It’s an Aerogram!

Do you remember aerograms?  Aerograms were a single sheet of paper with gummed edges that had to be folded and sealed.   No enclosures were permitted, and you could not even use tape to seal them.  The cost was less than sending an airmail letter.   

In 1985, aerograms came franked with 36¢ postage.  It cost more than sending a postcard via airmail (33¢) but less than an airmail letter (44¢). The cost difference today seems quite insignificant even considering it was nearly 40 years ago.  But when you’re a student, you’ll always do something to save a few cents. 

 

You could fill the aerogram with as much writing as you could fit — write small or better yet, use a typewriter.  The rule was you just couldn’t put anything inside an aerogram. 

 

In the 1990s, as more people started having access to email, the aerogram was destined to become obsolete.  The U.S. Postal Service discontinued them in 2006.  In Britain they lasted until 2012. Very few countries offer them anymore. Australia still has them for sale. 

At a recent San Francisco Correspondence Co-op meeting I found these unused aerograms on the swap table. I knew I had to take them to do a series of mail art. I wonder if some of my recipients will even know what aerograms are.

  

Remember the Aerogram

The latest mail art I received from R.F. Côté  came enclosed in an unused aerogram.   Aerograms were typically sold by postal services with pre-printed, or franked postage.  This Canadian one cost a mere 15¢ at the time it was sold, I assume back in the 1970s.  Reg had to add some additional 21^st Century postage to guarantee I would receive it.

The trick with aerograms is they were made of thin, airmail paper and had to be folded and sealed by the sender.  No enclosures were permitted.  Their light weight meant they cost about 30% less to send than an airmail letter.  

In most countries they were purchased directly at the post office with the pre-printed postage. You could also find ones at office supply stores where you would then need to affix a postage stamp.

With an aerogram, once the writer had filled the page, they were finished.  If you typed, you could cram a lot into that letter.  Back in the 1980s they were an affordable way I and my college-aged friends would communicate.  As email became popular in the 1990s the use of aerograms started to wane.  The US Postal Service offered them until 2006, but I can’t imagine the sold many in that final decade.

Art in the Mail: August

Here is a sampling of some of the mail art that has been filling up my post office box this month:

1. Summery mail art from Virgo.
2. An especially pink bird arrived from Stripy Goose.
3. Pamela Gerard turned our recent meeting of the San Francisco Correspondence Coop into a postcard.
4. Mail art from Tiina from Finland (but I don’t have a mailing artist to send something back).
5. Punkie Ebert has printed up these cool little booklets/zines that incorporate both literary postage stamps and works by the authors.
6. Dori Signh’s mail included a rubber stamp mandala.
7. Robin Sparrow sent this incredible tactile mail art/envelope piece from New Zealand that brought me back to the children’s book Pat the Bunny. 
8. Eberhard Janke sends out Call & Response, a zine compilation of mail art received — I love receiving these and really appreciate it considering the cost of printing and postage.
9. Two new prints from Serse Luigetti in Italy including this Barbed Wire Poem.

There has been some additional mail coming in that responds to pieces I have been sending out, stay tuned for those.

June Mail Box

It’s been a busy couple of months and some great mail art has been arriving and piling up.  These are just some of the artists who have sent work to brighten my P.O. box the last few months:

1. Katerina Nikoltsou
2. Rebecca Guyver
3. Meral Ağar
4. Gregg Biggs
5. R.F. Côté
6. MIM
7. Madame Butterfly Valerian
8. Eduardo Cardoso
9. Andrea Grimes
10. Marina Salmaso

ATCs in the Mail

The best part of sending out Artist Trading Cards is the trading.  And after sending our a round of National Park-themed ATCs recently, I am started to receive more in return.

This first batch includes ones from:

1. William Mellott
2. Cuan Miles
3. Fleur Helsingor

And now it is time to get back to the new series I am working on, stay tuned…..

Remove-n-Pass Mail Art

As a mail artist I have participated in and as well as started some add-n-pass pieces of mail art.  I also have postcards printed when I am having an exhibit of my work.  Quite a few times mail artists have modified those postcards and sent them back to me.    This time, instead of an add-n-pass, I am starting a remove-n-pass.  The enclosed instructions say:

1. Enclosed is one my postcards from a previous exhibit.  Part of it has already been removed.
2. Remove part(s) of the original postcard.
3. You may keep the piece, or maybe use it in another piece of mail art to send back to me or to someone else. You may modify the remaining postcard if you wish.
4. Please mail the remaining original postcard with these instructions to another artist.
5. Repeat.
6. Eventually, one of the recipients should return what remains of the original to me.