Blevins, Cameron - Paper Trails

Between the 1860s and the early 1900s, the western United States underwent one of the most dramatic reorganizations of people, land, capital, and resources in American history. Paper Trails tells a new history of the nation's western expansion by shining a light on the era's largest government institution: the US Post.

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgments
Note on Methods
Introduction: The Gossamer Network
1. Geography and State Power
2. Stories and Structures
3. Postal Maps, 1860- 83
4. Mail Routes and the Costs of Expansion, 1866- 83
5. The Post Office Window, 1880- 92
6. Money Orders and National Integration, 1864- 95
7. Rural Free Delivery, 1896- 1913
Conclusion: The Modern American State
Notes
Index