The mailbox, whether made of wood, cast iron or aluminum of different colours, dates back several centuries, and it's history is intertwined with that of a means of communication essential to our society: the post.

Have you ever really looked at mailboxes? This exhibition is designed to show you why mailboxes in many countries are yellow, green, blue or red, and to explain the meaning of the symbols that appear on them. Explore through time, postal communications all the way from Canada to Australia.

POSTAL STONE

European navigators sailing to India in the early seventeenth century would stop along the coast of South Africa to take on supplies of drinking water. The crews took this opportunity to deposit their letters under large flat stones, so that sailors on board vessels travelling in the opposite direction could retrieve them and forward them to their recipients. The sailors also carved information about their ship and its captain on the stones, as well as the date they passed by.

Postal Stone (Reproduction), Cape of Good Hope (South Africa)
1635
fibreglass
Lent by the South African Cultural History Museum.

Photographic source: Laboratoire IdéeClic

Japan is one of the countries that produces mailboxes to commemorate special events, such as the seventy-fifth anniversary of its membership in the Universal Postal Union (1952) or World Communications Year (1983). These two boxes were created to mark the centenary of its postal service in 1971.

Miniature Mailbox (Reproduction), Japan
1871
wood
National Postal Museum

Miniature Mailbox (Reproduction), Japan
1871
wood
National Postal Museum












THE POSTAL ADVENTURE

The need to exchange news is as old as the world itself. In past centuries, the methods of forwarding and collecting mail were risky, irregular and at the mercy of the elements. But the mail was already moving!

The Tin Can Mail showed that the inhabitants of the Tonga Islands (Oceania) had imagination and a sense of humour. It was the method they used from the 1920's until 1960 to send mail from shore to outbound boats.

Reproduction of a souvenir sheet from the Tonga Islands issued in 1982 to mark the 100th anniversary of the Tin Can Mail.
National Postal Museum