By its very nature popular music represents themes and ideas of its time. From its beginnings in the 1860s, the sale and production of sheet music reached its height in the early twentieth century. The stories celebrated in sheet music provide windows into daily life and shared cultural experiences. Letters, letter writing, and the mail have been the subject of many popular songs. Sentimental and patriotic songs, dance music, vaudeville and musicals, marches and waltzes are only a few of the musical styles that have been used to embrace a postal thought or theme.
