Foiling the Fed: Tattersall’s early postal sweepstakes and circumventing federal law
Wednesday 20 May, 10.30am
Central Gallery, TMAG
George Adams founded the Tattersall’s lottery company in 1881 to sell sweepstake tickets on horseraces. But by 1902 he found his postal sweepstakes banned by the newly formed Federal Government. Adams needed a way to receive post to his Hobart-based company, and he needed it fast. In an act of early crowdsourcing he offered a £1000 reward for a scheme to circumvent the 1902 postal ban. TMAG holds a collection of more than 200 letters written to Adams between February and May 1902 suggesting various schemes. Some are clever, some are harebrained, some are deeply self-serving, and all the letters are a window into how people lived in 1902.
Isobel Andrewartha, TMAG Senior Curator of Cultural Heritage, has been digitising, transcribing, and researching this collection of letters to better understand the 1902 ban and George Adams’s response. In this talk she will plot the lay of the land leading up to the ban as well as discuss her research into this ‘divergent scheme’ collection and what it can tell us about life in 1902.
This is a FREE event and you are welcome to bring non-member friends.
