New, Previously Unpublished, US Post Office Resources

All,
There recently has been several new, exciting additions to the Stamp Smarter Library thanks to the tireless work of Mike Ludeman.

Mike worked with the USPS to publish a comprehensive compilation of US postal operation manuals. In 1954, the USPOD discontinued the existing "Official Postal Guides" which had been in use since 1874. (Stamp Smarter Library already has all the 1874 through 1954 Postal Guides' available here https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/Home_USPOD.html .) The new 1954 reorganization to multiple publications were designed provided to postal employees guidance for the operations within the postal system.

This windfall of previously difficult to find Manuals and resources are divided into the following sections in the Stamp Smarter Library; "Postal Manual 1954–1970", "Postal Service Manual 1971–1979", "Postal Operations Manual 1979–Present", "International Manuals 1954–1978".

This evolution of PO publications can be a bit overwhelming so Mike has done a great job in grouping and presenting them in a logical fashion. His descriptions on the home pages provide valuable information in better understanding how to locate the information you might be seeking.

These new publications were issued in a an entirely new loose-leaf format, and incremental updates were made on a regular basis on a page-by-page replacement basis. That is, when a section on a page was revised, a change notice, called a Transmittal Letter with the entirely new page(s) was distributed to all holders of the Postal Manual, with instructions to remove the original pages, discard them, and insert the new pages in their place. While this allowed the postal clerks to maintain their copy with all the current instructions, historical information was lost. One result that surviving physical copies of the Postal Manual are both scarce, and incomplete in that their contents are only accurate for a short period of time since their previous update.

The USPS Library holds one of the few complete sets of these Transmittal Letters for these publications. The Postal Manual and Postal Service Manual were microfilmed for archival purposes in 1991. In a cooperative project between Mike Ludeman and Jennifer Lynch of the USPS Library, these twelve microfilms have now been digitized (creating nearly 50,000 pages of post office instructional details), and all of these Transmittal Letters have been organized into a reference library, which is now hosted on the Stamp Smarter website at "Postal Manual 1954–1970" https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/P...Manuals.html

"Postal Service Manual 1971–1979" https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/P...Manuals.html
The Postal Service Manual was discontinued in 1979, and part of the contents moved to the Postal Operations Manual. Updates were also distributed as Transmittal Letters, but no microfilms exist. A small number of physical copies of these publications were located and scanned, and they are included as well here. While they are not complete, they at least provide a guide to the type of information contained.

"Postal Operations Manual 1979–Present" https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/P...sManual.html
Most of the information contained in the Official Postal Guide, Part II, related to international mail was not included in the new Postal Manual, but was released in a new Directory of International Mail (1954-1970) and a second manual, International Mail (1971-1980). Both of these publications were issued in the Transmittal Letter format, but no microfilm of these exists. A small number of physical copies of these publications were located and scanned, and they are also included as well here. As before, while they are not complete, they at least provide a guide to the type of information contained.

"International Manuals 1954–1978" https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/P...ational.html
All of the above are included on Stamp Smarter under license and with permission from the United States Postal Service.

Mike has also collaborated with Tom Brougham to produce the "Canal Zone Post Office Publications and Resources 1904 – 1979" Stamp Smarter library drawer. This outstanding set of 16 different Canal Zone resources provides collectors and postal historians with a much better insight into the operations of the Canal Zone postal system. It can be found here
https://stampsmarter.org/Learning/P...nalZone.html
Don

Outstanding.
Bravo to the Authors and Stampsmarter.
Philately has blossomed, in just about all facets and disciplines
from the internet, long may it progress.

Congratulations Don and Mike. A massive effort resulting in saving all of this information for posterity. Well done and appreciated.