VE Day 80th Anniversary Collaboration with The Postal Museum, London

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The Postal Museum is an award-winning, accredited and independent museum in London where you can experience family-friendly, hands-on exhibitions, and take an immersive ride on Mail Rail, London’s hidden underground railway.  Alongside this their collection and care for hundreds of thousands of objects and stories they tell the 500-year-old story of British postal communication and its continued impact on life around the world today.

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I loved my first visit to the museum and was surprised at the breadth topics detailed in the different exhibits.  The value given to our postal service personnel is wonderful and caused me to reflect upon how throughout my life, and those of others, they have continued to help us all to keep in touch with those we love.  It also prompted me to think about John and Rita’s letters in Dear Mr Snippet and how the postal service was so vital in keeping loved ones connected whilst maintaining the morale of those serving in the military and others living as civilians during WWII.  

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Having inherited John and Rita’s letters I believe that they are a gift to be shared, and that in celebrating their story it is important to make a difference to others.  Having worked in education for a number of years I was keen to find a way that I could work with the museum to provide an opportunity for some of the letters, photographs and personal artefacts linked to Dear Mr Snippet to be shared and used to inform and enlighten, and ensure that narratives such as these are not forgotten.  I am delighted that on April 29th 2025 a new Dear Mr Snippet VE Day 80th Anniversary exhibit will open at The Postal Museum, displaying the letters that John and Rita wrote to one another about VE Day and some of their personal photographs and objects.

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It has been fantastic working with Laura Gibbs the curator who has designed and planned the exhibit, and Eleni Katsiani the conservator in the in-house Conservation Studio who uses her extensive experience in book and paper conservation treatments and preservation measures to advise and create bespoke conservation treatment plans and recommendations for storage and handling, providing you with the best care for your own objects.  It was wonderful to meet Louis Porter the digitisation photographer in the Digitisation Studio who provides high-resolution photographic solutions for both the museum and external clients, working onsite or on location, to the highest standards of colour and image quality guidelines used by many of the world’s largest institutions.

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I am thrilled to be collaborating with this wonderful museum and so appreciative of the opportunity they are providing me with to share these letters.  A huge thank you to all those at The Postal Museum who have been involved in creating an opportunity for others to see firsthand, some of the original letters, photographs and objects that are part of the unique insight into family life during WWII and that help to make up the story of Dear Mr Snippet.