Postal History As Social History

Presented to Greater Victoria Philatelic Society, 19 May 2017

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Table of contents

Overview

My argument is simply that our studies as postal historians have much to gain from an approach that pays more attention than has traditionally been the norm to the stories behind the covers we collect, especially the letters people wrote … and saved. Such letters also provide a conduit to examine the stories behind these letters and the people sending and receiving them.


  1   What I collect (my interest …)
  2   What (sort of) obsesses me
  3   What excites & energizes me
  4   Old-School Postal History Puritanism
  5   A more inclusive vision of postal history
  6   Woodstock, U.C.,1836 – nice letter
  7   Mulready envelope
  8   The cost of living far from a post office
  9   A debtor's plea (Norwich, 1838)
10   "A voice from the past"
11   On a lighter note... a preacher's lament
12   Picture postcard revolution
13   A different kind of postcard correspondence
14   In conclusion



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