David W. Sorenson
(Allen Berman, Numismatist)

Abstract of Paper
presented at the 61st International Congress on Medieval Studies
(Kalamazoo, 2026)

2026 International Congress on Medieval Studies: Program

Session on
“Moving the Mail: Letters, Couriers, and Post Offices in the Medieval World“

Sponsored by

• Research Group on Manuscript Evidence
• Postal History at Kalamazoo

Organized by

David W. Sorenson (Allen Berman, Numismatist)
Mildred Budny (Research Group on Manuscript Evidence)

Paper Title:

“The Livery of Delivery:
Some Depictions of Letter-Carriers
in Seventeenth- and Sixteenth-Century Paris”

Abstract:

From the fifteenth century to the present postal services have dressed their personnel in various identifying ways
(“uniforms”). References to these uniforms are few and far between, but some do exist, and we will be able to
examine a few of these to see what they can tell us, especially by reference to modern practice.

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