The postal age: the emergence of modern communications in nineteenth-century America

Abstract

'The Postal Age' paints a vibrant picture of a society where possibilities proliferated for the kinds of personal and impersonal communications that we often associate with more recent historical periods. In doing so, it increases our understanding of both antebellum America and our own chapter in the history of communication.

Contents

Introduction -- pt. 1. Joining a network -- Becoming postal : a communications revolution in antebellum America -- Mailable matters : from news to mail -- Playing post office : mail in urban space -- pt. 2. Postal intimacy -- Embracing opportunities : the construction of the personal letter -- Precious as gold : mobility and family in the Gold Rush and Civil War -- Mass mailings : valentines, junk mail, and dead letters -- Epilogue.