Thanks for visiting postofficefans.com. People often ask what it means to document a post office. My attempt to demystify this as it relates to Post Office Fans, is the purpose of this page.
Let’s start with the basics. Our site is built on WordPress which uses categories and tags. This is important for several reasons. When I create each article I assign it categories and tags. This becomes important when you are searching for something specific. Here is an example.
Let’s say you are looking for the name of a mural you found at a local post office. You may notice we use the word “Artwork” as a category. If you use the search feature of our site and look for artwork, the results will return New Deal artwork as well as other non-New Deal artwork.
My hope is that if you have a better idea and example of how I use these terms, it will enable you to find what you are looking for quicker. This method also keeps the articles and material organized.
New Deal artwork is only one example of what we document during our site visits. Over the years I’ve also discovered, dedication plaques, honor plaques. and various artifacts. These are all examples of things we like to record and share with you. Here are the categories we use along with their definition as it relates to the Post Office Fans website. If you have any further questions or would like to notify us of any corrections please contact us.
Categories
Announcements – Any article in this category is something we are announcing here at postofficefans.com. An example of this would include media attention, press releases, published books, author events and so on.
Artifacts – We use this category to identify any building which has additional items on display. For example some buildings have old photographs, or old newspaper articles on display in the bulletin boards. Other buildings may have display cases with items like uniforms, record books and so on. The category “Artifacts” includes sites that have these additional items.
Artwork – I use this category to identify any building that has New Deal art, as well as any building that has art that is not considered New Deal art. I’ve run across several buildings that fall into this category and thought it was appropriate to include “Artwork” as a separate category.
Artist – I found it useful to add this category if you are looking to sort the articles by artists. The goal here is to add another search criteria for your benefit. The actual name of the artist would be written out for the article Tag, which is explained on the “Tags Explained” page.
Cornerstone – Appropriate enough these are often found on the corner of the buildings. It indicates when the building was constructed. This becomes important when classifying the building and era it was built. Sadly some cornerstones were covered when the disability ramps were built.
Dedication Plaque – If a building has a dedication plaque the article will be in this category. One of the unique discoveries I’ve made over the years are the variations of dedication plaques in our nations post offices. Dedication plaques can be found in the lobby of the building or even on the outside.
Former Post Office – Unfortunately, this category is becoming more populated. As the USPS increases their efforts to sell off old buildings. I’m finding myself adding to this category more often. “Former Post Office” is the category you see at the bottom the home page when you visit our site.
Guest Post – These are articles created by someone other than David W. Gates Jr. Yes, we do accept articles and images from others. If you are interested in submitting your images or articles please contact us.
Help – Any article with this category is something I’m needing assistance with. I tend to only use the “Help” category if there is something specific I’m looking for. Of course comments on any article are always appreciated. If you have something to share in regards to any of the buildings or images you see, we’d love to hear from you. Please comment on the appropriate page for all to enjoy.
Historic – I use this category for any building I find that has a “Historic” plaque or National Register of Historic places designation. Here is the challenge with this category. Some buildings have been recognized by the National Park Service (NPS), while other buildings have been designated by local historical societies or local communities. I use the “Historic” category for both situations. Since some buildings may not have a plaque I’m hesitant to use the term “Historic Plaque” even if they are historic buildings.
Honor Plaque – If a building was named in honor of someone and has a plaque in the lobby. I’ll use this category to identify it. This is another pleasant surprise when I started documenting post offices.
New Deal – This category is used for any article which includes “New Deal” buildings or art as it relates to post offices. For example, I have articles for New Deal buildings that do NOT contain art. I will still categorize the article “New Deal”, if the building can be identified as being from this era.
NARA – National Archives and Records Administration. Yes, I’ve had to visit NARA several times to get additional information for the books we publish.
Post Office – This is the default category for all articles on post office fans. There are a handful of exceptions such as announcements, and products but for the most part this is the default category for all articles.
Research – Those times I visit the National Archives and Records Administration or visit other local historical societies or museums. Well that is considered additional research and I’ll often add this category to keep track of where I gather the additional information.
Survey Marker – Another surprise I found after visiting so many different buildings was the presence of United States Geological Survey markers. Since I started this project it never occurred to me that I should look for these. I have a limited number of articles with the “Survey Marker” category since I wasn’t aware of these initially. If I’ve missed one from an older article please leave a comment on the article as I’d love to update my articles with the appropriate information.
State – There is a category for each state. Self explanatory but in order to eliminate any misunderstanding, I’m including a definition here. Any post office in Illinois will have a category, “Illinois”. Seemed silly to list each state separately with the explanation so I’m just referring to the category for each state as a “State” as it relates to this definition page. Does that make sense? I hope so.