Masterworks To Display History In Postal Art
Masterworks is hosting an interesting look at Bermuda’s history in the form of The David T. Pitts Collection of Bermuda Postal History from 1620 to 1877, an exhibit remaining open through June 25 from 5.30pm through 7.00pm.
The event’s description says, “Ever since her colonization in 1612, the first such British extraterritorial acquisition, Bermuda has served as a major, if not the major, cross roads of the North Atlantic. Until the maturation of the age of steam, Bermuda was essential for all communication and transportation between Great Britain and Europe and the Caribbean and Spanish Main.
“She was the principal port of provisioning and fueling on both outward and inward voyages. Later, with new maritime capability, the Leeward Islands could be served through Madeira.”
An example of a piece from the exhibit [courtesy Masterworks]:
“This collection examines how Bermuda fulfilled her role as the nexus of economic and social interaction with the motherland as demonstrated by her postal communications. There is an interesting asymmetry in the extant correspondence between Great Britain and Bermuda with many more letters incoming to Bermuda than outgoing. The reason for this is unclear.
“The vast majority of correspondence was commercial and one would expect a pretty much one to one ratio of letters in each direction. A possible cause for the discrepancy is that the company archives in Great Britain have not yet been dispersed.
“The exhibit is divided into five parts. The items shown have been carefully selected to show not only the most important pieces of Bermuda postal history, but also with an eye to telling a complete and comprehensible story of the development of Bermuda’s postal communications.”
