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The U.S. Postal Notes 1883-1894: How Many Were Issued at Each Post Office?

This work represents an effort to determine how many Postal Notes were issued at individual post offices across the United States. Sparked by the author’s discovery of an 1894 Postal Note, the project grew into a 15-year research undertaking aimed at answering fundamental questions about the Postal Note system: what Postal Notes were, how many were issued, which offices could issue them, and how many each office produced. Halland establishes that over 70 million Postal Notes were issued nationwide between 1883 and 1894, correcting earlier tabulations and reconciling discrepancies in official reports. He documents the growth in authorized issuing offices, from 6,316 at the system’s inception to over 20,000 by 1894, and details the legislative and administrative evolution of the system, including the expansion to small rural post offices in 1887 and its discontinuance in 1894.

Because complete issuance records do not survive, Halland reconstructs estimates through extensive archival research, examining post office money order ledgers, cash books, serial numbers, and a modern census of surviving Postal Notes. By compiling data from over 59,000 known notes and identifying highest serial numbers for 2,679 offices, he is able to account for nearly 48% of all Postal Notes issued, using extrapolation methods to estimate totals for remaining offices. His methodology combines official annual reports, population data, serial-number analysis, and field research at archives across the country. While he concludes that precise totals for every office remain elusive, the study substantially advances knowledge of Postal Note issuance and lays the groundwork for future refinement of estimates.