The Postal Museum (formerly the British Postal Museum & Archive) is a
postal museum
A postal museum is a museum dedicated to the display of objects relating to the postal service. A subcategory of postal museums are philatelic museums, which focus on philately and postage stamps.
List of postal and philatelic museums
Afric ...
run by the Postal Heritage Trust. It began in 2004 as The British Postal Museum & Archive and opened in
Central London
Central London is the innermost part of London, in England, spanning the City of London and several boroughs. Over time, a number of definitions have been used to define the scope of Central London for statistics, urban planning and local gove ...
as The Postal Museum on 28 July 2017.
Sites
The Postal Museum operates three sites: The museum at Phoenix Place, London near the
Mount Pleasant sorting office in
Clerkenwell
Clerkenwell ( ) is an area of central London, England.
Clerkenwell was an Civil Parish#Ancient parishes, ancient parish from the medieval period onwards, and now forms the south-western part of the London Borough of Islington. The St James's C ...
, a museum store in
Loughton
Loughton () is a suburban town and civil parish in the Epping Forest District of Essex. The town borders Waltham Abbey, Theydon Bois, Chigwell, Chingford, and Buckhurst Hill, and lies north-east of Charing Cross. For statistical purposes ...
, Essex and The Museum of the Post Office in the Community, located about the post office in
Blists Hill Victorian Town, Shropshire.
Origins
The
Public Records Act 1838 was the first step in organizing government
archives
An archive is an accumulation of historical records or materials, in any medium, or the physical facility in which they are located.
Archives contain primary source documents that have accumulated over the course of an individual or organ ...
, including the civil service department known then as ‘the Post Office’. This represents the beginnings of what is now The Royal Mail Archive. By 1896 a report concerning the maintenance of Post Office records had been produced and the first archivist was appointed. The Public Records Acts of 1958 and 1967 reinforced the need for the Post Office to keep, catalogue and make its archive records available.

In 1966, the first National Postal Museum (NPM) was established, in part due to The Phillips Collection of Victorian
philately
Philately (; ) is the study of postage stamps and postal history. It also refers to the collection and appreciation of stamps and other philatelic products. While closely associated with stamp collecting and the study of postage, it is possibl ...
being donated to the nation by
Reginald M. Phillips. The museum was opened by
the Queen on 19 February 1969, at
King Edward Building near
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral, formally the Cathedral Church of St Paul the Apostle, is an Anglican cathedral in London, England, the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London in the Church of Engl ...
in London. A collection of postal equipment, uniforms, vehicles and much more was developed over the years; far more than could be displayed in the small museum.
In 1998, the King Edward Building was sold, and the NPM closed. The collections were retained and the management of the museum and archive was combined. This was known as the Heritage unit of the Post Office (then renamed Consignia, then Royal Mail Group).
Royal Mail Group decided to transfer the work of this heritage unit to an independent charitable trust, in light of the changing mail market and its own shift from public service to competitive business. This 'Postal Heritage Trust' came into being in April 2004, and was branded as the British Postal Museum & Archive.
From 2004, the BPMA expanded its work into providing a programme of events, exhibitions, education and web resources.
New Postal Museum

In February 2016, the BPMA was renamed the Postal Museum, and began building a new museum which opened in 2017 in Clerkenwell, London, near to the
Mount Pleasant Mail Centre.
The museum was expected to cost £26 million to build, and consists of two sections.
The Postal Museum has opened up to the public a stretch of track in London's
Mail Rail, which was the world's first driverless electric railway.
In the museum section, anticipated attractions include a commemorative stamp that would have been used had
Scotland
Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...
won the
1978 FIFA World Cup
The 1978 FIFA World Cup was the 11th edition of the FIFA World Cup, a Anniversary#Latin-derived numerical names, quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament among the men's senior national teams. It wa ...
, telegrams from the night that the ''
Titanic
RMS ''Titanic'' was a British ocean liner that sank in the early hours of 15 April 1912 as a result of striking an iceberg on her maiden voyage from Southampton, England, to New York City, United States. Of the estimated 2,224 passengers a ...
'' sank, the childhood stamp album of
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury (born Farrokh Bulsara; 5 September 1946 – 24 November 1991) was a British singer and songwriter who achieved global fame as the lead vocalist and pianist of the rock band Queen (band), Queen. Regarded as one of the gre ...
, and an intercepted first edition of ''
Ulysses'' (banned in the United Kingdom until 1936).
Relationship with Royal Mail
The Postal Museum is an independent charity but is strongly linked with
Royal Mail
Royal Mail Group Limited, trading as Royal Mail, is a British postal service and courier company. It is owned by International Distribution Services. It operates the brands Royal Mail (letters and parcels) and Parcelforce Worldwide (parcels) ...
Group. The former director of the Postal Museum is Adrian Steel. The Postal Museum receives an annual payment from Royal Mail for managing the Royal Mail archive. Although the archive is part of the Postal Museum, because it is a public record, the ultimate responsibility for it lies with Royal Mail. The records have been given official
designated status which means that they are recognised as nationally important, and are available to researchers to consult.
See also
*
Postal museum
A postal museum is a museum dedicated to the display of objects relating to the postal service. A subcategory of postal museums are philatelic museums, which focus on philately and postage stamps.
List of postal and philatelic museums
Afric ...
*
Connected Earth
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Postal Museum
Museums established in 2004
History museums in London
Philatelic museums
Archives in the London Borough of Islington
Royal Mail
Media and communications in the London Borough of Islington
Museums in the London Borough of Islington
2004 establishments in England
Philately of the United Kingdom
Buildings and structures in Clerkenwell
London
London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...
Physical museums with virtual catalogues and exhibits