Research Articles

The transition from airmail to modern day airline companies can be viewed in the evolution of the 22 models of airplanes that were used in the years 1918 to 1936, as the airmail industry became the airline industry.

These presentations were prepared by Cuban Postmaster General Carlos J. Asencio Valerino and his executive team, November 2013.

Epistolary novels use letters to tell a story. Hundreds of authors have found their way into telling a story by sharing their characters’ correspondence. Even as letters have made way to emails and text messages, the idea of using written messages to tell a story continues. Learn more about this unique story telling methodology.

“Mail-order Brides” is a term that has undergone many representations. As it suggests, at one time, mail was how strangers “met” to arrange a possible marriage. From the American West to first decades of the 20th century, mail made those connections. But just what was this process all about?

The nation needed a postal system that could meet its surging need. To answer that challenge the Post Office Department had to integrate new machines and systems into an organization that was second only to the military in scope and numbers. It would not be easy.

In the mid 1800s the best way to travel from New York to San Francisco was by steamer to the Panamanian isthmus, across Panama by land, and hailing a second steamer to finish the trip. Learn how the U.S. Post Office Department helped create this passage and how the discovery of gold in California kicked the entire system into overdrive.

During the Great Depression the Farm Security Administration sent photographers across the country to document the lives of everyday Americans. These photographs, housed at the Library of Congress, reveal how America’s postal system was an integral part of our citizens’ daily lives. Learn more about some of these photographers, their work, and a listing of postal-related photographs in that collection.

An official service since 1902, Rural Free Delivery brought the world into rural American homes. It also created a new, specialized market of the growing numbers of rural letter carriers. Rural carriers were contacted by companies looking to reach into a community market as well as businesses advertising goods and tools to the carriers themselves. In the end most of the young companies did not survive the rush to claim rural carriers’ loyalties. But the first decades of the 20th century’s rural mail service offer a fascinating look at commercial opportunities and challenges.

This article explores the unique history and experience of African Americans in America’s Postal Service, illustrating that the United States Postal Service has been both a place where African Americans were discriminated against, and a place where many African Americans found opportunities for advancement.