Thursday, September 17, 2020

USPS

Postman’s bag is always heavy because it carries the life itself: It carries all the sorrows and all the joys, all the worries and all the hopes!
~Mehmet Murat ildan


For Art Thursday, images from the National Postal Museum Archives:

An illustration of the "Jacob Strader," on the Louisville and Cincinnati mail line, 1856

City collection mail wagon used to collect mail from sidewalk mailboxes in Chicago, 1890

Mail team leaving Circle City for Ft. Gibson, Alaska, c. 1900

Railway Post Office streetcar #642, 1900

Robert Shank was hired in 1918, the first year of airmail service, as a Post Office Department airmail pilot. Shrank survived this crash of his Standard JR-1B aircraft, which landed nose down into a woody area. Shank is pictured standing on the airplane, peering into the cockpit.
Creator/Photographer: Charles T. Chapman

A girl trying to reach the top of a street collection mailbox to mail a letter, 1920

Railway Post Office clerks at work sorting mail inside the tight quarters of an RPO car, 1930

USPS Gifts

1 comment:

HWY said...

Great topic today, Tabatha. It is amazing how much we take the postal service for granted. We have to guard that service, especially when it is threatened.

When I was a third-year in college, I worked at a local post office during Christmas break and during the summer. I especially remember the Christmas job because I had to be at work at 3 a.m. (yes, A.M.). Definitely felt I was doing important work.