"Any Thing for Me, If You Please?"--Post Office of the Brooklyn Fair in Aid of the Sanitary Commission

Homer produced this illustration of the Brooklyn Sanitary Fair shortly after the bazaar opened in 1864. One of the fundraising event’s most popular attractions was the “Post Office,” where people could pay to send messages to others at the fair. The mailing booth also served as a site of flirtatious dalliance between male visitors and the young women who generally staffed the office.