We would be very grateful if you would draw this notice to the attention of
friends, colleagues and users of your service.
Steve Gardam
Learning & Outreach Officer
Postal Heritage Trust
The Royal Mail Archive Search Room at Freeling House has been completely
refurbished. This project reflects the ongoing commitment of the Postal
Heritage Trust to improving facilities for our users.
We also have new extended opening hours:
Monday to Friday 10am – 5pm
Thursdays 10am – 7pm
We are providing some Saturday services 10am – 5pm as a trial. To keep it
going, come and visit on the following days:
Saturdays in 2004 – 18 September, 13 November
Saturdays in 2005 – 8 January, 26 February
The Search Room is extremely well equipped, with comfortable chairs and
padded book rests for researchers to use. We have a book-cradle scanner for
on-the-day copies of documents, and our paper catalogues will be
complemented by a computer version in 2005. Our microfilm viewers are all
equipped to make copies and there is a television and video for users to
watch General Post office films on video (listening through headphones of
course!).
Search Room facilities include:
· Entrance with reception, lockers for personal possessions, eating
area and water cooler
· Air conditioning (you may want to bring a jumper!)
· FREE guides and information sheets (available in large format on
request)
· Enquiries staff always on hand to help
· Material from the archive will be brought up to you within 15
minutes
· Reference library including journals
· Microfilm/microfiche readers with printing facility
· Power points for personal computers
· Magnifying glass with light
· Reading lights
· Cotton gloves for handling delicate material
· Access for those with limited mobility
· Accessible unisex toilet - separate M & F toilets
· Hearing loop and reception intercom
The Royal Mail Archive contains a vast amount of information on a single
organisation – Britain’s oldest public service. Many family historians who
discover postal ancestors can find records of them in our collection.
Covering more than 360 years of British postal history, the collections of
the Postal Heritage Trust are made up of:
· The Royal Mail Archive containing records from 1636 to the present
day, including working files, staff records, reports and visual records
such as maps, posters, artwork and photographs.
· Stamps of Great Britain from the Penny Black onwards and their
artwork, and British postal markings from 1661 to the present day.
· Object collections documenting the development of Post Office
equipment and sorting office mechanisation, as well as what postmen/women
wore and how they travelled.
We continue to collect material reflecting Royal Mail Group’s diverse
operations in the 21st century. We believe that the history of The Post
Office is the history of communication in Britain and around the world.
For more information about the Royal Mail Archive please contact:
User Services Archivist
T 020 7239 2570
F 020 7239 2576
E [log in to unmask]
Postal Heritage Trust
Freeling House
Phoenix Place
LONDON
WC1X 0DL
Registered Charity Number 1102360
Company Number 4896056
|