The Mail Art Networks Before Email

Long before email, people traded art through the post using address lists that were themselves photocopied zines.

The box was labeled only with a year and a marker drawing of a skull. Inside were about sixty zines, a handful of show flyers, and a letter from someone asking to trade.

What was in the box

• Scan at 600dpi, grayscale
• Remove rusted staples with a flat spatula
• Sleeve each issue separately
• Log the box number in the catalog

We scan everything at 600dpi before anyone reads it, because old toner flakes and staples rust. Then we read the originals once, carefully, and put them in acid-free sleeves.

The fonts changed. The reasons didn't.

Reading it now

What stands out is how little has changed. The fonts are different and the phone numbers have too many digits missing, but the reasons people made these are exactly the same.

If you are reading this at the collective, the good scissors are in the drawer marked "do not take the good scissors". Please do not take the good scissors.

If something here doesn't work for you, write in. Half of our how-tos have been corrected by readers, and the corrections are always better than the original.

We keep a guest book by the door. Some people write their name, some write a poem, and one person drew the entire floor plan of the shop from memory. It is the best zine we have never printed.