- Home
- Collections
- Search the Collection
- Post route map of Maryland, Delaware, and D.C.
Post route map of Maryland, Delaware, and D.C.
Object Details
- Description
- This post road map of Maryland, Delaware, and the District of Columbia shows the postal routes designated for those areas as well as part of New Jersey. The map was published by the Post Office Department in July 1917. The month of July marked the beginning of the Department's new fiscal year and was also the month that new postal route maps were released.
- Although not designed for airmail service, this map was used in that way. Early airmail pilots had few instruments, and most relied on markers on the ground for navigating. This map shows the folds that a pilot made in the map so that he could attach it to his leg and easily check it while sitting in the cockpit. The pilot navigated by comparing the map attached to his leg with the landscape and markers (such as railroad tracks) on the ground.
- The map was approved for this use by Capt. Benjamin B. Lipsner, who assisted with the organization and operation of the first airmail flights in 1918. Lipsner marked his approval on the map with the date May 11, 1918, four days prior to the first airmail flights.
- Data Source
- National Postal Museum
- Date
- July 1917
- Object number
- 1982.0157.811
- Type
- Archival Material
- Medium
- paper; ink
- Dimensions
- Height x Width: 35 1/2 × 51 in. (90.17 × 129.54 cm)
- Place
- United States of America
- See more items in
- National Postal Museum Collection
- Topic
- The Gilded Age (1877-1920)
- Benjamin B. Lipsner Airmail Collection
- Postal Administration
- Record ID
- npm_1982.0157.811
- Usage
- Not determined
Related Object Groups
There are restrictions for re-using this image. For more information, visit the Smithsonian's Terms of Use page .
International media Interoperability Framework
IIIF provides researchers rich metadata and media viewing options for comparison of works across cultural heritage collections. Visit the IIIF page to learn more.

