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Stampless Letters: Our Postal History Before Stamps [S-11-49]

Early postal history reflects the use of folded letters, sealed with wax, showing the town of origin, postal rates, and sometimes route markings. This form of sending letters was used prior to 1856 when use of postage stamps became mandatory. These early letters interest us not only for their philatelic markings, but also for the human interest contained within the letters themselves. We will look at letters dated from the 1700’s to the 1850’s.

Neil Garner is a retired science and technology teacher with many hobbies and interests, many of which he has shared in the courses he has taught for SOAR.

LINKS:

• http://www.archives.ncdcr.gov/postal/postal_history_basics.pdf - "Postal History - The Basics" An Article by Vernon S. Stroupe. Answers the questions: What is postal history? What can you study and what can you learn from what you study? Plus history of how mail was carried. Includes some photos and discussion of some photo covers.
• http://www.nystampclubs.org/club_pages/Federation%20Clubs/esphs/esphs.html The home page for the "Empire State Postal History Society." One page of information on this organization.
• http://toolserver.org/~dschwen/iip/wip.php?f=USPostRoadMap1796.jpg Photo (zoomable/movable) map of Eastern United States as it was in 1796.
• http://www.ceol.com/vvpo/history.html The "History of the Post Office" Some topices covered: Colonial Times...Pony Express...Railway Mail Service...Rural Free Delivery...Airmail...Zip Code...Mule Male, Stamps, etc.
• http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Postage_stamps_and_postal_history_of_the_United_States  Wikipedia entry on "Postal stamps and postal history of the United States." Includes early postal history, post offices and postmarks, provisional issue stamps...etc., along with some photos.
• http://www.archive.org/details /stagecoachtavern00earluoft.The book: Stagecoach and Tavern Days is a free download. This is an excellent site.
• http://www.uspcs.org/uspcsStampless.html A general description of the history of the US Postal Service.