Every post, newest first, grouped by the year it was written.
1
Owney, the dog who rode the mail trains
A stray dog wandered into the Albany post office in 1888 and became the unofficial mascot of the railway mail clerks.
Mail by dog sled across Alaska
Mail by road
2
Mail by dog sled across Alaska
Contract carriers used dog sleds across Alaska from the late nineteenth century into the early 1920s.
3
Women letter carriers in Chicago
Jeanette Lee gathers mail from a street collection box in a photograph dated 1944.
A post office on a Boston streetcar
Mail by rail
4
A post office on a Boston streetcar
Railway Post Office streetcar 642 ran between Charlestown and Post Office Square.
Delivering the mail by bicycle
Carriers
5
Delivering the mail by bicycle
Some carriers chose bicycles to help speed their travel time.
Lieutenant Webb and the first day of airmail
Airmail
6
Lieutenant Webb and the first day of airmail
On May 15, 1918, the United States officially established airmail service between New York, Philadelphia and Washington, DC.
7
Sorting mail on the first Highway Post Office bus
Two clerks sort mail inside the bus that ran between Washington, DC, and Harrisonburg, Virginia.
President Roosevelt mails a letter on a bus
Mail by road
8
President Roosevelt mails a letter on a bus
Franklin D. Roosevelt deposits a letter into the mail slot of the first Highway Post Office bus in 1941.
9
Airmail plane 38262 takes off on the first day
A Curtiss Jenny leaves Washington, DC, on May 15, 1918, the first day of scheduled airmail service.
Inside a Boston mail streetcar
Mail by rail
10
Inside a Boston mail streetcar
The interior of a Boston mail streetcar equipped with a canceling machine, about 1899.
Railway Post Office car number 488
Mail by rail
11
Railway Post Office car number 488
A Pullman-built baggage and Railway Post Office car from the Central of Georgia line, about 1916.
12
Sorting mail in the tight quarters of an RPO car
Railway Post Office clerks at work inside a Railway Post Office car, about 1920.
The Deadwood coach
Mail by road
13
The Deadwood coach
A stagecoach on its way to Deadwood City, South Dakota, in 1889.
Loading the mail for a pathfinding flight
Airmail
14
Loading the mail for a pathfinding flight
Three Junkers aircraft flew a transcontinental pathfinding flight for the Post Office Department in July 1920.
15
A letter carrier and his two-wheeled mail wagon
An unidentified carrier with a horse-drawn mail wagon, about 1895.
16
Letter carriers leaving New York's main post office
A group of carriers walk down the steps of the main city post office at 33rd street, about 1940.
A row of one-man mail collection wagons
Carriers
17
A row of one-man mail collection wagons
Postal officials pose with letter carriers and their horse-drawn collection wagons, about 1904.
When children went by parcel post
Carriers
18
When children went by parcel post
After parcel post began in 1913, at least two children were sent through the mail.
Mail arrives in Omaha at 1:50 in the morning
Airmail
19
Mail arrives in Omaha at 1:50 in the morning
The first scheduled transcontinental airmail flight from west to east reached Omaha on July 2, 1924.
A rural carrier in Harbor Springs fitted his Model T with skis
Mail by road
20
A rural carrier in Harbor Springs fitted his Model T with skis
Roy Aler of Harbor Springs, Michigan, could drop either wheels or skis into place in front.
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