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COLLECTION AND ARCHIVES

The Town of York Historical Society is the custodian of a substantial body of correspondence relating to the postal service in colonial Upper Canada. Its collection also includes documents and artifacts pertaining to the history of the Bank of Upper Canada and the De La Salle Institute, buildings to which the 1833 post office was conjoined after 1873.

A significant array of early nineteenth-century letter-writing paraphernalia – including pens, penknives, quill cutters, inkwells, seals and pounce pots – makes up a large portion of the holdings. These fascinating and varied items, along with their often ingenious adaptations for use while travelling, serve to remind us what a complicated business it was to communicate over distances in that bygone era.

Other objects, such as the scale pictured here, relate to the postal system in British North America prior to 1851. The post office itself is decorated with period furniture and accessories. Its reading room, where the original patrons would have both read and replied to their mail, houses in addition both permanent and changing exhibitions.

The museum collects artifacts and documents by way of donation, bequest or purchase. Its policy states that the objects collected must be useful in core museum activities such as research, exhibition and interpretation. It also stipulates that they should be in reasonable physical condition, and not duplicate existing holdings unless, by doing so, they can be used in extension programs or travelling exhibitions.

It is hoped that in the future this page might be able to offer virtual access to some or all of the holdings in the collection. In the meantime, the museum houses and exhibits the objects in its care according to the standards of best museum practice.