Snapshots of the Past

U.S. Mail, railroad car & mail truck – Historic Print

U.S. Mail, railroad car & mail truck, [between 1909 and 1940] — historic photograph
U.S. Mail, railroad car & mail truck, [between 1909 and 1940]. Historic photograph from the Railroads & Depots collection.

(Originally scanned by the Library of Congress. Each image is professionally and digitally cleaned of artifacts such as color bars and extra borders prior to printing.)

Description

U.S. Mail, railroad car & mail truck comes to life in this historic photograph, reproduced from the original with every detail intact. It comes from the collections of the Library of Congress, scanned from the original and carefully restored.

Framed, it is ready for the wall; unframed, it is ready for the frame you choose. Perfect for a home, office, library or classroom wall, and a gift with a story behind it. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Snapshots of the Past, founded in 2001, has served tens of thousands of customers worldwide.

U.S. Mail, railroad car & mail truck

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Here a mail truck and a railroad car appear together, a pairing that captures the Railway Mail Service during a period of change. For decades, the federal government had sorted letters aboard trains, making the rail car the backbone of postal travel. Motor trucks grew more common in the 1910s and 1920s, taking over local pickup and delivery while trains still carried the long hauls. The National Photo Company, a Washington, D.C., firm known for its views of the nation, made the picture, and its glass negative dates from roughly 1909 to 1940.

Created / published[between 1909 and 1940]
Medium1 negative : glass ; 5 x 7 in. or smaller
GenreGlass negatives.
NotesTitle from unverified data provided by the National Photo Company on the negative or negative sleeve. Gift; Herbert A. French; 1947. This glass negative might show streaks and other blemishes resulting from a natural deterioration in the original coatings. Temp. note: Batch six.
SourceLibrary of Congress, National Photo Company Collection
Original scan5,948 × 4,323 px · prints to 20 × 14 in at 300 dpi
ReferenceAMZ-SOTP-NPC-257363

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