Exhibitions

The BPMA presents exhibitions at The Royal Mail Archive in London, at other venues, and online. This section tells you all you need to know about:

• What exhibitions we have available for you to visit (and get a preview through the online exhibition
  
• What exhibitions we have available to tour to other venues
  
• What exhibitions we have available online for you to browse

Our current exhibitions to visit

You can visit the Lions, Leopards, Unicorns and Dragons: The first "Regional" stamps exhibition in our Search Room in Freeling House from 7 May 2008 until Spring 2009. The exhibition marks the 50th anniversary of the first definitive stamps for Wales, Northern Ireland, Scotland and the islands of Guernsey, Jersey and the Isle of Man. The exhibition explores how the designs for the stamps came about.

You can also browse the Lions, Leopards, Unicorns and Dragons: The first "Regional" stamps online exhibition now.

The Travelling Post Officeat The Crewe Heritage Centre reopened on Friday 21 March 2008. The exhibition explores the fascinating history of the service with an array of  equipment, and a beautifully restored 1908 carriage.

You can also see the equivalent exhibition online in The Travelling Post Office which takes us on a journey from 1838 to 2004. 

Moving the Mail: Horses to Horsepower is currently on display at Grampian Transport Museum and the Scottish Railway Preservation Society.

As you can see in the online exhibition Moving the Mail: Horses to Horsepower traces the history of road transport in the postal service, from post boys and mail coaches, to motorcycles and Mobile Post Offices.

The Moving the Mail exhibition is also available to other venues

Available to other venues

Some of our previous touring exhibitions are available to other museums, galleries and historic sites. There are also online highlights to enjoy.

The online exhibition Brunel Speeding the Mail marks 200 years since the birth of the engineer in 1806. Brunel's Great Western Railway and transatlantic ships were vital to the improvement of the postal service, speeding the mail over land and seas.

The Brunel exhibition is available to other venues

Online exhibitions

Timeless & Classic: Elizabeth Queen & Icon features material that was on display in The Royal Mail Archive from May 2007 until April 2008. It also shows material that was shown as part of our 2007 summer exhibition at the Royal Colege of Art. The exhibition explores the evolution of Machin's classic icon and marked the 40th anniversary in 2007 of this 'timeless & classic' image.

Valentine's Day: Passion through the post highlights some of the more romantic items in our collection. It traces the history of Valentine traditions and the impact they have had on the Post Office.

Stamp of the Month Was an ongoing project throughout most of 2007. It shows off some of our wonderful collection of stamps and artwork by linking it each month to the latest stamps from Royal Mail.

Mount Pleasant Community Project 2007 shows some of the photographs taken by Royal Mail staff to create an exhibition about life in Mount Pleasant mail centre.

Mount Pleasant: '...the largest sorting office in the world' recounts the history of the Mount Pleasant site in Clerkenwell from the 1500s until the present day. The Mount Pleasant sorting office was once thought to be the largest in the world.

Elizabeth: Queen & Icon celebrates Her Majesty The Queen's 80th birthday in 2006. Queen Elizabeth has had her face reproduced on more stamps than anyone in history, and this exhibition journeys through these philatelic portraits.

40 years of Courier marks the 40th birthday of Courier, the newspaper for Royal Mail staff. Read a brief history of the magazine and an interview with its first editor Peter Davies. See a selection of Courier front covers and mastheads from the last five decades.

Playing for the Cup was inspired by the 2006 FIFA World Cup, and the successful cataloguing of the BPMA collection of sporting trophies. Meet some of the legends of Post Office sport, from the pages of our historic staff magazines.

V&A Purchase Grant Fund is an exhibition to mark the 125th anniversary of the fund. The Purchase Grant Fund supports heritage institutions in buying items for their collections. Thanks to the fund, we have acquired six postal notices and some music sheets with a postal theme.

Icons of England shows how the things we cherish in our culture find their way into every home as beautiful stamp designs. This exhibition is created in support of the ICONS Online project, a new virtual portrait of England.

World War 2 in Stamps is a slideshow of the best in wartime imagery from the front of an envelope. From Spitfires to submarines, you can learn about some of the events, machines and people involved in the conflict.

Victorian Innovation changed the postal service forever, not just because of the world's first stamp, the Penny Black. Drawing items from the R M Phillips Collection, we throw light on some of the key postal innovations of Victoria's reign.

How the Post Office Went To War is a celebration of how the postal service played its crucial part in Britain's 'finest hour'. Created to mark 60 years since the end of the war, find out about the  work of the GPO on the home front.

The World's First Scheduled Aerial Post was a pivotal moment in postal transport. Created as part of the 2005 Archive Awareness Campaign to celebrate 'Beginnings', this slideshow takes us back to Hendon aerodrome in 1911...

The Post of Christmas Past is good fun at any time of year! The post is a fundamental part of Christmas, from seasonal stamps to Christmas cards.