search  current discussion  categories  history 

post office history: was -- re: mel's orange card

updated sat 8 sep 07

 

James and Sherron Bowen on sun 2 sep 07


A slight difference between the notion of postal service here and in Italy
is that in the eighties after a lengthy strike by Italian Postal Workers
there was so much mail piled up in postal facilities throughout Italy that
postal officials decided to start over with a clean slate an ordered all the
mail to taken out and burned. That's not going to happen here.
JB


----- Original Message -----
From: "Lee Love"
To:
Sent: Sunday, September 02, 2007 6:59 PM
Subject: Re: Post office history: was -- Re: mel's orange card


> On 9/2/07, claystevslat wrote:
>> Actually, no. It was not a Franklin invention. Post offices
>> trace their lineage at least to 1290 in Italy,
>
> We should thank the Italians for inventing the U.S. postal service.
> Leave it to the Italians to make socialism in the USA! haha!
>
> Of course, there were great libraries in the ancient world too.
> Koreans invented movable metal type. But that has little to do with
> what we were talking about.
>
> --
> Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA
>
> "Making pots should not be a struggle.
> It should be like walking down a hill
> in a gentle breeze." --Shoji Hamada
>
>
> http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/
>
> "For a democracy of excellence, the goal is not to reduce things to a
> common denominator but to raise things to a shared worth."
> --Paolo Soleri
>
> ______________________________________________________________________________
> Send postings to clayart@lsv.ceramics.org
>
> You may look at the archives for the list or change your subscription
> settings from http://www.ceramics.org/clayart/
>
> Moderator of the list is Mel Jacobson who may be reached at
> melpots2@visi.com
>
>

claystevslat on sun 2 sep 07


Actually, no. It was not a Franklin invention. Post offices
trace their lineage at least to 1290 in Italy, when the Tassis
family operated a courier-delivery system for letters. It was
probably not original there, but I've never found earlier
references (though I also haven't seriously researched
the matter).

Franz Von Taxis, scion of the Tassis', was the postmaster of
the Holy Roman Empire -- he had various royal warrants to
operate a post office beginning in 1501 (few details of this
arrangement survive) with wider, cross-regional service
specified in later warrants, specifically from 1505, the
warrant for which specified delivery times for various
trips -- and when the royal demand for exclusive service was
reduced, Thurn and Taxis became the basis for modern postal
service in western and central Europe. To this day, post
boxes in Austria and Germany have a post horn ensignia on
them. This was the symbol of Thurn and Taxis.

Franklin was the first Postmaster General of the USA. He
was not the inventor of the post office, or the founder of
the first functioning post office in what is not the USA
(that honor goes to Fairbanks' Tavern in Boston, which
was the office accepting mail for the fastest and most
reliable run to England in colonial times).

One of the finest short novels in the English language,
"The Crying of Lot 49" (T. Pynchon) is largely a fantasy
about the cultural maintenance of the tradition of an
opponent to the Thurn and Taxis monopoly. It blurs the
line between truth and fiction wherever it approaches,
but it's well worth the winter evening or two it will take
to read, and holds up well under re-reading. Highly
recommended, except for those who tend to adopt the
paranoid conspiracy theories of others.

-- Steve Slatin




--- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, Lee Love wrote:
>
> I highly recommend the printing and mailing service of the USPS.
(post
> office, another "Franklin invention."

Lee Love on sun 2 sep 07


On 9/2/07, claystevslat wrote:
> Actually, no. It was not a Franklin invention. Post offices
> trace their lineage at least to 1290 in Italy,

We should thank the Italians for inventing the U.S. postal service.
Leave it to the Italians to make socialism in the USA! haha!

Of course, there were great libraries in the ancient world too.
Koreans invented movable metal type. But that has little to do with
what we were talking about.

--
Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

"Making pots should not be a struggle.
It should be like walking down a hill
in a gentle breeze." --Shoji Hamada


http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/

"For a democracy of excellence, the goal is not to reduce things to a
common denominator but to raise things to a shared worth."
--Paolo Soleri

Jim Brooks on mon 3 sep 07


Actually the postal service history states that is started in Egypt about
2000BC. look it up Postal Services History
Jim in Denton



**************************************
Get a sneak peek of the all-new AOL at
http://discover.aol.com/memed/aolcom30tour

claystevslat on tue 4 sep 07


Jim -- Well, unless Franklin was much older than he
looked, he didn't invent the post office! Thanks for
the ref.

-- Steve S

--- In clayart@yahoogroups.com, Jim Brooks wrote:
>
> Actually the postal service history states that is started in Egypt
about
> 2000BC. look it up Postal Services History
> Jim in
Denton

Lee Love on tue 4 sep 07


On 9/3/07, claystevslat wrote:
> Jim -- Well, unless Franklin was much older than he
> looked, he didn't invent the post office! Thanks for
> the ref.

Your a trip Steve. Go make some pots!

--
Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

"Making pots should not be a struggle.
It should be like walking down a hill
in a gentle breeze." --Shoji Hamada


http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/

"For a democracy of excellence, the goal is not to reduce things to a
common denominator but to raise things to a shared worth."
--Paolo Soleri

Lee Love on thu 6 sep 07


On 9/2/07, claystevslat wrote:

> Actually, no. It was not a Franklin invention.

Here is something interesting. The Post Master was in the line of
succession to President!

The United States Postal Service was CREATED in Philadelphia under
BENJAMIN FRANKLIN on July 26, 1775 by decree of the Second Continental
Congress. Based on a clause in the United States Constitution
empowering Congress "To establish post offices and post roads," it
became the Post Office Department in 1792. It was part of the
Presidential cabinet and the postmaster general was the last person in
the United States presidential line of succession. In 1971, the
department was reorganized as a quasi-independent agency of the
federal government and acquired its present name...


--
Lee in Minneapolis, Minnesota USA

"Making pots should not be a struggle.
It should be like walking down a hill
in a gentle breeze." --Shoji Hamada


http://mashikopots.blogspot.com/

"For a democracy of excellence, the goal is not to reduce things to a
common denominator but to raise things to a shared worth."
--Paolo Soleri

Lois Ruben Aronow on fri 7 sep 07


>
> > Actually, no. It was not a Franklin invention.
>
> Here is something interesting. The Post Master was in the line of
> succession to President!

Well now - that explains EVERYTHING.