Dead Letter Office album
Object Details
- Description
- This red, leather-bound scrapbook titled “Blind Reading” was assembled after 1883. It contains twenty-one clippings from the front of envelopes postmarked between 1883 and 1884. The envelopes inside bear markings of “illegibly addressed,” “misdirected,” “returned for better direction,” “no such office in state named,” “no post office named,” “no state named,” “no such street . . .,” and “unclaimed.” With their intended destinations practically obscured, postal clerks directed letters such as these to the Dead Letter Office, where specially trained clerks carefully worked to decipher the nearly illegible handwriting, the scant information, and the simply incorrect or missing addresses. Such challenging addresses were termed 'blind readings'.
- Each envelope in the scrapbook has the additional mark, “Deficiency in address supplied at Dead Letter Office” that proves these mysteries had all been solved. When clerks cracked a particularly challenging mail mystery, they forwarded the mail along with a letter requesting that the envelope be returned for the Dead Letter office’s collection. With the envelope pasted into the album, the correctly decoded address was written on the reverse page, like the answers to a trivia game.
- References:
- Cushing, Marshall Henry. Story of Our Post Office. Boston: A. M. Thayer & Co., 1893.
- http://www.postalmuseum.si.edu/resources/6a2c_deadletters.html Accessed March 21, 2006.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- 1883-1884
- Object number
- 1984.1128.333.1-21
- Associated Organization
- Post Office Department
- Type
- Archival Material
- Medium
- paper; leather; gilt; adhesive; cotton thread
- Dimensions
- Height x Width x Depth: 4 1/2 × 7 3/4 × 3/4 in. (11.43 × 19.69 × 1.91 cm)
- Place
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Record ID
- npm_1984.1128.333.1-21
