page_title: Portmanteau (mail)
hierarchical_section_title: Portmanteau (mail)
caption_attribution_description: English: National Postal Museum: This style mailbag is known as a 'portmanteau'. This portmanteau is part of a transfer of a large number of objects from the Post Office Department to the Smithsonian Institution National Postal Museum. Portmanteaux were used to carry letters and newspapers on stagecoaches during the nineteenth century. The letters and newspapers would be divided in separate linen or canvas bags inside the portmanteau. The bag is marked from the Post Office Department "Return Jonathan Meigs, Jr. (1764-1824)."
context_page_description: A portmanteau was a traveling bag used as a mailbag. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, both newspapers and letters were transported in these leather mailbags that opened into two sections.
context_section_description: A portmanteau (/pɔːrtˈmæntoʊ/ (listen), /ˌpɔːrtmænˈtoʊ/; plural portmanteaux or portmanteaus) was a traveling bag (suitcase style) used as a mailbag. During the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, both newspapers and letters were transported in these leather mailbags that opened into two sections.
caption: Portmanteau mailbag identified with the United States Postmaster General Return J. Meigs, Jr. (1764–1825)
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