Des éléments révélateurs de la société française : trafic postal et activité du service aux XIXe et XXe siècles

摘要

Abstract Postal activity is a priviledged mirror of the XIXth century French society. Formely, the low traffic proved a postal use reserved first to the elites of politics, then of culture, and then expanded to economics: the rest of the population didn't use to mail. From the 1860s, literacy tuition, the lowering of postage rates and their simplified implementation, and better life conditions democratized the use of the Post Office. Followed the traffic boom - noticed in the Orne between 1847 and 1921 — which influenced the daily work of postmen, witnesses of the geographical differences related to mail circulation.