Document Record

Creator

Canada. Post Office Dept.

Title

Post Office Department, Administrative Branch : General correspondence

Identifier

lac_mikan_133431
164446
RG 3 F 3
R169-87-9-E
R169-87-9-F
Government
Politics and politicians
oocihm.lac_mikan_133431

Document source

Library and Archives Canada / Bibliothèque et Archives Canada

Language

English

Description

Mail delivery within Canada first started in 1693 when the Portuguese born Pedro da Silva was paid to deliver mail between Quebec City and Montreal. Official postal services began in 1775 and was under the control of the British Government up to 1851. It was not until 1867 when the newly formed Dominion of Canada created the Post Office Department as a federal government department headed by a Cabinet minister, the Postmaster General of Canada. The Act took effect in April 1868, providing uniform postal service throughout the new country. In October 1908, the first free rural mail delivery service was instituted in Canada. The Post Office Department was also an early pioneer of airmail delivery with the first airmail flight taking place in June 1918, carrying mail from Montreal to Toronto. The Post Office Department was rebranded as "Canada Post" in the late 1960s, even though it had not yet been separated from the government. In October 1981, the Canada Post Corporation Act came into force, abolishing the Post Office Department and creating the present day Crown corporation which provides post service, the Canada Post Corporation.
This collection consists of general records containing files relating to Christmas help, 1932-1934, the purchase, maintenance and refurbishing of the mail tender LADY EVELYN, 1907-1921, questions on Post Office affairs asked in the House of Commons, 1920s and 1930s (reels T-8968 to T-8970; T-9383); correspondence to the Deputy Postmaster General concerning the Annual Report for the years 1932-1936, correspondence relating to changes in the Postal Guide, 1921-1934; correspondence on the use of the Pitney Bowes and Midget Universal postage meters first issued in Montreal, Ottawa, Toronto and Winnipeg, 1926-1928, correspondence relating to rates on printed matter, 1920-1936 (reels T-8971 to T-8972); correspondence regarding mail privileges for newspapers and journals, rates, advertising regulations, franking, inserts, lists of Canadian weekly newspapers, lists of subscribers and early comics (reels T-8976 to T-8982) and minutes and proceedings of the Dominion Postal Conference of 1922 (reel T-9384).

URL

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_133431