MetaFilter posts tagged with mail and history

High quality re-creations of medieval armor

agentofselection — Fri, 07 Dec 2007 16:36:02 -0800

A few examples of high-quality re-creations of medieval armor. Much of this is created using historical techniques (youtube,) by men (slightly NSFW) who can only be called masters. But it ain't cheap. I've linked to the sites of only a few reenactment-grade armoring greats. There are many more, such as Ugo Serrano (warning, bad myspace page) and Chris Gilman, both of whom do work for movies. The answers to all your armoring questions available at The Armour Archive. [Note 1: The British "armour" is often used in the reenactment community to separate medieval "armour" from modern "armor" esp. in search engines.] [Note 2: Stay away from the armour archive off-topic forums if you value your faith in humanity.] This post inspired by comments to this thread which had me thinking "these people need to see some REAL armor."

The Fastest Mail Across The West

amyms — Sun, 15 Apr 2007 17:10:08 -0800

"WANTED: Young, skinny, wiry fellows. Must be expert riders, willing to risk death daily." The Pony Express Home Station, The Pony Express Museum and The St. Joseph Museum all have interesting histories of America's short-lived, but legendary, "fastest mail service across the west." For more extensive reading, there's the National Park Service's Pony Express: Historic Resource Study. (Second link via The Presurfer)

Numbers Give Me A Geek Woody

fenriq — Fri, 15 Dec 2006 11:44:51 -0800

US Census Bureau Facts & Figures: Holiday Edition says that more than 20 billion letters, packages and cards will be delivered this holiday season and 12 million packages a day through to Christmas Eve. Also check out the Special Edition for comparison data from 1915, 1967 and 2006, the African-American History Month Facts & Features and more data going back to 2000.

Comic Strip Classics Stamps

plep — Fri, 23 May 2003 05:32:10 -0800

Comic Strip Classics Stamps. (via Dublog).
Related :- A nice collection of exhibits at the National Postal Museum, part of the Smithsonian (such as this exhibit of Cuban stamps and this one on FDR's stamp collecting); the Bath Postal Museum of British postal history; stamps of Greenland; stamps of Tibet.

chainmail how-to

taz — Mon, 14 Apr 2003 08:55:11 -0800

It's in the mail. Dylon Whyte's Art of Chainmail site features beautiful, clear renderings showing, step-by-step, how to join chain links to form different mail patterns, including European, Japanese, and (probably-not-)Persian designs. This is actually fascinating stuff even if you're not a medievalist or a Renaissance-faire type. Also, from the same source, a brief history of armour and the the secret behind the chain bra!