POST OFFICES OF MID-CENTURY AMERICA, 1950s

A fascinating collection of over 1,200 vintage picture postcards depicting Post Office façades from around the United States, the majority sent by postmasters throughout the country to the Post Office Building in Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1950s. The picture postcards included in this collection primarily measure to the standard 9 x 14cm size, most with locations noted within the negative, or printed on the card recto, various printed formats of line, text, and stamp boxes on versos. Post Office locations include: Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Arizona, California, Colorado, Connecticut, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, Nevada, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Oregon, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and a small group of non-United States locations.

A large number of these postcards are addressed to A.J. [Arnold] Chulik, Superintendent of Buildings, Room 416, Post Office Building, Minneapolis, Minnesota, and the postmarks date primarily to the early-to-mid-1950s. Many of the postcards have short notes, written by postmasters or employees at the Post Office depicted. The cards appear to have been requested in some form by Mr Chulik, possibly at a general postmasters meeting in the early 1950s, or by sending out his own picture postcard of the Minneapolis Post Office to Post Offices across the country. The notes range in tone from perfunctory, to factual, to comic, including: "A little late but had to wait for a new issue of cards." -H.E. Rice, Postmaster, Orono ME; "Dear Sir, Cannot buy a postal card of our office, so I made one. Hope this is satisfactory, almost impossible to take a picture when cars are not parked there." -Myrtle Hoyan, P.C. Clerk, Corning, Iowa; "Perhaps you will find this view of the Nome Post Office and Federal Building a little different. The Post Office is located in the far wing, on the second floor. There is snow in Nome about eight months of the year." -James M. McLean, Postmaster, Nome, Alaska; "Dear Sir - Better late than never." -Louis H. Hoskus, Postmaster, Anaheim, California.

A selection of cards are addressed to a Mr. Albert T Cartmell, many of which have the messages stricken through with light coloured pencil; it appears that Cartmell, address, Kansas City, Missouri, was also requesting postcards in a similar way to Chulik. There are also a number of personal postcards sprinkled into the large collection which have no relation to Chulik or Cartmell. It may be that the original compiler of this large collection brought together various smaller collections over the course of the second half of the 20th century.

Alongside the picture postcards there are approximately 500 b&w snapshots of various Post Office exteriors, many from Minnesota and the surrounding states; as well as a group of approx. 500 manila envelopes, with the return address of the Post Office Department of Minneapolis, which contain various-sized negatives and transparencies of Minnesota Post Offices. Most have typed location identifiers on the envelope recto.