Lincoln College Post Office

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The history of the School of Agriculture at Lincoln is well documented, but comparatively little is written about one of the facilities which serviced the campus for nearly thirty seven years, the Lincoln College Post Office. 

The Lincoln campus has always had some need for postal services and mail delivery, but as the organisation grew significantly after World War Two it was decided with the increasing number of staff and students, it should have its own Post Office. The Lincoln College Post Office officially opened on 2nd July 1952, operating from several different sites during its existence, and finally closed on 27 January 1989 shortly after the national postal services were reorganised and restructured into the entity New Zealand Post.

A part time service continued to operate on the same site from the time of official government closure, and since then a postal service has been offered from the Lincoln University Bookshop in the Forbes building on campus.

This collection of selected images highlights the variety of postal history items that were generated during the period the Lincoln College Post Office was operating. Of particular interest are the stamps produced for the Centenary of Lincoln College in 1978, the stamp that was issued and the special postal stationery that was printed for the 27th World Ploughing Contest held near Lincoln College in 1980, and the special postmark that was produced for the World Congress on Coloured Sheep held at Lincoln College on 23 January 1984.

Lincoln University acknowledges the contribution of alumnus Jean Craw for the opportunity to archive these images along with many of the associated descriptions and supporting information.