Document Record

Creator

Canada. Post Office Dept.

Title

Post Office Department : Chief Post Office Inspector

Identifier

lac_mikan_133457
164700
RG 3 D 1
R169-67-3-E
R169-67-3-F
Government
oocihm.lac_mikan_133457

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 numbered correspondence from the Chief Post Office Inspector, generally addressed to the Postmaster General. The correspondence for the years 1875 to 1898 consists of reports and additional explanations on individual appointments, sites for post offices, hand-sketched maps, community petitions, the establishment of routes and the carrying out of instructions. There are also five volumes of draft letters for the years 1870 to 1875. There is a register of the correspondence for the years 1870 to 1880. Also included are letterbooks of general correspondence for the years 1876 to 1888 from the Chief Postal Inspector, acknowledging correspondence from the Deputy Postmaster General and from various postmasters as well as instructions to postmasters on the operational activities of the Post Office.

URL

https://heritage.canadiana.ca/view/oocihm.lac_mikan_133457