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Smithsonian sunburst Smithsonian National Postal Museum
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  • Little America Post Office safe
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Little America Post Office safe

Object Details

Description
To commemorate Admiral Robert Byrd's Antarctic Expedition II, the Post Office Department issued a postage stamp designed by President Franklin Roosevelt and sent postal clerk Charles F. Anderson to cancel mail for philatelic collectors at Little America, Antarctica. Arriving in November 1934, Anderson found numerous letters sent the previous year had not been processed. He prepared a total of 153,217 mail pieces in just 16 days in the station 20 feet below the ice with just enough heat to keep the ink from freezing. This safe stored stamps, cancellation dies, and other valuables at the small temporary postal station.
Combination lock safe used by the Post Office at Little America, South Pole.
The safe was brought to Antarctica with Byrd's second expedition.
Metal safe; green w/gold lettering outlined in red & black; 'U.S.POST OFFICE/LITTLE AMERICA/SOUTH POLE'; combination loc
Data Source
National Postal Museum
Date
1934
Object number
1984.0015.1
Associated Organization
Little America (Antarctica) Post Office (USPS)
Type
Mail Processing Equipment
Medium
metal (iron); wood; paint (black and green with gold lettering)
Dimensions
Height x Width x Depth: 21 × 16 × 18 in. (53.34 × 40.64 × 45.72 cm) Height x Width x Depth (Crate Dimensions): 30 1/2 × 27 × 29 in. (77.47 × 68.58 × 73.66 cm) Weight (total weight of current crate and object): 303 lb.
Place
United States of America
See more items in
National Postal Museum Collection
Topic
Post Office Structures
Record ID
npm_1984.0015.1
Usage
CC0
GUID
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/hm873c77fa9-9fae-4db6-a20c-7ee6f4f2ed73

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  • Open Access Highlights
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.
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IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.
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HomeSmithsonian National Postal Museum

Visit »

Open daily 10 a.m. to 5:30 p.m.

Admission is always free!

2 Massachusetts Ave., N.E.
Washington, DC 20002

The museum's main entrance is located on the corner of First Street and Massachusetts Avenue NE. Other entrances have variable hours.

street map of Postal museum

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Owney, the Railway Mail Service Mascot

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