US Post Office Murals
August 28, 2020 1:24 AM Subscribe
Searching for America’s 1930s post office murals: a photo essay at The Guardian by photographer Justin Hamel. Another article, by Winnie Lee, about Hamel's project at Atlas Obscura. More photos from the project at Hamel's website. Wikipedia has a list of United States post office murals.
I've seen a couple of post office murals. It's just the way most public buildings were when I was a kid, so I didn't really take much notice, even into my 20s when I often used one that had a mural. Sadly, it was closed in the early 2000s because the city's growth outstripped the capacity of the old one, but it was still small enough that the Post Office didn't see fit to maintain two locations. I'm sure it could have been moved, but nobody in the decision making process cared enough. It would have clashed with the new branding, after all.
Even after the era of mural well into the 60s, Post Offices and most government buildings were built the way old banks were. They were designed to have a real sense of place and permanence, with lots of stone and at least some simple ornamentation. Like the old school brass PO boxes, they exuded an innate sense of security that is lacking in things built since the 80s.
I think there was a real psychological effect at play that we have since lost with the rise of the strip mall government office (and bank!) that has directly led to the erosion of trust in institutions and the willingness of much of society to do everything possible to tear them down.
They were also just nicer places to be for the most part. When you were stuck waiting in line there was at least something to look at.
posted by wierdo at 2:31 AM on August 28, 2020 [10 favorites]
Even after the era of mural well into the 60s, Post Offices and most government buildings were built the way old banks were. They were designed to have a real sense of place and permanence, with lots of stone and at least some simple ornamentation. Like the old school brass PO boxes, they exuded an innate sense of security that is lacking in things built since the 80s.
I think there was a real psychological effect at play that we have since lost with the rise of the strip mall government office (and bank!) that has directly led to the erosion of trust in institutions and the willingness of much of society to do everything possible to tear them down.
They were also just nicer places to be for the most part. When you were stuck waiting in line there was at least something to look at.
posted by wierdo at 2:31 AM on August 28, 2020 [10 favorites]
Post Offices and most government buildings were built the way old banks were
Yes, from early colonial times (speaking of Australia here, but the USA would be similar) every town or city worth its salt had a particular set of grand buildings: a town hall, courthouse, bank(s), church(es) and the post office.
Post offices were crucial then, at least until the telegraph. They were THE way that people communicated - check out the most recent episode of 99% Invisible for a fascinating history of how the post office built America.
Over here, the grand old post office buildings have become almost stranded assets. As shopping moved from the high street to shopping malls, cheap and bland post offices were set up inside the malls and the nice historical ones mostly closed for business. Often still owned by Australia Post, they're hard to sell because although you'd think they would make nice restaurants or bars etc, their heritage listing means they can't be brought up to things like fire safety codes (can't go smashing holes for larger fire escape doors, for example) so buyers are few & far between.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:00 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Yes, from early colonial times (speaking of Australia here, but the USA would be similar) every town or city worth its salt had a particular set of grand buildings: a town hall, courthouse, bank(s), church(es) and the post office.
Post offices were crucial then, at least until the telegraph. They were THE way that people communicated - check out the most recent episode of 99% Invisible for a fascinating history of how the post office built America.
Over here, the grand old post office buildings have become almost stranded assets. As shopping moved from the high street to shopping malls, cheap and bland post offices were set up inside the malls and the nice historical ones mostly closed for business. Often still owned by Australia Post, they're hard to sell because although you'd think they would make nice restaurants or bars etc, their heritage listing means they can't be brought up to things like fire safety codes (can't go smashing holes for larger fire escape doors, for example) so buyers are few & far between.
posted by UbuRoivas at 4:00 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Bringing us full circle, this seems like an excellent time to mention the USPS' own Post Office mural stamps from 2019, which you can still buy in this lovely memento set.
posted by mdonley at 4:16 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by mdonley at 4:16 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
When I first moved to Chicago my post office was the Uptown post office (not listed on the wiki list) with these incredible murals. I think they are so impressive because it fits so well with the Art Deco architecture of the building. Made standing in line (and there was always a line at that post office) an actually pleasant experience.
posted by misskaz at 4:40 AM on August 28, 2020
posted by misskaz at 4:40 AM on August 28, 2020
We've got one of those (click to enlarge). Despite the mural, people still ask us why we are filling buckets with sea weed.
Compost, of course.
posted by BWA at 4:44 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Compost, of course.
posted by BWA at 4:44 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
The mural in my town's post office shows the native Americans shackled as they were shipped off to Deer Island, where many of them died. They are being "comforted" by the guy who converted them to Christianity. It really feels like something that should be hanging in the Pawnee, Indiana town hall.
posted by bondcliff at 7:38 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
posted by bondcliff at 7:38 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
There's a mural by Ben Shahn, on the theme of the First Amendment, in my local post office in Queens.
