Flashing Across the Country: Mr. Zip and the ZIP Code Promotional Campaign

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Promotional material, June 13, 1963, Postal Bulletin, National Postal Museum
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Anytime you write a letter, you use the ZIP code. What is that code, and when did people start using it? More importantly for the postal service, how do you get an entire country's population to memorize and add a seemingly random string of numbers to their addresses?

The answer, in the 1960s, was Mr. Zip, a jaunty cartoon postman, designed to make the new ZIP code cause memorable and approachable.

This website discusses the ways in which Mr. Zip was deployed as an educational and advertising device. The majority of the content consists of an essay divided into smaller, more manageable subpages. However, sprinkled throughout, you'll find Mr. Zip comics; merchandise, such as board games and lunchboxes; promotional materials; PSA videos; a memo; photographs; and postage stamps.

This video describes what each number of the ZIP code represents, which could be a hook if you decide to introduce Mr. ZIP in the classroom. Ultimately, the content is not likely to be of direct use in the classroom but may be of more interest as trivia or to flesh out background knowledge for related lessons.

Crailo State Historic Site [NY]

Description

The Crailo State Historic Site, named for the Crailo farm in the Netherlands, consists of an early 18th-century home. The home holds a museum presenting the history of the early Dutch immigrants in the northern Hudson Valley.

The site offers exhibits, guided tours, outreach programs for schools, and hearthside cooking programs. Reservations are required for school tours, outreach programs, and cooking programs.

Knox's Headquarters State Historic Site [NY]

Description

Knox's Headquarters State Historic Site consists of the 1754 Georgian-style Ellison residence, remains of a flour mill, and the Jane Colden Native Plant Sanctuary. The site presents daily life in the 18th-century mid-Hudson Valley. At various times during the Revolutionary War, the home served as the quarters of both Major General Henry Knox (1750-1806), Commander of the America artillery, and Major General Horatio Gates (circa 1727-1806), perhaps best known for his defeat at the Battle of Camden.

The site offers demonstrations, costumed interpreters, gardens, guided tours, educational programs, interpretive signage, and re-enactments.

Historic Rossetter House Museum and Gardens [FL]

Description

The Historic Rossetter House Museum and Gardens consists of the 1908 Rossetter House and Gardens and the 1865 Houston Cemetery. The Rossetter House stands on land settled in 1859, and contains Rossetter family Victorian furnishings and decorative arts. The Houston Cemetery holds 12 graves, marked by both headstones and footstones. The Houston family, interred in the cemetery on site, served as aids to Civil War era blockade runners, fishing and sportsmanship guides, and local politicians.

The museum offers period rooms, guided house tours, guided group tours, and guided ghost tours. The cemetery and gardens are open to the public free of charge. Reservations are required for group tours.

Afton Historical Society Museum [MN]

Description

The Afton Historical Society Museum presents the history of Afton, Minnesota, originally settled for its proximity to French fur traders. Located within the 1868 Congregational Church, the museum holds vernacular artifacts, military artifacts, costumes, historic toys and games, photographs, and other items.

The museum offers exhibits and vintage loom demonstrations. The website offers brochures for self-guided area walking tours.

North Andover Historical Society, Museum, and Historic Houses

Description

Founded in 1913, the Society is headquartered at the Samuel Dale Stevens Memorial Building. This museum houses the Society's collection of early American furniture and changing exhibits in the Main Gallery; an extensive archive of historic documents, photographs, and maps; a book shop, and staff offices. The 1789 Johnson Cottage, adjacent to the museum, is the last surviving artisan's cottage in North Andover's Old Center. The Cottage shows the life of an average family in the 19th century. The 1715 Parson Barnard House is the Society's other historic house. Visitors will see furnishings that reflect the changes in lifestyle as experienced by four early inhabitants of the house from 1715 through 1830.

The society offers tours, lectures, workshops, research library access, and educational and recreational programs; the museums offer exhibits.

Stony Point Battlefield State Historic Site [NY]

Description

This site preserves the location of the Battle of Stony Point, one of the last major Revolutionary War battles in the northeastern colonies. This is where Brigadier General Anthony Wayne led his corps of Continental Light Infantry in a daring midnight attack on the British, seizing the site's fortifications and taking the British garrison as prisoners on July 16, 1779. The site features a museum, which offers exhibits on the battle and the 1826 Stony Point Lighthouse, as well as interpretive programs, such as reenactments highlighting 18th-century military life, cannon and musket firings, cooking demonstrations, and children's activities.

The site offers exhibits, tours, demonstrations, educational programs, and occasional recreational and educational events (including living history events).

Maine Maritime Museum

Description

The Museum presents visitors with exhibits brimming with art and artifacts; contemporary, interactive areas for children and adults; an historic shipyard with five of the original 19th-century buildings; a Victorian-era shipyard owner's home; an active waterfront; and a life-size sculptural representation of the largest wooden sailing vessel ever built.

The museum offers exhibits, tours, boat cruises, classes, educational programs, research library access, and educational and recreational events.

Documenting Our Past: The Teenie Harris Archive Project

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Photo, Charles Teenie Harris, c. 1950-1970, Documenting Our Past
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This archive of 1,500 photographs taken by Teenie Harris, photographer for the Pittsburgh Courier, "one of the largest and most influential Black newspapers in the country," documents African American urban life in Pittsburgh from the 1930s to the 1960s. This is a sample of the 80,000 images that make up the full collection. Many of the images have not been identified and the site's authors ask assistance (a submission form accompanies each image).

Visitors can browse the collection through 15 galleries of 100 images each. They can also comment on images and view the comments of others. Following the link to the Teenie Harris image collection in the Historic Pittsburgh Images Collections at the University of Pittsburgh allows visitors to browse the 541 images that have been identified with full captions. The site also offers a chronology of Harris's life. This site is useful for researching the history of Pittsburgh and its African American community as well as urban history or African American history in general.

John Hope Franklin: The Historian and the African American Experience

Description

Distinguished historian and lifelong civil rights activist Professor John Hope Franklin joins archivist Allen Weinstein and Dr. Lonnie Bunch, director of the new National Museum of African-American History and Culture, to discuss his careers as educator, scholar, and activist.

To watch this interview, scroll to "John Hope Franklin," and select "Watch the Video."