Collections

The objects in the Canadian Postal Museum collection tell the story of postal communication, with a special focus on the post as a means of interpersonal and mass communication. The Canadian Postal Museum collection houses 49,000 artifacts and 300,000 philatelic items that help interpret the material heritage of the post in Canada and around the world.

The Canadian Postal Museum’s diverse collection brings together objects from a variety of collection areas:

• philately (stamps, covers, cancellation stamps, philatelic souvenirs)
• postal equipment (mailboxes, scales, uniforms, post office signs)
• technology (cancelling machines, stamp vending machines)
• transport (models, rural delivery Jeep, skis and even a dog-sled for delivering mail)
• objects related to the rituals of writing (writing implements, writing manuals, selections of correspondence, postcards)
• architecture (coat of arms, doors, postal wickets, lighting fixtures, clocks)
• fine and decorative arts (mail art, paintings, photography)
• popular culture (toys, books, figurines, clothing )
• archival materials (letter carrier documents, documentation on postal strikes, personal correspondence, and photographs)

Here are just a few of the more interesting items in the CPM Collection:

• The writing desk, ink well and writing tools of Sir Sanford Fleming, designer of the 1st Canadian Stamp in 1851 and inventor of the concept of standard time (1989.1.1-6)
• Letters carried by hot air balloon during the Siege of Paris in 1870 by French correspondents anxious to communication with their countrymen living beyond the siege. (1991.35.1-3)
• The complete interior furnishings of the village post office of Val-Morin-Station, Québec in operation from 1914 to 1983. (1993.16)
• An impressive array of Canadian and Foreign mail boxes of every stripe and colour. (1985.160.1)
• Airmail bag and pieces of mail from pilot Brian Peck’s first Canadian airmail flight in 1918 (2006.195.1)
• The Chris Bennedsen Collection: A collection of correspondence, photographs, work diaries and other ephemera put together by one Danish immigrant to Canada. (2000.192)

See the Philatelic Treasures . . .
a selection of artifacts from the collection . . .
and others in the Treasures Gallery