What color were Postal Service vehicles and mailboxes from 1920s to 1940s? The choices are (pick one) Red, Blue, or Green.
On this Sunday morning, we are back with my part 2 of looking at the quizzes available at the Smithsonian National Postal Museum online. We have a quiz on Postmaster Challenge, Railway Mail Service, and amazing 10 hints on Decode the Barcode
Before proceeding, in case you missed my part one, here is the link from Wednesday, What mode of transportation eventually replaced most of the dog sleds for carrying mail in Alaska?, August 4, 2021.
Postmaster Challenge Quiz
It is worth noting whereas the three quizzes we were looking at on Wednesday had a total of 41 questions, the Postmaster Challenge Quiz by itself had 50 questions. And again, I found it most helpful having blogged about several of the items at different times over the past six years. This was my favorite quiz of them!
Here is the Postmaster Challenge LINK – Test your knowledge of postal history and philately! (50 questions)
What color were Postal Service vehicles and mailboxes from 1920s to 1940s?
The title for today’s blog post came from the Postmaster Challenge quiz, specifically number 20. At the end of this post, I do include a Spoiler Alert with the answer.
“20. What color were Postal Service vehicles and mailboxes from 1920s to 1940s?
a) Red
b) Blue
c) Green”
Railway Mail Service Quiz
There is The Railway Mail Service Quiz LINK – Could You be a RPO (Railroad Post Office) Clerk? 16 questions
In addition, you will want to explore the module on “WELCOME TO RAILWAY MAIL SERVICE” by Authors: Miriam Pysno & Katherine Fetter. It was truly fascinating reading more about it. Among the first opening paragraphs of it, we read:
“Americans Railway Post Office (RPO) clerks were the elite of the postal system. From 1864 to 1977, they traveled across the country aboard rickety rail cars in the pursuit of delivering mail to the masses.”
Decode the Barcode
Finally, at the Decode the Barcode LINK I enjoyed going through the series of 10 hints that walks you through the process. It was really amazing how it all fits together.
Furthermore, I’m sharing my scores from taking them
Be sure to let me know how you did!
It was amazing to me to score 50% on each of the two – as a baseline – prior to going through any of their modules providing further background. For me, I like taking the quizzes first, for a baseline, and then after reading more taking it again. My plans are to study the Railway Mail Service module and then circle back. As far as Decode the Barcode, I made my way through all 10 hints really enjoying seeing their notes identifying how the process works.
In conclusion, I am delighted with the amount of wonderful range of items covered in these quizzes and found them really helpful in seeing how much I still have in front of me to learn with postal history topics!
Lastly, my plans for this afternoon include setting aside a little time for writing a letter or two; wanting to get into the mail tomorrow. I’m hoping you will consider trying this out for yourself too!
Anchors Aweigh,
Helen
AnchoredScraps #2114 What color were Postal Service vehicles and mailboxes from 1920s to 1940s?
SPOILER to question 20 referencing above: c) Green
