Domestic and Foreign Mailboxes to go on Display

The National Postal Museum reports, "Work has started on the conservation treatments of the 3-D objects going on display in the new William H.  Gross Stamp Gallery; opening in the fall of 2013. The first batch of objects being treated are foreign and domestic mail collection boxes. The countries these collection boxes are from are West Germany, Hong Kong, South Korea, Israel, New Zealand, Norway, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey and one collection box from a U.S. Naval ship." 

According to Rebecca Johnson, Preservation Technician and Offsite Coordinator, "The majority of these collection boxes were used and have signs of regular wear, which is part of their history. The goal of a conservation treatment is not to return these collection boxes to 'like-new' condition, but instead to stabilize moving joints and loose paint flakes and remove dirt or grime which is best for the long-term health of the object. This includes the inside as well as the outside of each box. There are no keys to open these boxes, but we could hear something moving around inside that did not belong there. The only way to find out what was inside was by removing it through the mail slot."

Found inside were personal postcards from Georgia and Texas, someone’s letter to the water department and another to State Farm.  Visitors mistook them for" active postage repositories" when they were on display many years ago.  Needless to say the mailed letters that will never arrived and the museum is currently deciding what to do with them. 

Shown above, Postal Museum employee removing debris from inside an Israeli collection box.

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