February 7, 1963. Providence, Rhode Island. "Post Office employees sitting at Central Control System overlooking work area." 35mm acetate negative by Thomas J. O'Halloran for the U.S. News & World Report assignment "Automated Post Office." View full size.


1959: "A Post Office Ordered With Full Automation"

        WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- Orders for the construction of "Project Turnkey," the nation's first fully mechanized Post Office, were given today by Postmaster Arthur E. Summerfield. The office will be built and equipped in Providence, R.I., by Intelex Systems Inc. of New York for an estimated cost of $20 million. Intelex, a subsidiary of International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, will then lease it to the Post Office Department for twenty years at an annual rental of $1.4 million. The mail will be entirely handled by machinery ... " (N.Y. Times, Feb. 4, 1959)

1961: "House Group Finds Automated P.O. 'Fails Miserably' "

        A House subcommittee charged yesterday that Project Turnkey, the new automated post office in Providence, R.I., has "failed miserably" to meet expectations and that its cost to the Government appears to be "grossly excessive." (Washington Post, March 2, 1961)
  BUY PRINT    February 7, 1963. Providence, Rhode Island. "Post Office employees sitting at Central Control System overlooking work area." 35mm acetate negative by Thomas J. O'Halloran for the U.S. News & World Report assignment "Automated Post Office."

1959: "A Post Office Ordered With Full Automation"

        WASHINGTON, Feb. 3 -- Orders for the construction of "Project Turnkey," the nation's first fully mechanized Post Office, were given today by Postmaster Arthur E. Summerfield. The office will be built and equipped in Providence, R.I., by Intelex Systems Inc. of New York for an estimated cost of $20 million. Intelex, a subsidiary of International Telephone and Telegraph Corporation, will then lease it to the Post Office Department for twenty years at an annual rental of $1.4 million. The mail will be entirely handled by machinery ... " (N.Y. Times, Feb. 4, 1959)

1961: "House Group Finds Automated P.O. 'Fails Miserably' "

        A House subcommittee charged yesterday that Project Turnkey, the new automated post office in Providence, R.I., has "failed miserably" to meet expectations and that its cost to the Government appears to be "grossly excessive." (Washington Post, March 2, 1961)
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