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V-Mail microfilm strip
Object Details
- Description
- This portion of single-perforated 16 mm V-Mail microfilm has 20 rectangular perforations with rounded corners. The Kodak edge code of a square followed by a circle denotes the film reel was manufactured in 1945. This strip of microfilm contains the images of nine V-Mail letters written between October 9 and 11, 1945 by various civilians from Washington, DC; New York, Kentucky, Pennsylvania, and Illinois. These letters were addressed to naval service members with San Francisco Fleet Post Office numbers. The first letter is written by Mrs. India A. Thompson, Truth Hall, Howard University, Washington, DC, to her husband M.W. Thompson in the US Navy. The ninth letter addressed to George S. Bott with the US Navy was sent by Miss M. J. Handzes of New York and includes a line drawing of a groom carrying a bride over a threshold with a baby in a basket and a typed caption: "ADVICE TO PEOPLE WHO PREFER THE EASY WAY."
- The Post Office, War and Navy Departments contracted with Kodak for microfilming services during World War II for the V-Mail service. Capturing images of personal letters on 16 mm microfilm helped reduce the strain that the high volume of mail placed on overseas shipping. Transporting reels of microfilm to be reproduced near the addressees’ location lightened the load, freed up cargo space for other supplies, and expedited the mail via air transport.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- 1945
- Object number
- 2008.2017.1
- Type
- Mail Processing Equipment
- Medium
- cellulose acetate; emulsion
- Dimensions
- Height x Width: 6 x 5/8 in. (15.24 x 1.59 cm)
- Place
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Topic
- Mail Processing
- Record ID
- npm_2008.2017.1
- Usage
- CC0
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