Contact: Special Collections, Doheny Memorial Library, Libraries, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189; specol@usc.edu Doheny Memorial Library, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0189 USC Libraries Special Collections University of Southern California specol@usc.edu
Description
Photograph. "Velva Whitfield sneaks a peek -- What's in the box?" "Electronic 'mail man' tested -- Wire May Flash Letters East -- The day is not far distant when letters between Los Angeles and the East will be transmitted almost instantaneously by wire. -- And wom day you can expect this remarkable development: An electronic eye will 'read' your single page letters through a sealed envelope and deliver the text at the receiving end through another sealed envelope, so that the nessage will never be seen for human eye. -- For several weeks the Post Office Department has been conducting highly secret tests of facsimile mail service between Los Angeles and Washington, D.C. -- The equipment is housed in the lobby of the Post Office building here. It is wallen in for secrecy. -- Reportedly, the electronic device scans an open letter, then flashes the text to its destination. When perfected, ti will make regular air mail as out-of-date as the Pony Express. -- In current tests, four pages a minute are being transmitted, but engineers of the International Telephone & Telegraph Company, which was awared a $140,000 research contract last July, are working on a device which will transmit 1800 standard-sized letter pages per minute. -- By sacrificing some of the reception quality, it is claimed, the traffic flow could be increased to 3600 pages per minute. -- And looking still further ahead, the engineers are trying to perfect the system mentioned earlier, which would preserve the privacy of letters and scan them and deliver them through sealed envelopes." -- "In Washington, where the National Postmasters Convention is in progress, Postmaster General Arthur E. Summerfield said many experiments are being conducted to provide more rapid postal service. -- 'Facsimile mail service,' he said, 'is one of the programs being considered and is still in the research and development stage. When the tests are concluded, the results and recommendations will be made public.' -- Western Union announced Monday that beginning December 1 it will offer the public facsimile service between Los Angeles, Washington, New York, Chicago and San Francisco." -- Examiner clippings attached to verso, dated 28 October 1959. Streetscape. Horizontal photography.
Type
image
Format
1 photograph : photoprint, b&w photographic prints photographs
Los Angeles--City--Buildings--Post offices Washington D.C Facsimile
Time Period
circa 1959-10-28
Place
-118.23863,34.05455 -118.23826,34.05431 -118.23853,34.05401 -118.23889,34.05429 300 North Los Angeles Street California Federal Building / Post Office Post Office Los Angeles USA
Source
3-1275-02806-0136 [Barcode] EXM-P-S-LOS-ANG-CIT-BUI-250 [Original Filename] Subjects 318 [Print Box] University of Southern California [Contributing entity]
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