| Postal Systems
Getting mail from place to place is very important in society. There
have been many systems to deliver letters--from ships to walking to horses.
Our contemporary mail delivery system is high-tech. Machines read and
sort much of our mail, and it only takes about two days and costs under
40 cents to send a standard letter from New York City to Los Angeles.
Sample some of the following activities to learn more about the postal
system.
Places To Go | People
To See | Things To Do | Teacher
Resources | Bibliography
Places To Go
 Philatelists
are people who collect stamps. Join the Utah Philatelic Society. They
meet on the 1st Thursday of the month at the Senior Recreation Center,
237 S. 1000 E. Salt Lake City, and the 3rd Thursday of the month at the
Sandy Senior Recreation Center, 9310 S. 1300 E., Sandy from 7:00 - 9:00
pm both nights.
Visit your local post office. They have supplies for stamp collections.
United States Postal
Service
This site for the United States Postal Service features all kinds of information
for business folks and consumers.
The Pony Express
Museum
The Pony Express was in service from April 1860 to November 1861. Its
primary mission was to deliver mail and news between St. Joseph, Missouri,
and San Francisco, California. On this site for the Pony Express Museum,
you can read more about the Pony Express and some of its riders. You can
even take a virtual tour of the museum.
Pony
Express Trail
Learn some general information about the Pony Express, including some
of the stops that were made in Utah.
National Postal Museum
Visit the National Postal Museum at the Smithsonian
and find postal history for each state and curriculum guides for teachers.
 People
To See
Do you have questions about what happens to your letter after you put
it in your mailbox? How does it get where it's going? Do machines or people
read the addresses and sort the letters? Mark
McCoy - postalemployee99@yahoo.com, postal employee at the Sandy,
Utah U.S. Post Office, can give you the inside story.
Benjamin
Franklin: World of Influence
Benjamin Franklin was named the first Postmaster General of the colonies
on July 26, 1775. Franklin, who recognized the importance of effective
communication between the colonies, created the American Postal Service.
Pony
Express Riders
This site features a list of many of the brave young men who rode for
the Pony Express. You can learn more about one of the more famous riders,
William Cody (a.k.a. “Buffalo Bill”) as well.
Monster.Com:
Mail Carrier Profile
Find out more information about what it takes to be a mail carrier.
Their Stamp on History
Meet actors, artists, doctors, explorers, inventors,
musicians, politicians, and writers who have been features on postage
stamps.
Things To Do
 Stamps
Online
Start a stamp collection. Stamps are inexpensive and easy to collect.
Read the 32-page picture book, Mailing May by Michael O. Tunnell. He
is a Utah author! The book is based on a true story and is beautifully
illustrated by Ted Rand. It was a nominee for 1998-99 Utah Children's
Picture Book Award. In 1914, May's family in Idaho could not afford to
send her to visit her grandmother in Lewston, Idaho--75 miles away. So
her family took advantage of new parcel post regulations, affixed 53
cents
in stamps to the back of her coat, and put her on the mail car of the
train! She arrived safely at her grandmother's the next day.
 Write a letter to a friend or relative and send that letter through the
postal system.
Participate in the Flat
Stanley Project. Flat Stanley is a book by by Jeff Brown. In the story
a boy named Stanley Lambchop is squashed flat when a bulletin board falls
on him. He learns that he can do many things now that he is flat, and
he uses his flatness to his advantage. He discovers that he can now visit
his friends by travelling in an envelope. This premise is the basis of
the Flat Stanly project. The project involves hosting one of these flattened
Stanleys and writing in his journal about your school, your state, or
what ever type of information is asked for by the class member who sends
him. After a few days of entertaining Stanley you send him back to his
owner and the information is shared.
History
of the United States Postal Service
Find out who the first Postmaster General was and explore a bunch of other
interesting information about the history and evolution of the United
States Postal Service.
History of the United States Postal System
Learn all about the origins
of our post offices. The first capital of the United States was in Philadelphia
, and it was also the first postal headquarters. When these headquarters
were moved to Washington D.C. in 1800, the officials were able to carry
all postal records, furniture, and supplies in two horse-drawn wagons
United States Postal Service
Find out which two former presidents of
the United States were local postmasters. (Hint: One was postmaster from
1833 to 1836 in New Salem, Illinois. For his postal work, he earned a
yearly salary of $55.70. Because he was postmaster, he could send personal
mail for free and could get one daily newspaper delivered for free. Mail
was delivered weekly, and if an individual didn’t pick up his or
her mail from the post office, this postmaster would personally deliver
it to them, usually carrying the mail in his hat.)
The Early Postal System
See how the early postal system differed from
our system today. One big difference was that mail was not delivered
to your house; it had to be picked up at the post office. Another interesting
difference was that many times letters were mailed with postage that
had not yet been paid for. When you went to the post office for you mail,
you often had to pay just to receive your letters.
Philatelists in the Classroom
Access 36 activities using stamps in the
classroom.
Sci-philately: A Selective History of Science on Stamps
Who knew there
were so many famous scientists features on stamps? Browse through dozens
of examples of stamps commemorating chemists, biologists, astronomers,
mathematicians, physicists, etc. and find biographical information about
eachscientist.
Teacher Resources
Lesson Plans
Bibliography
- Brown, Jeff. Flat Stanley. HarperTrophy : New York, 1996.
- Brown, Jeff. Invisible Stanley. HarperTrophy : New York, 1996.
- Brown, Jeff. Stanley and the Magic Lamp. HarperCollins : New York,
1996.
- Savage, Jeff. Pony Express Riders of the Wild West. Enslow : Springfield,
N.J., 1995.
- Skurzynski, Gloria. Here Comes the Mail. Bradbury Press : New York,
1992.
- Tunnell, Michael O. Mailing May. Greenwillow Books : New York, 1997.
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