Documentation of sent Mail Art

[Eduardo Cardoso]

Since the beginning of my involvement in Mail Art that I keep a digital archive of sent material.

Do you document in any way the Mail Art you send to others? Or do you just let it go its way and forget about it?

[Ilya Semenenko-Basin]

Yes and no. I don't keep a super-perfect archive, instead I do this:

1. I take photos of all my collages and save them in my laptop. Sometimes I want to give up this frequent photographing, because by nature I am an irritable person. :-)

2. I write down all the addresses: the postal addresses of incoming correspondence and the addresses to which I sent it; there is a special word file for this.

There is no time or perseverance for anything beyond that.

[Eduardo Cardoso]

I tried to work with photos once, but I didn't like to do it so I went back to my usual method: scan everything with my scanner. I only use take pictures when the works are larger than A4.

Your word file method is interesting. I only have a file with Mail Artist addresses in general.

[Predrag Petrovic]

Well, it is a good to have some sort of documentation about what we are sending and receiving,

Therefore, I just running 2 lists) : ''SENT'' AND ''RECEIVED'' , with current dates: year, month, day. Simple, yet effective. That way I am having all what I need, it is basic, but it means a lot. Otherwise, I wouldn't know by heart what and when and to whom I sent what, and what I received. And then, I always know exactly what's going on.

[Pam Chatfield]

I don't keep photos.  I keep a spreadsheet with the sent and received dates.

[Hélène LAGACHE]

I try to publish everything I receive to thank those who write to me. But scanning what I send.... No! It’s too energy-intensive. Life is too short!

[Ilya Semenenko-Basin]

If I hadn't photographed my own collages, I wouldn't be able to post reproductions of my art works here on this portal. But photographing all incoming correspondence becomes more and more difficult every year, as the rhythm of life changes. Maybe I'll stop photographing incoming and thank the senders with a regular letter without pictures.

[maha]

keep record of the post at my page at this site

[Treah Pichette]

I take photos of sent mail & store them in a digital file, & I also write down when I sent them & when they arrive if I know. That way I can keep track of the time it takes to various countries (although it may not be consistent!). I also have a file of mail art received. I have a scientist's mind so record-keeping is in my nature! And by the way, it would be REALLY nice if people would acknowledge receipt of mail so we would know if something gets lost or arrives safely!

[Zorica Obradović]

No, I don't keep any documentation. Neither what I've sent, nor the received mail-art. I follow the rhythm of the artist I am corresponding with or exchanging mail with: meaning, I keep some informed and others not. I understand that we don't all enjoy the same things, which is actually a good thing. I try to present mostly everything (that I receive and relates to art) on this platform, because there are more than 6,000 people here, and it only takes one person to get it, understand it, or enjoy it, for the effort not to be in vain (and I don't mean getting likes). So, that can be counted as a form of documentation. I don't even have a specific place for physically received mail-art, I let it find its own way... which is also... and that's where unusual stories emerge on the voyage of art.🤔❗

[Joseph S Bridges]

I keep a personal file for incoming and try to post some here and post my outgoing on Instagram and here. Did it happen if there isn’t some sort of info coming and going?

[Juan Petry]

i scan and upload the art i recieved to www.muarco.org and donate it to visitors of the museum. all the art is part of the eternal archive of MUARCO.

[Eduardo Cardoso]

This is very interesting. Thank you for sharing.