Dead Letter Office, most likely in Washington D.C., 1922.

Above is a classic 1922 photograph of a dead letter office, a way-station where misaddressed missives went to get back on the right track. An excerpt from an 1878 New York Times article in which the staff of a Manhattan dead letter office was profiled:

“The deparment is in charge of Mr. John H. Hallett, a white-haired, white-bearded, bright-eyed old gentleman, 65 and upward, but still as lively and business-like as a man of 30. He has seen just half a century of service in the Post Office, and he is a perfect encylopedia of New-York history. What he does not know about misdirected, badly written, mutilated, and unmailable letters, it would be useless for anybody to try to find out. Assisting Mr. Hallett in straightening the address of badly directed letters are two experienced clerks, whose intuition into things is little less than marvelous. They handled last month 11,800 imperfectly or wrongly directed letters, and sent to their destination all except 217. They have handled an average of 500 letters a day for the last two months, and the blunderers are increasing at a steady rate.”