SENDING A LETTER IN 1776 - North River Railway · 2015. 9. 4. · ORIGAMI FOLDS The few Origami...
Transcript of SENDING A LETTER IN 1776 - North River Railway · 2015. 9. 4. · ORIGAMI FOLDS The few Origami...
Presented by BOB VAN CLEEFof the North River Railway
SENDING A LETTER IN 1776
LIFE IN COLONIAL TIMES• Back in the good ‘ol days you didn’t send a message by just typing in
your text and hitting “SEND”. No siree! It just wasn’t that simple.
• There were no movie theaters and playhouses were rare. News was
delivered by gossip, from the pulpit or the town crier in the town square.
People made their own entertainment - Prominent citizens provided
rooms for small gatherings.
• Most people rarely traveled more than
about 20 miles from home as that was
a good day’s ride by horse.
• Only the Government and a few wealthy
individuals could afford to import goods
from Europe and it took up to a year after
an order was placed to receive the goods.
MAIL in the COLONIES• The English Royal Crown
originally provided Mail services
between major inland towns in the
American colonies.
• Post riders were given routes with
strict schedules they were
expected to keep.
• Mileposts (complements of
Benjamin Franklin) were erected
to both insure he was on the right
route and if he was on time.
• Mail was delivered only to towns
when the service was first started
but progressed to hand delivery to
the person addressed.
MAIL IN THE COLONIES
Local Philadelphia currency
with mica flakes printed by
Franklin
• In 1733 Benjamin Franklin
published his First edition of Poor
Richard’s Almanac. He also
bribed the royal mail service
couriers to deliver his products
through the king’s mail.
• Philadelphia appointed young Mr.
Franklin as the city’s postmaster
general in 1737.
• In 1753 the British appointed
Franklin as joint deputy post
master for all the colonies.
• In 1774 Franklin was “judged too
sympathetic to the colonies” and
dismissed by the crown.
• A bit later he also printed the
currency for a new nation.
SENDING A LETTER• Most letters were local at first and
simply handed to someone in
town.
• Soon, sending a letter for any
distance however was both
complex and expensive.
• Envelopes were considered a
luxury and often simply not
available at first.
• The cost of mail delivery was by
the sheet, not by weight.
• The Letter itself was folded and
became the envelope itself.
The creases that appear here show how the letter was folded.
The Red mark on the center bottom was from sealing wax.
Look carefully to see the printing on the reverse side
The printing on the left would be covered when folded.
PREPARE THE LETTER
How this letter was folded.
1) Fold and unfold the letter to find
the center of the sheet.
2) Fold the top and bottom to the
center fold.
3) Fold left edge at a bit more than
1/3 the width of the sheet.
4) Fold the right edge to not quite the
right edge leaving enough room for
the seal
5) Seal the letter.
6) These folds could be done by an
experienced post master in less
that 15 seconds.
CROSS WRITING
• Americans have always been resourceful if nothing else.
• Since postage was by the sheet, and some found it difficult to write small. They used the same sheet twice by writing the second ‘page’ ACROSS the first as shown here.
• It may have taken time to decipher but consider it also probably took several weeks to be delivered.
CALCULATING POSTAGE
While it is difficult to equate
Colonial wages with modern times
This early rate table makes it
plain that it would cost a layman
almost a month’s wages to send a
letter From Boston to New York
• Postage was based on the number of sheets and the distance traveled.
• Counting the number of sheets was easy
• Calculating distances was a nightmare.
• First, the routes by land was constantly changing due to new roads, constantly expanding and shifting of population with new towns.
• Changes in management and treaties also caused constant changes to the published rate tables.
CALCULATING PAYMENT
• Postal rate charts were
expressed in British currency
and converted to pennyweights
and grains of silver so that
postage could be computed in
colonial currency
• Charts such as this were
displayed in local post offices.
• British currency was confusing
enough…
ENGLISH CURRANCY£ = pound (or l in some documents)
s. or /- = shilling
D = penny (for 'denarius', a Roman coin)
1 Pound = 240 grains sterling silver
1 pound = 20 shillings .
1 shilling = 12 pennies.
1 penny = 2 halfpennies
1 Penny = four farthings (quarter pennies).
1 halfpenny = 2 farthings
1 penny (1d) = 2 halfpence
1 thruppence (3d) = 3 pence
1 sixpence = 6 pence (a 'tanner') (6d)
1 shilling (a bob) = 12 pence
1 florin = 2 shillings ( a 'two bob bit')
1 half crown = 2 shillings and 6 pence
1 Crown = 5 shillings
* Sterling silver was 92.5% pure silver and 7.5% copper
NEW YORK CURRANCY• Some post offices were faced
with a huge array of money.
• New York, for instance, harbored
more privateers and pirates than
the Caribbean.
• It was also the port to many
countries around the world.
• Pieces of eight from Spain as
well as coins from France, Italy,
Portugal, Canada were not
uncommon.
• All these denominations, both
paper and metallic had to be
converted to British equivalents.
• This included both Gold and
Silver.
PAYMENT• Once the postal rate was
calculated the value of the
coins had to be determined.
• Scales were used to measure
grains of silver, gold, or coins
of questionable value.
• Counterfeiting and the shaving
of high value coins was
rampant.
