United States Postal Service records
Scope and Contents
The collection contains handwritten, typewritten, and printed postal schedules, dispatches, and employee records. The materials relate to the early mail service in the American West by rail. It includes information on railway post offices, postal employees, and railway policy covering 1869 to 1947.
Dates
- 1869-1947
Creator
- United States Postal Service (creator, Organization)
Conditions Governing Access
Open for public research.
Conditions Governing Use
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances. Permission to publish material from Papers must be obtained from the Supervisor of Reference Services and/or the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Board of Curators.
Administrative History
The Continental Congress named Benjamin Franklin the first Postmaster General in 1775. The postal system Congress created helped bind the new nation together and support the growth of commerce. When railway mail service began, mostly letter mail was sorted on the cars, which were not equipped to distribute other kinds of mail. Today, the Postal Service fuels the nation's economy and delivers hundreds of millions of messages and billions of dollars in financial transactions each day to eight million businesses and 250 million Americans.
The Post Office Department recognized the value of railway transportation for mail as early as November 30, 1832. By about 1869, other mail, except packages, was sorted as well.
Today the Postal Service is making history, too, as it helps lead the way in making the federal government more businesslike and responsive to customer needs.
Extent
1 box (0.5 linear ft.)
Language of Materials
English
Custodial History
This collection was found unprocessed in the cold vault of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections and it was recommended that the collection be processed in March 2003.
Appraisal
19th Century Western and Mormon Manuscripts.
- Title
- Register of Papers
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Garrett Schroath
- Date
- 2011 March 16
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English in Latin script.
Repository Details
Part of the L. Tom Perry Special Collections Repository
1130 HBLL
Brigham Young University
Provo Utah 84602 United States