The Happiest Mail Boxes on Earth
By Patricia Raynor, Loan Coordinator
If your vacation destination this year happens to include Walt Disney World® in Florida, try playing the game of who can spot the most mailboxes. From Main Street U.S.A. in the Magic Kingdom® to the international pavilions at Epcot,® careful observers will discover a variety of mailboxes scattered around the many park attractions.
If you begin your park journey at Main Street USA, you will be transported back to turn-of-the-20th -century American small town with a lamp-post mounted collection box that fits right in to the time period. At Epcot®, you will find collection boxes such as the United Kingdom’s eye-catching red pillar post box (left) or the American turn-of-the-century Owens-style lamp mail box (right), on loan to the park from the U.S. Postal Service. Disney cast members collect mail from this box each day for eventual delivery to postal service facilities in Orlando, Florida.
Don’t forget to hop over to Disney’s Hollywood Studios™ during your resort visit, where the sharp-eyed will catch a glimpse of a household mailbox (left) on the set of the “Great Movie Ride.” You’ll have to look closely though, since you will probably be focusing on the live recreation of a 1930s gangster movie unfolding before you. Don’t take the FASTPASS® option at The Twilight Zone Tower of Terror™ because you won’t want to miss the Hollywood Tower hotel lobby showcasing the glory days of Hollywood circa 1939. Look closely before you enter the elevators and you’ll see the lobby’s Cutler collection mailbox.
For more information: City-free delivery and early domestic mailboxes
About the Author
Patricia Raynor: "I have worked at the Smithsonian Institution since 1990 and served as the collections coordinator for the National Postal Museum's inaugural exhibitions. I am now the museum's loan coordinator and liaison for the Smithsonian Affiliation's Program. My activities include memberships in the Smithsonian's American Indian Employee Network and Loans Forum, as well as the Mid-Atlantic Association of Museums in which I served on its Registrars and Program Committees."
