- Home
- Collections
- Search the Collection
- Boyd's City Express Post mailbox
Boyd's City Express Post mailbox
Object Details
- Description
- Before the Post Office Department established its monopoly of local city mail delivery, a large number of private post and messenger services appeared in cities and towns across the country. Boyd's City Express Post, operating principally in New York City, survived longer than most of the private companies, which were challenged in the courts by the government and finally displaced when Free City Delivery Service was instituted in 1863.
- This hanging-style mailbox from the mid-nineteenth century is one of the two known mailboxes used by Boyd's City Express Post known to have survived. From 1844 to about 1860, more than 2,000 such boxes were situated outside drug stores, restaurants, hotels, and other well-trafficked locations.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- 1844 - c. 1860
- Object number
- 0.279561.1
- Associated Organization
- Boyd's City Express Post, American, 1854 - 1869
- Type
- Mail Processing Equipment
- Medium
- metal; paint (black, gold, red)
- Dimensions
- Height x Width x Depth: 18 1/2 x 14 3/16 x 15 3/8 in. (47 x 36 x 39 cm)
- Place
- New York
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- On View
- Currently on exhibit at the National Postal Museum
- Topic
- Civil War and Reconstruction (1860-1877)
- American Expansion (1800-1860)
- Mail Processing
- Record ID
- npm_0.279561.1
- Usage
- CC0
This image is in the public domain (free of copyright restrictions). You can copy, modify, and distribute this work without contacting the Smithsonian. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Open Access page.
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.