The story of the old Santa Rosa Post Office- a building that has had several different lives- is often centered on major events: the 1906 earthquake, the building’s construction, the 1911 airmail delivery, the rescue of the post office from the wrecking ball and relocation across two city blocks – but we don’t spend enough time thinking about the day-to-day importance of the post office itself. In focusing on those milestones, we lose sight of how important post offices were to rural and growing communities in the early 20th century. Join the Museum of Sonoma County’s Associate Director and Curator of History, Eric Stanley and Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum’s Assistant Curator Dr. Alison R. Bazylinski, for a discussion on the brief history of how the U.S. Post Office Department Post expanded into the West, and how post offices, such as the Grand Old Post Office in Santa Rosa, played a vital community role, particularly in rural and growing communities, where it connected residents to local, national, and international issues.
Alison R. Bazylinski is an Assistant Curator at the Smithsonian’s National Postal Museum. An American cultural historian by training, she holds a Ph.D. in American Studies from William & Mary, where her research examined how fabric and clothing articulate consumer identity, gender, and culture in the early twentieth century. Since joining the National Postal Museum her interests include the history of mail-order, commerce and consumption, Rural Free Delivery, and postal uniforms.
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Museum of Sonoma County
425 7th St
- Santa Rosa