Post Office Christmas rush in Chicago – Historic Reproduction
(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
This rare historic photograph captures Post Office Christmas rush in Chicago in remarkable detail. Sourced directly from the Library of Congress, it represents an authentic piece of documented history.
The framed print arrives ready to hang; the unframed option suits custom framing. It brings character to any room and makes a memorable gift. Free shipping in the lower 48 states. Since 2001, Snapshots of the Past has shipped historic prints to tens of thousands of customers around the world.
Post Office Christmas rush in Chicago
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The Christmas rush at the Chicago Post Office, photographed on December 18, 1929, catches the building at its busiest holiday moment, when parcels and greeting cards arrived in volumes the staff struggled to handle. The Chicago Post Office was then one of the largest mail facilities in the country, a major sorting hub where mail from across the region passed through before reaching its destination. Seasonal surges like this one were a yearly test of the postal system, and images of them show how much manual labor the work required before automation. The date falls only weeks before the Wall Street crash of 1929 reshaped American life, which gives the scene an added poignancy.
| Created / published | 1929 Dec. 18. |
|---|---|
| Medium | 1 photographic print. |
| Subjects | This record contains unverified, old data from caption card. Caption card tracings: Postal service; Holidays--Christmas; Ill.--Chicago--Bldgs.--Post Office; Geogr.; Shelf. |
| Source | Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division |
| Original scan | 1,536 × 1,228 px · prints to 5 × 4 in at 300 dpi |
| Reference | AMZ-SOTP-HPA-140085 |
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