Routes to a Nation Gallery Tour
Sunday, October 18, 2026
5:30 PM UTC – 6:15 PM UTC
Hosted by Smithsonian National Postal Museum
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About this event
How did a collection of scattered colonies become a nation? Join one of the National Postal Museum's curators for a gallery tour exploring the communication networks that connected Americans during the colonial period and early republic. Learn about Benjamin Franklin's nearly forty-year postal career; how American revolutionaries challenged the royal postal system and established their own; and how merchants used transatlantic correspondence to participate in global commerce. Based on the new NPM book, Routes to a Nation, recently published by Smithsonian Books, this interactive tour highlights objects that reveal how mail shaped commerce, government, culture, and national identity.
This 45-minute guided tour includes time for questions and discussion. Presenters: Lynn Heidelbaugh, Alison Bazylinski, Daniel Piazza (rotating).
Event Location: Historic Lobby
Accessibility: Wheelchair accessible
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