Collection mailbox connected with 2001 anthrax attacks

In 2001, twenty-two people were infected with spores from the anthrax letter attacks. The letters, addressed to government officials and members of the media, led to the infection of nine U.S. postal workers and the death of two. Before the end of that October, the American public had become frighteningly familiar with phrases like cross-contamination, bio-terrorism, and the difference between inhalation and cutaneous (skin contact) infections.

The journeys of the anthrax-laced letters began when they were mailed from this collection box in Princeton, New Jersey. The decontamination process left the white residue you see.

Museum ID: 2013.2011.197