This fall, Smithsonian Books released Routes to a Nation: The Post Office in the Colonies and Early United States, which features 130 new high-quality photographs of letters, seals, newspapers and other artifacts from the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum, including many rarely seen objects. The book explores the complex history of the American post office’s formative era, including the controversy and resistance it faced in its early years, as well as the role it played in nation-building.
Essays from curators examine mail and material culture, the English post office in early America, stamp taxes and the post in Britain and America, Benjamin Franklin’s role as postmaster general, the development of post office routes and administration, letter writers and more. Featured artifacts from the museum’s collections include an invoice paid by George Washington, a letter to John Hancock postmarked July 4, 1776, a military express receipt for the Wyandot Indian carrier Kamandatah and a proposal written by a revolutionary that envisioned a new postal system to undercut British authority. Routes to a Nation analyzes these artifacts for their language, materiality and other details to offer firsthand accounts of 18th- and early 19th-century life.
This volume traces the development of the post from colonial transatlantic communication to the early years of the republic, spanning colonist resistance, debates over taxation, two wars, economic expansion, diplomatic crises and other hot-button political issues. Routes to a Nation pays tribute to the origin of a postal system that would become integral to everyday life and reveals how it transformed the nation’s founding era.
About the Authors
The Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum is located in the historic City Post Office Building, which was constructed in 1914 and served as the Washington, D.C., post office from 1914 through 1986. It showcases the largest and most comprehensive collection of stamps and philatelic material in the world. Daniel A. Piazza is the chief curator of philately. Lynn Heidelbaugh is a curator specializing in the history of postal service in the U.S. Alison R. Bazylinski is a curator specializing in U.S. cultural history and material culture.
About the Book
Title: Routes to a Nation: The Post Office in the Colonies and Early United States
On-Sale Date: 10/6/26
Price: $45.00 US / $60.00 CAN
Pages: 216
ISBN: 9781588348241
Available wherever books are sold.
Smithsonian Books