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November 5, 2007

For the Public Good: The History of America's Postal System

Photo by Nick Ut/Associated Press

For those of us sending out letters through the United States Postal Service, there may be a lot more meaning behind the ritual of posting a letter than we fully realize. When we slide our expertly decorated or consummately stylish envelopes into one of the numerous blue collection boxes conveniently placed throughout America, do we really understand how or why this elaborate system of mailing was developed? And what does it mean to us that we have access to this service? I know that I really never thought twice about it--not until we at the Modern Letter Project decided to look into the history of the U.S.P.S.

In this recurring series, starting today, we hope to explore some of the underlying concepts and philosophies behind the advent of our federal postal system, describe some of the more interesting stories and personalities behind this development, as well highlight some of the illuminating and fun historical facts that comprise this organization's history, and in turn, hopefully be able to begin to contextualize the practice of letter writing within American history.

Some topics that we'll be tackling include: the influence of the postal service on the development of the roads and transportation systems that we use today, the relationship of the U.S.P.S. to Colonial American history, evolution of the prepaid postage system, the Pony Express, the function of mail in democratic discourse, the ways that technology has changed how we send and receive mail, how exactly a letter travels all that way, mailboxes through the ages, the recent effects of rate hikes on independent media, and of course, as many curious and bizarre stories about postmasters as we can find.

If you are too impatient to wait for this discussion (the FedEx overnight crowd), the U.S.P.S. provides a wonderful and expansive summary of their history that has been a great inspiration and starting point for this series. If you see anything in there that you would like to see us look into, please let us know.

In the meantime, where do you think your letters fit into this story?