We are pleased to announce that this program will take place onsite at the museum. For everyone’s safety, masks are still required on museum grounds.

Postal history is a complex subject. It includes the mail, the facilities that process it, the routes on which it is carried, and the equipment and people who deliver it. In the past, the postmaster was a pillar of the community. Everyone respected the postmaster because he was the one responsible for bearing good news, bad news, packages, and a variety of other services.

The post office itself was the social center of the community. If the post office closed down, the community lost its identity. There were many reasons to close a post office: when the railroads replaced stagecoaches, the relay station was no longer needed. Then rural delivery came, and the post office went. Now, one could argue the internet came, along with UPS, FedEx, Amazon, and online banking, eliminating the need for the post office.

Robert Keatts’ Interest in the post office probably started with a stamp on an envelope addressed to his parents. Was it the color of the stamp, the cancellation, or the size or shape of the envelope? It was the start of Keatts’ journey of postal history, which culminated in his book “Postal History of Southeastern Washington.”