Description

Mail clerks raised money for preserving their mascot and he was taken to the Post Office Department's headquarters in Washington, DC, where he was on placed on display for the public. In 1904 the Department added Owney to their display at the St. Louis, Missouri, World’s Fair. In 1911, the department transferred Owney to the Smithsonian Institution. In 1926, the Institution allowed Owney to travel to the Post Office Department’s exhibit at the Sesquicentennial exhibit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. From 1964-1992, he was displayed at the Smithsonian museum now known as the National Museum of American History and in 1993 he moved to the new National Postal Museum, where he remains on display next to a fabricated Railway Post Office train car.

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National Postal Museum Collection

On View

Currently on exhibit at the National Postal Museum

c. 1885-1897

Object number

0.052985.274.1

Depicts

Owney, American, c. 1888 - 1897

Topic

The Gilded Age (1877-1920)

Place

United States of America

Medium

skin; fur; bone; glass / prepared; stuffed; mounted

Dimensions

Height x Width x Depth: 20 x 11 x 27 in. (50.8 x 27.94 x 68.58 cm)

National Postal Museum

Type

Seals, Symbols & Signage