The Prairie Post Office: Enlarging the Common Life in Rural North Dakota - Softcover

Phillips, K. Amy; Bolduc, Steven R.

Softcover

ISBN 10: 091104292X ISBN 13: 9780911042924

Publisher: North Dakota State Univ Pr, 2017

Synopsis

SAVE OUR POST OFFICE! This was the plea when the USPS determined to restructure or close post offices across the US, including 76 locations in North Dakota. In response, authors Amy Phillips and Steven Bolduc set out to explore the contemporary role of post offices in ND. The Prairie Post Office documents an essential institution and includes a history of northern Dakota Territory & North Dakota rural postal delivery by Kevin Carvell and 100+ color photos by Wayne Gudmundson.

About this title

About the Author

K. Amy Phillips is a member of the Minot State University faculty and teaches social work courses in a dual degree program at North Dakota State University in Fargo. Her favorite part of North Dakota is any place that provides an expansive view of the land and sky which is pretty much anywhere which is why she loves living in the Flickertail State.Steven R. Bolduc was born and raised in Massachusetts and was introduced to the Great Plains when he moved to Lincoln, Nebraska, for graduate school. Since moving to North Dakota, Steve has been captivated by the people and landscape of the northern plains. An economist by training, Steve is on the faculty of Minnesota State University Moorhead.Wayne Gudmundson s maternal and paternal great grandparents homesteaded in North Dakota, and he has photographed the prairie landscape since 1971. His work has appeared in numerous books, exhibits, and television documentaries. Wayne recently retired from teaching photography at Minnesota State University Moorhead and now is back at work making photographs in what he calls, that wonderful open space. Kevin Carvell is a native of Mott, North Dakota, and a North Dakota State University graduate. After nine years at The Forum as a political reporter, he taught journalism at The University of North Dakota and then was responsible for Sen. Byron Dorgan s eastern North Dakota operations for almost a quarter century. Kevin is a student of all things North Dakota and has a personal library of some 13,000 North Dakota books.

From the Inside Flap

When people gather to form a community, there are structures that inevitably follow, like a school and a church and a post office. In earlier days, the convenience of mail and parcel post coming from just about anywhere to your hometown made living in a new place with new neighbors a bit less discomforting. The Prairie Post Office tells an important part of the story of how a new place becomes home. Doug Hamilton, host of Main Street, Prairie Public Radio From colonial days to the digital age, the local post office has been crucial to the vitality both commercial and social of rural communities. The Prairie Post Office testifies to the ongoing importance of this 240-year-old institution as a special place where all of us, no matter when and where we have lived, have been treated like equal Americans. Winifred Gallagher, author of How the Post Office Created America: A History The next time Congress and the leaders of the Postal Service start making plans to close thousands of post offices, they should be required to read this book. With its unique blend of history, personal testimony, and photographs, The Prairie Post Office is an eloquent statement about how rural post offices give life to a community and why they must be preserved and protected. Steve Hutkins, professor, New York University; founder of SaveThePostOffice.com Phillips and Bolduc have gone beyond the ordinary to write about an important piece of Americana the rural post office and rural free delivery. Featuring interviews with post office employees and community residents, The Prairie Post Office offers first-hand accounts of the work of people who have helped to mold an institution that has contributed to the vitality of rural communities. A great read. Sally Robinson, past postmaster in WY, PA, and CT; past editor of Postmasters Gazette; current editor of In the Mailbox, a publication of National Association of Postmasters Retired

Edition details

• Publisher: North Dakota State Univ Pr
• Publication date: 2017
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 091104292X
• ISBN 13: 9780911042924
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 102