One of the greatest pleasures of my work is finding out new things about the material in our archive and museum collections. Many of our items and documents are very familiar to both staff and the public, and the stories they tell are often well-known and well-loved; but new discoveries can make it possible to view the collections and the stories they tell in a new light.
Polruan – postman standing at quayside. (POST 118/250)
Cataloguing the photographs in the Royal Mail Archive over the last few years has made these kinds of discoveries more frequent. The photographs can often shed light on the more personal stories that define the relationship that the public has with the Post Office; the times when personal endeavour and commitment to service really touches the individuals and the communities whom the Post Office serves.
A postman pushes his bicycle across a causeway while delivering mail to Osea Island, Maldon, Essex, 1987. (003-012-001)
The photographs also show the Post Office’s growing aptitude with marketing and public relations at a time when such words were not in most people’s vocabulary and certainly not on the lips of most government officials.
Postman John Rooney rowing across Lough Erne in Ulster. (003-013-001)
In my talk on 7 June at The Lumen URC, I’ll be talking about the foundation of the General Post Office Photograph Library in the 1930s, its subsequent development and re-establishment when the Post Office became a statutory corporation in 1969, through to its closure in the 1990s. As we take this journey through the 20th Century I’ll also show you some of my favourite images from the exhibition and the wider collection and tell you some of the stories behind them. Finally, I’ll show you how we’re making them accessible with the new social media technology at our disposal and how you can find out more.
Martin Devereux – Digital Content Development Manager
Martin Devereux will speak about The BPMA Photography Collection at The Lumen URC, Bloomsbury on 7 June as part of The Post Office in Pictures, a exhibition of photographs from our collections. Tickets for the talk are £3/£2.50 concession, please book online. The exhibition is free and runs until 31 August 2012.
This is reminds me that mailing services is a very hard work for all mailing delivery man,now a days some part of country around the world doesn’t use anymore mailing services.But anyway thanks for sharing this article.