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Global commerce in small boxes: parcel post, 1878–1913*

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 June 2015

Léonard Laborie
Léonard Laborie*
Affiliation:
IRICE, CNRS, 44 rue de l'Amiral Mouchez, F-75014 Paris, France E-mail: leonard.laborie@cnrs.fr
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Abstract

Even if the high-tech and ‘revolutionary’ electric telegraph has become a favourite topic for communication historians dealing with global history, it cannot alone epitomize the first modern age of globalization. The postal network, and parcel post in particular, was also a key agent of globalization. In 1880, several Universal Postal Union member states signed a convention for the exchange of parcel post, opening a new channel in the world of commerce. By the end of the nineteenth century, millions of packets poured into post offices and railway stations, crossed countries, and created all sorts of transnational connections, from family to business to humanitarian relations. Behind the ordinary, seemingly low-tech small boxes lay a sophisticated service that emerged from transnational dynamics, challenged both national and international commercial circuits, and produced more complex control of economic borders.

Keywords

commercecommunicationcustomsparcelpost

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Type
Articles
Information
Journal of Global History , Volume 10 , Issue 2 , July 2015 , pp. 235 - 258
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2015 

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Footnotes

*

The author warmly thanks Heidi Tworek and Simone Müller for their enthusiasm and tact in editing the present issue, as well as the participants at the workshop ‘The intellectual foundations of global commerce and communications’ (Harvard University, March 2013) for their questions and comments, especially Richard R. John and Erez Manela. Thanks also to Simon Paul and the two anonymous referees, as well as to Muriel Le Roux and Sebastien Richez, from the Committee for the History of La Poste, and Benjamin Thierry for their support and input.

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