Thursday, May 9, 2013

Return to sender? Not if the postie could help it

The National Archives holds a vast collection of post office records that date back to colonial times. Elizabeth Masters reveals the heroic efforts of Victoria’s postal service in delivering the mail, and uncovers creatively addressed envelopes, romantic entanglements and letters sent from disaster zones.

Postal staff in late 19th-century Victoria were justly proud of their investigative skills. They recorded their delivery successes in a file of ‘curiosities’ from 1880 to 1928 that included, among other items, poorly addressed envelopes that required a bit of detective work to deliver.
More information at the National Archives website.