Through the middle of the [nineteenth] century, the pigeonhole was the primary storage device for [incoming] correspondence, sometimes supplemented by a desk spindle on which papers could be impaled. ¶ When the pigeonholes filled up, letters were of

Through the middle of the [nineteenth] century, the pigeonhole was the primary storage device for [incoming] correspondence, sometimes supplemented by a desk spindle on which papers could be impaled. ¶ When the pigeonholes filled up, letters were often tied up in bundles and stored in a safe place. At low levels of correspondence, such a storage system was satisfactory. The letters of the last year or two could be kept in the pigeonholes, so that by the time letters were retired they were not being actively used. As business – and correspondence – increased in the midcentury period, however, pigeonhole desks and cabinets became less satisfactory storage systems.