Personal Postal History

Would there be any/much interest in a collection of covers collected over 30 years from the public prosecutors' offices where I worked?

They show a variety of law firms in the area, the prosecutors to whom the were addressed, the postal rates and stamp usage to comply with the changes in rates.

My biggest struggle with this collection (horde might better describe it) is to find cover albums in high to display them since they are primarily legal sized envelopes.

Does this qualify as postal history? I am not trying to sell or find a buyer for the material, just wondering if there would be philatelic interest in viewing such items or displaying them in an exhibit.

BobbyT

If it went through the mails it is a part of postal history. For certain, at least some collectors would find it interesting. You did.

Thanks, have you got a suggestion as to an album that could display legal sized envelopes? Of course, I will add some comments as I deem appropriate.

A company called Safe makes large size albums, but they are expensive. It might be better to get some accounting ledgers and use some pages for them.

Thanks again. Can you tell me how I can learn to upload material from a scan or photograph? I have lots of material to share but have not figured out how. The tutorial on this site was not very helpful on this score.

No, not really. I run Microsoft Edge, so I can't use the image optimizer. Instead, I keep a file of smaller images. I scan cards and covers at 600 DPI, and reduce that image to 25%, which I use for online displays. Makes an image like this for a legal sized cover.

Hi Bobby - I scan them with my Canon printer as jpeg, then check out the kilobytes and reduce them with "Paint" (delivered with any Windows OS) accordingly so that they are below 200 kb (e.g I reduce them to 25% if they are 800 kb) and store them under a new file name. Seemed to me the simplest workflow. Good luck, A

More help on uploading images here https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/SCF/help1.html
Don

Hi BobbyT:

Regarding mounting the #10 envelopes, you might consider mounting them horizontally on an 8 X 11 page using Landscape format for the printer. I collect a lot of #10 commercial covers and it works. I also mount #10s vertically. A couple of examples are below. I put the pages in a top load, clear sheet protector and they fit well in a variety of albums such as Lighthouse Vario Grandes or standard three-ring binders available at office supply stores or WalMart.

Don

LEGAL LONG & SHORT OF IT:
Here is an example of how I wrote-up a simple attorney advertising corner card cover,

researched Wikipedia and created on a facing page...

and created an interesting postal history behind the cover.


Here is the shorter layout.


History is fun!

Hal

These responses were all very helpful and appreciated. It sure gives me a lot to work with. I need to spend sometime working with the software to upload my materials, but I have a guide for that now. BobbyT

Show us some pages when you have a few completed. Have fun! Most important thing...is do it the way YOU get the most enjoyment out of it!

Hal

Yes, your office mail is definitely "postal history", and "social history" to some as well. Consider a similar example a bit older ... Would Abraham Lincoln's average incoming mail c1855 be considered "postal history" worth saving?



Several posters have shown ways of mounting/displaying on 8.5x11. Additionally, 11x17 printers/scanners are fairly affordable and many competitive exhibits are going to double-wide pages (or 11x11 pages 3-wide across a row). Bottom line, legal sized covers (and larger) should not be shunned.

There are folks who collect prison (or prisoner) mail with some going to laywers. Their are folks who collect just about any topic you can think of including law, lawyer and law firms.

Here is one of my lawyer covers I enjoy. It like much legal mail includes special services such as Registered, Certified, and all versions of return recipts as well as the markings associated with refused,unclaimed and return to sender.