You've Got Mail: A History Of The Post Office

These days, what we find in the mailbox tends to fall into one of two categories: junk mail or quaint hand-written reminders of times past.

While the mail may now vacillate between irritating or antiquated, for more than two hundred years the U.S. Post Office played a central role in American life. It was not only the institution that allowed us to communicate with each other across state lines and beyond, but it played a vital part in our country’s political organization and hierarchies.

From the Backstory with the American History Guys series, we explore the rise — and fall — of our postal system. We consider the how the Post Office stitched together a disparate country in the nation’s early days, and look at the ways the USPS has been on the cutting edge of technology. We also poke some holes in the myth of the Pony Express.

Go here for more information on this series.

Airing Sunday, August 5th at 9:00 p.m., on WWNO, 89.9 FM.