Yesteryears:Dec 5, 1995 Vol 5 No 25

U.S. POSTAGE BULK RATE PERMIT NO. 119 SALEM, OH 44460 Vol 5, 'J\[o. 25 'Iuesrfay, 'lJecember 5, 1995 Section of 'The Safem 'J\[ews • rs s 1 rl st I From beginning, officials wanted to transport mail farther and faster By Vicki Moeser Smithsonian News F THE U.S. POSTAL SER-· I vice had a motto - which it does not - it might well be "faster and faster, and farther and farther," says James H. Bruns, director of the Smithso nian's National Postal Museum in Washington D.C. America's postal system has been obsessed with speed and distance, he says. "To carry the mail faster and farther over the years the Post Office Depart ment has experimented with many innovations, such as bal loons, rail lines, streetcars, i~~~~--..~.;~~~~;S;~~:~~ buses, pneumatic tubes, heli copters, rockets, satellites and ~e horse 1Yas the vital link. in th~ US. postal service through the years, from mail delivery to rural homes like the farm of motorcars." And, he adds, Eli Taylor m West Township to maccessible places in the west. animals. For the first 200 years of its In all fairness, Bruns adds, ladelphia and Pittsburgh on a Steamship Co. to carry mail anxious not to allow Caiifornia, existence, the pace of America's slow service was not always two-week schedule. from New York to Panama, with its vast gold resources, to postal system was largely the carrier's fault. "Horses were Statistically, in 1791, roughly where it was taken by horse be wooed by the South. "The determined by the speed of forever losing shoes, coaches nine-tenths of America's mail back or rail across the isthmus, Pony Express was the perfect horses. The first attempt to broke down and ferries were a was carried by riders on horse then put aboard ships bound alternative," Bruns says. "It establish regular horseback problem. Because there were back. The remaining tenth was for San Francisco. Under the operated over a central route mail service was made in the few bridges, ferry operators largely transported by coaches best conditions, a letter would that was about 1,000 miles the 1670s by Francis Lovelace, grumbled at having to carry and boats. To improve service, arrive in California three to perfect alternative," Bruns says. Bruns writes in his book "Mail post riders across rivers and a frenzy of road construction four weeks after it was mailed. 'It operated over a central on the Move." (Transportation streams in the dark and during began in the 1790s. As a result, Some mail also was hauled route that was about 1,000 Trails, Polo, Ill.,1992.) storms." by 1799, more than 16,000 miles by stagecoach across the coun miles shorter than the Overland Lovelace, the Colonial gover The Articles of Confedera of post roads had been try. The Post Office Department Mail's southern route. And, nor of New York and New tion, adopted in 1777, gave con established. issued a contract in 1857 to the more importantly from the Jersey, decreed that "a post gress "the sole and exclusive By 1806, mail-coach service Butterfield Overland Mail Co. Northern perspective, it was shall go monthly between New right and power" to establish was extended beyond the to provide service from Mis outside Southern control." York and Boston." Although and regulate post offices. Fol Appalachian Mountains. "Early souri to California. The adver Pony Express arrives the distance was only about 260 lowing the adoption of the U.S. mail wagons were not pleasure tised traveling time ~as 24 Pony Express riders were miles, the trip took more than Constitution in 1789, Congress palaces," Bruns says. "They days, but mail service was sought through an advertise two weeks, partly because created the U.S. Postal Office lacked most creature comforts. often delayed for months. ment stressing adventure to there were no roads connecting Department to "establish post There were no glass windows, "By the 1860s," Bruns any young, skinny fellows who the two cities. offices and post roads." functional heaters or comfort explains, "two events sealed were expert riders and willing Delays accepted Throughout much of the 19th able seat cushions. Leg room the fate of the Overland Mail, a · to risk death for $25 a week. As postal service expanded century, the Post Office Depart was scant. The trips were slow systeffi\i; which ·was once Orphans were preferred. throughout the Colonies, ment favored the practice of and long, and by journey's end, referred to as one of the great Although the postage rates placing contracts with private the aroma and hygiene of one's est overland transportation were expensive, the time travel delays in mail delivery were an from St. Joseph, Mo., to San accepted way of life. "Post rid firms, rather than using feder traveling companions frequent ventures ever undertaken:' ally owned animals, vehicles or ly left much to be desired." These were the Civil War, Francisco was ten days. ers escorted travelers they Despite its popular mytholo might come upon, and they watercraft. ~ Swanning prospectors which resulted in the disrup were known to simply tarry," Horses were link After gold was discovered in tion of the southern Overland gy, the Pony Express contract 1 Druns ,. :Ser ii. coin er tvvo.r PJ.s mail ser::.,-ic~e begaii mo,~-- 1848 at S11~~::: : ~:'.:::~! :::-_ ·::.:~S::::- Mail rot2~2; c-::-"td '.l-~2 c.dc,-.:c::: ': ::.' some cou.1C.C :Oe per- 1ng riders or vehi- niaj prospectors -v':tl: the ,., '"'"'::..