Samdok - Nordiska museet

connecting collecting: thomlinson
example at present is the stopping of Sunday collections.
There has been a lot of coverage in press on this and the
BPMA are currently collecting to reflect this.
The BPMA also collects the topical/political issues
of the contemporary postal service. This type of material
is particularly good for displays and events in the
future. Examples include material donated recently
from the National Federation of Subpostmasters (NFSP).
In 2006 they organised a rally and a petition against
the Government taking vital business away from Post
Offices and their plans to close a large number of Post
Offices. The petition presented to the Prime Minister on
18th October 2006 was the largest ever presented to the
Government and consisted of four million signatures. It
was so big a double decker bus had to be hired to transport
the petition! Protests in Westminster and a lobby of
Parliament followed.
Another example is of material donated by the
Communication Workers Union (CWU) that was used
during the national postal strikes that have occurred with
Royal Mail staff between June and October 2007 over
pay, pensions and Royal Mail’s modernization plans. The
material consisted of posters, leaflets, armbands, T-shirts
and stickers produced by the CWU for use on the picket
lines during the strikes. Two staff from the BPMA also
filmed and made oral history recordings at the picket
line of Mount Pleasant on the day of the first strike, 29th
June.
It is important to collect the people of the postal
service. Oral history is one way to do this but there are a
number of other ways too, such as through photographs,
chat rooms and discussions blogs, staff magazines, diaries
and objects associated with them (e g medals).
Conclusion
This has given you a very brief overview of what the
BPMA has been doing to collect contemporary material.
The policy has meant that contemporary material is being
collected in a more structured way and as a result
collecting has become wider and far more representative
of the postal service as a whole. Continued monitoring
and research means we do not miss out on new devel-
opments and can tell a fuller story of the postal service
of our times to future generations. A proactive approach
means collecting the contemporary is no longer left to
chance and hopefully means we are collecting now what
is important for future generations to come.
Reference
Understanding the Future: Priorities for England’s Museums
(2006). London: Department for Culture, Media and
Sport.
Image captions
Fig 1. National Federation of Subpostmasters’ rally, October
18th 2006. Photo & copyright: NFSP.
Fig 2. BPMA volunteer interviewing postman Don Burrett prior
to going out on delivery. Photo: Julian Stray, BPMA.
Fig 3. BPMA Community Project with Royal Mail staff,
February 2007. Photo: BPMA.
Fig 4. Sue Buckley, Postmistress at Bringsty Common Post
Office, hard at work behind her Post Office counter. Photo:
Julian Stray, BPMA.
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