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