Collection Starters:
Since opening its doors on July 30, 1993, the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum has welcomed millions of visitors eager to view its exhibits and enjoy its programs. However, the NPM’s collection of 5.9 million postal and philatelic objects—the second largest in the Smithsonian system—is much older than the museum. It all began in the 1880s with a single photograph and a pane of Confederate stamps.
The ‘Post Office Pembina’ Photograph
Charles Turner Cavileer (1818-1902) was appointed postmaster of the fur trading post at Pembina, in the Dakota Territory, in 1863. Cavileer was already an experienced civil servant, having previously been the territorial librarian of Minnesota and a U.S. customs inspector on the Canadian border. Now he ran Pembina post office out of his log cabin on the southern edge of town—the building depicted in this photograph.
Despite Pembina’s remote location and small size, its postmaster had plenty of work. The town was an established port of entry from Manitoba and a busy depot for cross-border mail from Red River, Winnipeg, Windsor, and other Canadian locations.
The man standing to the left of the open door is Cavileer. One of the two women to the right of the door is probably his wife, Isabell; the other woman and the tall man may be two of his five living children. Cavileer retired as postmaster in 1884 and was succeeded by his son, Edmund, who in turn served until 1917. Thus the Cavileers were postmasters of Pembina, the oldest town in North Dakota, for more than half a century. The post office still operates today (though no longer in a log cabin) with the ZIP code 58271.
A history of the region published during the elder Cavileer’s lifetime called him “the father of Pembina” and “the oldest living settler of that locality,” adding that “he was a regular correspondent to the Smithsonian Institute.” It is likely, then, that the postmaster sent the photograph to us from his own post office. It was received in 1882, making it the first postal object added to the Smithsonian’s collection.
Learn More
Illustrated Album of Biography of the Famous Valley of the Red River of the North. Chicago, Ill.: Alden, Ogle & Company, 1889.
Charles Turner Cavileer. A Red River Journey in 1851. Minneapolis, Minn.: Cleora Press, 1997.
Jeffrey M. Forster, “The Pembina Post Office–Red River B.N.A. Mail Service.”Chronicle of the United States Philatelic Classics Society 53:1 (February 2001). See also updates to the article in 54:1 (February 2002) and 58:2 (May 2006).
Written by Daniel A. Piazza
