More info from the BPMA

The British Postal Museum & Archive (BPMA) is to make available over 3,000 searchable postal history records via its website from 2 March 2009.

Larry wrote a peice on the BPMA last year. To add to his account here is a little more recent information from Mike Bament, who is a volunteer at the BPMA, he has been working on the project, and has commented:

“This is a hugely exciting project, which will enable increased access to BPMA’s unique collections, and will be of great benefit to postal historians researching these subjects. The search engine is simple to use, with the listings directly referring to specialised catalogues which are widely used for the whole of the UK and Ireland”.

Steve Lawson, editor for Hellmail said:

"This will prove enormously popular both with historians and postal enthusiasts. With the BPMA also relocating to Swindon in the near future, it looks to be an exciting and challenging time ahead. I know the BPMA has been looking at new ways to engage visitors and provide better access to its collections and making full use of the internet is a part of that.

"Theres also an ongoing project where the BPMA have joined forces with the IGMT to build a replica victorian sub-post office at Ironbridge ( I did a little story on Ironbridge and Machins last October).

Steve continues "which I'm sure will be a great attraction and give visitors a real insight into the way in which post offices operated over 100 years ago. The BPMA has also published a list of 2009 open days for access to its post office transport collection in Essex. The partnership between Royal Mail and the BPMA has ensured that Britain's postal history is relatively well preserved and its certainly worth exploring."

Read the full report from Hellmail here.