Donating to the Collection

Thank you for your interest in helping to preserve the history of the early Town of York and Toronto. Toronto's First Post Office collects objects and archival material that contribute to the exploration and interpretation of the history of the early Town of York and Toronto from 1793-1851.  The collection helps us to document, research, preserve, exhibit and interpret our history for all members of our community and welcomed visitors.

Like many museums, we have limited storage space, so we must be very selective in any new acquisitions to our collections.  In order to meet our collections’ mandate, artefacts and archival materials are assessed on the following criteria:

• the history of the early city (York/Toronto) prior to Confederation
• the postal service in Upper Canada prior to 1851
• the history of communication of the early city (York/Toronto) prior to Confederation
• the history of letter-writing and equipment with an emphasis on the first half of the 19th century
• the history of the post-office building and its context
• the item(s) is in complete and reasonable condition with clear history of ownership
• the item(s) is not a duplication of an artefact already in our permanent collection
• the item(s) relevancy to current research, interpretation, education, and exhibit programming
• the item(s) represent an aspect of early Town of York/Toronto history not yet represented in the collection

Do you have objects or archival material you would like Toronto's First Post Office to consider for donation to our collection?