• Coins of known values were
kept on hand to further verify
coin values.
1 grain of silver weighs
.0678 grams
Or .00208 troy ounces
READY FOR POST RIDER • Postage was always
defined in British money.
• Stamps did not exist until 1847.
• The amount paid (25 pence) was simply hand-written in the upper right hand corner.
• Note the lack of street number and zip code. They didn’t exist either.
ENVELOPES
• Sometimes in big cities and
towns the store would cut and
pre-fold paper for letters.
• Templates were also available
for “standard size” dispatches.
• The user would buy the paper,
write, then seal it wit wax to
keep it closed, and handed to
someone who was going to the
closest post office
• The post master would add the
postage to the customer’s
account and prepare it for the
post rider.
Early post offices were often
located in a local tavern.
ORIGAMI FOLDS
The few Origami fold symbols displayed here are used to show how
envelopes were folded. While Origami existed Centuries before in Japan
it was quite rare in the colonies. Hundreds of ways have been developed
since but again only a very few were actually used before the revolution
and even then mostly for special occasions.
LOCKLESS FOLD
• This very simple fold was probably the most common.
• It did little to provide security.
• It did make the letter smaller and less subject to being crumpled.
POCKET BOOK FOLD
• The Pocket-book was an example of a single-lock fold.• Note that in step 5 the corner is tucked into a pocket at the lower
right corner. This is the single-lock• took a few seconds longer but made the letter much more secure
and smaller for an un-wrinkled delivery.
DOUBLE LOCK FOLD
• This is an example of a
double lock fold.
• Note that in step 5 there are
two corners to be tucked
into their respective
pockets.
• This of course makes the
letter even more secure
and can enclose small and
flat objects.
• It can be made even more
secure by using sealing
wax in two places.
PEPI FOLD
The PEPI fold is high
security single lock
fold that folds down to
a very small size.
TWO BY ONE
Another high security fold
similar to the PEPI but
done across the width
instead of lengthwise.
RUSSIAN FOLD
• Russian soldiers sending letters home during WW-II had paper but no postcards or envelopes.
• They couldn’t be sealedanyway as they had to be reviewed by censors.
• The result was this unique triangular shape that allowed the letter to be opened, read and then closed without damage.
A SMALL SAMPLING OF OTHER FOLDS
RESOURCESMedieval Manuscript Manual - http://web.ceu.hu/medstud/manual/MMM/home.html
All about medieval period writing. Good background for Colonial writing.
The Rittenhouse Mill -
https://books.google.com/books?id=dYpZZTzBxz0C&pg=PA3&lpg=PA3&dq=early+american+paper
+making&source=bl&ots=zzey-JNI1-
&sig=fhfjVXZcpuj2a3rTi_rx7lpdiO8&hl=en&sa=X&ei=v6GJVb2vH8HJsAXgoYDACw&ved=0CDAQ6
AEwAzgK#v=onepage&q=early%20american%20paper%20making&f=false
All about the first American paper mill in Pennsylvania. A complete description of the workings
of a paper mill.
Folding Envelope and Letter - http://www.ghh.com/elf/index.html
A good basic source for folding letters and envelopes
Postal History of the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_the_United_States
A short history of the early postal service
For More Information…
Once Upon a Time - http://www.paperindustryweb.com/oncetime.htm -A background history of paper making in the colonies
Arnold Grummer Paper making kits and supplies http://arnoldgrummer.com/A complete line of paper making kits, supplies and instructional videos.
This presentation has been brought to you by the North River Railway
Bob Van Cleef46 BroadwayCoventry, CT 06238http://www.northriverrailway.net
THE END
PAPER MAKING TERMS
Mold – A device for making paper consisting of two parts, the deckle and the frame
A 'pour' hand mold has a deckle (frame) with high sides, usually 3 inches or so. To make paper, the hand mold is set in
a dishpan with 3-4 inches of water. A small amount of pulp is poured into the deckle.
A 'dip' hand mold has a deckle (frame) with shallow sides. It is dipped into a dishpan filled with 3-4 inches of pulp.
Deckle – was the upper part of the mold. It was a hardwood box or fence that contained the paper slurry as the sheet
was being formed
The frame was the lower part of the mold. It consisted or a screen, the screen support, and a wooden structure that
mated with the deckle.
The screen support can be made from a Florescent light screen
WATERMARK - A design or pattern put into paper during its production, by making thinner the layer of pulp when it is
still wet by wire or other means.
MASK – Template placed over the screen to form a shaped piece of paper smaller than the deckle such as for non-
rectangular shapes or multiple smaller pieces of paper.
Template – a shaped piece of metal, wood, card, plastic, or other material used as a pattern for
processes such as painting, cutting out or shaping
Linters – Linters is a tiny fiber that is left behind on the cotton seed after ginning removes the longer cotton fibers from
the seed. Cotton linter is such an outstanding addition to the slurry that as little as 10% cotton linter to 90% recycled
computer paper will make a very high quality, strong and beautiful paper for all sorts of papermaking uses.
Vatman – Shredded the cotton and silk rags, mixed them with water,
pounded the mixture and molded the damp pulp in a mold
Coucher – Took paper from mold and placed on felt and built a post
Layman – peeled the paper from the felt and hanged it to dry and re-built post