~ £::.ct from 1861 - l8 r11ont~:s - until suaG.e·~ -io i-.. tid oxer~ a.~(Jr~g the cles drat-vn ~-:.orses linked ·:he horrlesteaCe~s flocking west that the 0\-e::::,:.;:::C : ::c:'.~ ::cd way, while ·others were often sparsely populated frontier. In ward. That same year, the Post through Texas, New Mexico. the transcontinental telegraph .....,.....,,...l A __ ;_,..._ ........... ~~,.l~ 1\.T-;....,~J..t....,,_ __ '1'1"'100 -~,-".!- - ---",..::J---~ --~ _'!!_. _____ _ f""\t..t.:.,...,,.. n,...,,--~.!.-_...,_,1.. ---·---...J,,_,... - '.)'esteTl{ears 'Tuestfay, 'Deaiiiber 5 ]')95 shire re ecte as mericans wanted By Country Living printed images of America's reached the height of its popu ISTORICAL ST AFFORD Founding Fathers and military larity between 1820 and 1845, H shire was a smart public heroes, celebrating their when pictorial art was largely relations move by the British exploits in bygone battles. The absent from American interiors. pottery industry after the War pro-American designs were a Prior to about 1850, only the of 1812 - and today collectors marketing device to help Engl wealthiest Americans could pay hundreds of dollars for ish potters regain the American manage to exhibit works of art these English ceramics with market owned by them during in their homes, and even th.en, American themes. the Colonial era and lost dur most paintings found on the Although Historical Stafford ing the American Revolution walls took the form of dour shire was produced and distri and the War of 1812. family portraits. buted in great quantities dur When the popularity of Transfer printing, an early ing the early and mid-19th cen images depicting military victo mass-production technique, tury, time, frequent use and ries and political figures waned allowed Staffordshire potters to breakage have made it scarce. somewhat in the 1820s, pastoral provide popular quality wares Collectors can expect to pay scenes glorifying the beauty of at prices low enough to appeal about $75 for a 3;0 -inch _!:Up the American countryside to families of modest means. plate, $200-$600 for ·a. dinner replaced them. Later, images of Although historical images ~ --~·::i.,~--,....~,,._ Ji?T"l::~......,-- :::-l-,,.J ,.,~~~re;_ 'l;irere founC~ :::>'1.ost 0f~en o:-; the~~~~:~~t; J:~~~, the ;~e~~cd~~~~ New York City ro the White pots. The earliest examples valued at $12,000," said author House in Washington, D:C. featured designs printed' in and expert Jeffrey B. Snyder. cobalt blue, followed in the late "It made me a little nervous to The transportation revolution 1820s and 1830s by an expand suddenly realize that if I provided additional subjects to ing range of colors, including This engraving of Andrew Jackson was based on a portrait dropped the piece from shock, decorate everyday dinnerware - light blue, brown and painted by Thomas Sully in 1819. It's included in the exhibi I would soon be working for the Erie Canal, steamboats and mulberry. tion, 'From Jackson to Lincoln: Democracy and Dissent' at him." railroads. Until roughly 1860, Each of the potters estab the Pierpont Morgan Library. AP Photo all these images were presented lished distinctive border It was shortly after the War to the American public on the designs, which were considered pieces that made up a single try, Historical -Staffordshire of 1812 that potters in Eng "printed pearlware and .white the sole property of the firms dining service or tea set, pro served as a goodwill ambassa- land's Staffordshir<:> district ;:A.rare" kr:.:-.::r'f,l\T;'. !:) todc-::/ ~ cnJ1eC"- tl:2_: ;;rccicc:ed tl-~~:-:-~. C)£~en. .. ::, ·vi dir. 0:" buvers vJitl.-.. 2 E:::e-i:,'"' d:=·::-1 -:;·.,-hile t 1:=, _ thes::: began to produce tea ser~\lices wrs as Historical Staffordshire. number ot center images would tour C:i the Hudson Rive;: \l~i= English-rrtacie wares presented and tableware decorated with Historical Staffordshire be used to create the various ley, for example, or views of a view of the United States as far-flung American cities. Americans wanted it to be. Whatever the center motif, the. border remained consistent, videnc Trojans could· rite identifying each item as part of Arbaugh-Pearce By Assodated Press ably the scribe's wife.

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