Smithsonian's National Postal Museum Receives its Largest Donation from PIMCO's Founder Bill Gross

Summary

William H. Gross, the founder of PIMCO donated $8 million to the National Postal Museum to create a new 12,000-square-foot gallery that is expected to open in 2012 and will be named in his honor. Gross also loaned to the museum a cover from the Pony Express service delivered to the recipient two years after its Pony Express rider was captured by American Indians, a cover of the earliest known example of a U.S. postage stamp, and a block of four 1918 "Inverted Jennys." The new William H. Gross Stamp Gallery will house these objects, as well as other items from the National Stamp Collection, and provide space for educational exhibits, temporary exhibitions, and public programs. In October 2009, the exhibit, "Treasures from the William H. Gross Collection" displayed in the museum's atrium is in recognition of National Stamp Collecting Month.

Subject

• Gross, William H (William Hunt) 1944-
• National Postal Museum (U.S.)
• Pacific Investment Management Company
• Treasures from the William H. Gross Collection (October 2009 National Postal Museum)
• William H. Gross Stamp Gallery (2012: National Postal Museum)

Category

Chronology of Smithsonian History

Notes

Smithsonian Newsdesk, "Smithsonian's National Postal Museum Receives Its Largest Donation from PIMCO's Founder Bill Gross", September 22, 2009

Contact information

Institutional History Division, Smithsonian Institution Archives, 600 Maryland Avenue, SW, Washington, D.C. 20024-2520, SIHistory@si.edu

Date

September 22, 2009

Topic

• Covers (Philately)
• Postage stamps
• Donors
• Exhibitions
• Gifts
• Pony express
• Stamp collecting

Place

United States

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