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 8:24 AM on August 28, 2020
posted by Artifice_Eternity at 8:24 AM on August 28, 2020
Oh, these are so great.
I immediately thought of the murals at the Rincon Post Office in San Francisco - I think my favorite is the one showing the Four Freedoms and the founding of the United Nations.
There's a lot of info about them online (they were extremely controversial), including at Found SF and The Living New Deal.
It's wonderful to get to see murals from so many different places. Thank you so much for posting this, misteraitch!
posted by kristi at 8:57 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
I immediately thought of the murals at the Rincon Post Office in San Francisco - I think my favorite is the one showing the Four Freedoms and the founding of the United Nations.
There's a lot of info about them online (they were extremely controversial), including at Found SF and The Living New Deal.
It's wonderful to get to see murals from so many different places. Thank you so much for posting this, misteraitch!
posted by kristi at 8:57 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Chicago is graced with a bunch of these.
Our nearest post office, which was renamed for Steve Goodman a few years back, has Epoch of a Great City, which is fairly ... epic? It's mentioned on Wikipedia, but the photos in the link give a better sense of the scale of the dang thing when you're standing there.
posted by theoddball at 9:11 AM on August 28, 2020
Our nearest post office, which was renamed for Steve Goodman a few years back, has Epoch of a Great City, which is fairly ... epic? It's mentioned on Wikipedia, but the photos in the link give a better sense of the scale of the dang thing when you're standing there.
posted by theoddball at 9:11 AM on August 28, 2020
Great article and lovely pictures!
I’ve always lived in towns with drab mid century or later post offices, but I always loved the mural in my WPA-built high school, of farmers bringing in the harvest.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:21 AM on August 28, 2020
I’ve always lived in towns with drab mid century or later post offices, but I always loved the mural in my WPA-built high school, of farmers bringing in the harvest.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 10:21 AM on August 28, 2020
The mural in my town's post office shows the native Americans shackled as they were shipped off to Deer Island, where many of them died. They are being "comforted" by the guy who converted them to Christianity.
This is presumably a reference to Hollis Holbrook's mural John Eliot Speaks to the Natick Indians, which is briefly mentioned in the Guardian article. Marlene Park and Gerald Markowitz, in their book on the Post Office murals, Democratic Vistas (1984), describe it as follows:
In this very sympathetic portrayal of Indians, Hollis Holbrook shows John Eliot in 1675 surrounded by shackled Natick Indians whose women and children carry their goods as best they can during their removal by the English .. The artist had been born in Natick, and the community approved of his painting this unhappy beginning of the town.
I see the mural is now embroiled in controversy, with one history professor describing it as 'offensive' because it depicts 'the white man as hero'. However, you could also argue that it's a dark and melancholy painting that depicts the white man as villain.
posted by verstegan at 10:51 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
This is presumably a reference to Hollis Holbrook's mural John Eliot Speaks to the Natick Indians, which is briefly mentioned in the Guardian article. Marlene Park and Gerald Markowitz, in their book on the Post Office murals, Democratic Vistas (1984), describe it as follows:
In this very sympathetic portrayal of Indians, Hollis Holbrook shows John Eliot in 1675 surrounded by shackled Natick Indians whose women and children carry their goods as best they can during their removal by the English .. The artist had been born in Natick, and the community approved of his painting this unhappy beginning of the town.
I see the mural is now embroiled in controversy, with one history professor describing it as 'offensive' because it depicts 'the white man as hero'. However, you could also argue that it's a dark and melancholy painting that depicts the white man as villain.
posted by verstegan at 10:51 AM on August 28, 2020 [1 favorite]
Here to claim Threshing in Kansas by Lumen Martin Winter, 1942, in the post office of my hometown of Hutchinson, KS.
posted by bryon at 9:36 PM on August 28, 2020
posted by bryon at 9:36 PM on August 28, 2020
wierdo: "Even after the era of mural well into the 60s, Post Offices and most government buildings were built the way old banks were. They were designed to have a real sense of place and permanence, with lots of stone and at least some simple ornamentation. Like the old school brass PO boxes, they exuded an innate sense of security that is lacking in things built since the 80s."
There is a reason why we used to build buildings the way we built the post office in Geneva, with its mural and its marble, and its great arching windows and its Doric entablature. It wasn't because we were profligate. It was because we considered self-government, for all its faults, to be something precious that belonged to all of us, and that it should be housed in places that looked as though we valued it enough to celebrate it and protect it at the same time. They were monuments we raised to ourselves, because we deserved them.posted by Rhaomi at 11:20 AM on August 30, 2020 [3 favorites]
I’ve been in the post office Rhaomi’s linked article is about! It really is one of those places that makes you stand a little taller when you walk in.
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:59 AM on August 30, 2020
posted by The Underpants Monster at 11:59 AM on August 30, 2020
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