Arago: Exhibits

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Changing How Mail is Processed

Changing How Mail is Processed

If asked to visualize the postal system, most individuals would reference the system’s easily recognizable public icons. Post offices, mailboxes, letter carriers and vehicles would come to mind.

What is unseen and often unknown is the enormous system of mail processing that includes a wide range of evolving techniques and technologies that have adapted through time to changes in mail content, size, and above all, volume. Each of these objects from the museum’s collections represents a dramatic change in mail processing.

10c Washington single

1847 ten-cent Washington stamp

Pitney meter die member

Pitney meter mail die member

Mr. ZIP, post-conservation photo

Mr. ZIP