U.S.A. Railway Post Office Historical Research

U.S.A. Railway Post Office Historical Research is an overview of Railway Mail Service history and the research techniques supporting postal history research.  An example of reconstructing the trail of a special delivery letter between sender and recipient is provided, illustrating the usefulness of scheme and schedule information

Dr. Frank R. Scheer has been Curator of the Railway Mail Service Library (RMSL) since 1980.  The RMSL evolved from the AmeRPO Society Library, which was started in 1952 by Bryant Alden Long, author of MAIL BY RAIL.  The collection was transferred to Hershel Rankin, a Railway Mail Clerk on the Memphis & New Orleans RPO as well as other routes.  He renamed the collection R.M.S. Library.  Frank acquired the collection in 1980 and relocated materials to Alexandria, Virginia.  Other collections have been merged during the past three decades and the RMSL moved to the Boyce, Virginia former Norfolk & Western Railway depot during 2004.

Frank has a B.A. in Economics from the University of Virginia, Charlottesville.  His Master’s and Doctoral degrees were conferred by the University of Tennessee, Knoxville.  The transportation and logistics graduate studies support his focused research of the Railway Mail Service and Postal Transportation Service between 1864 and 1977.