This 1950s color film is an educational public service announcement by the U.S. Postal Service. The film was produced by Lewis & Martin Films Inc. The focus of this film is to educate viewers on postal automation technology. The film begins with a vintage post office seal, followed by Arthur Summerfield, the Postmaster General from 1953-1961 under President Eisenhower, who speaks briefly about the mail service (0:42-1:30). Mail is dropped in and picked up from different mailboxes, including in a dual Local and Out of Town mailbox (1:31-1:58). Workers sort mail and boxes (1:59-2:17). New home construction is briefly showcased, including model homes (2:18-2:38). An aerial view shows a large factory and work trucks (2:39-2:54). Vintage illustrations show the U.S. map, as well as an overstuffed post office bursting at the seams and sending mail flying (2:55-3:30). A woman walks into a vintage “Victorian elegant” post office lobby (4:02-4:17). Men push carts and toss packages in a postal processing facility, letters are sorted into city boxes by hand, and packages from a mountain of boxes are tossed into hampers (4:18-5:00). The Transorma Letter Sorting Machine, the first implementation of a semiautomatic mail sorter, is operated by five clerks. Mail is shown being sorted by hand for contrast (5:01-5:43). An automated conveyor belt system is demonstrated, moving mail to different area (5:45-6:38). Boxes are moved down a conveyor belt where a keyboard operator punches in the address area for automatic sorting (6:39-7:14). A postman walks his route and delivers mail. 1950s post office trucks drop off packages (7:15-8:13). A carrier uses an experimental, three-wheeled post office truck (8:14-8:30). A postman pushes a postal cart down the sidewalk, delivering mail (8:31-8:40). The first version of a modern post office layout is shown, including the 24×7 lobby (8:41-9:13). Innovations such as early automated stamp machine, the post office lockbox, and the presence of ballpoint pens are briefly showcased (9:14-9:35). A woman prepares business mail and bundles mail with pressure-sensitive tape, dropping them into a triple-section mailbox (9:36-10:54). An experimental automatic culling machine, an automatic canceling machine, an electronic scanner that reads typed and printed addresses, and a code control machine are demonstrated. Researchers experiment with different mail automation ideas (10:55-13:10). Postmaster General Arthur Summerfield speaks to the camera to conclude the film (13:11-14:33).

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This film is part of the Periscope Film LLC archive, one of the largest historic military, transportation, and aviation stock footage collections in the USA. Entirely film backed, this material is available for licensing in 24p HD, 2k and 4k. For more information visit http://www.PeriscopeFilm.com