal as well and that it might be placed on the agenda for the Governor's February meeting.

The Smithsonian's vast and valuable National Philtelic Collections -- now housed in the National Museum of American History and largely derived from transfers from the U.S. Postal Service -- would benefit from the improved facilities for storage, exhibition, and public reference. Traveling exhibition progress would reach national audiences and collectors around the country. Additionally, space would be released in the Mall building and made available to other important holdings equally in need of improved storage and public access, including the National Numismatic Collections.

Approval of the capital outlay of $14.7 million would enable the Postal Service and the Smithsonian to proceed to develop a proposed operational plan which would then need approval of both the Board of Regents and the Postmaster General. The proposed 70,000 square-foot facility is the most comprehensive of four proposals prepared over the past several months by a team of Smithsonian and Postal Service staff,