Curator’s Corner

Published:  Monday, April 6, 2009 (10 months, 1 week ago)
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By Gary Levitt
The structure at 127 N. Main St., your post office since 1933, was constructed for a cost of $57,000. You might say that was a stimulus item during the Great Depression.
One area of this building has been rarely seen by the public, that is the inspector’s galley. If you attended the dedication of the holocaust room then you were in the original office of the US Postal Inspectors in Delphos. They had access to the building 24 hours a day without being able to be detected. Inside their office is a door leading to a catacomb that runs through the entire building. In this manner, they were able to watch the employees working without the employees having a clue that they were being watched. This is part of what we call the “sanctity” of the mail. No employee is to open up someone’s mail, as you might say, fold, spindle or mut ilate mail. Unfortunately, due to the massiveness of the workforce and the weakness of human n ature, there have been individuals caught stealing from either a customer’s mail or from the post office itself.
The catacomb extends up above the main workroom floor and window section. Up until the passage of the 1974 Privacy Act, there were lookout areas even in the bathrooms. There are three entrances to the catacomb: one in the men’s break room, the inspector’s office, and one on the main workroom floor. Each post office has a designated day each month that a maintenance employee is supposed to enter and clean the inspector’s gallery. There are volumes of books documenting the history of the US Inspection Service. I hope to explore some of those areas at a later date.
But you must know this about the Inspection Service: they headed up the capture of the Unabomber and are leading law enforcement in the fight against child pornography. They are as active as the DEA in the war against illegal drugs and are the only agency investigating and prosecuting fraud perpetrated through a delivery system. There are no such protections with private mail delivery companies like FedEx, UPS, or Roadway Package Service.
During my tenure as postmaster of Delphos, I had individuals come to me who had been swindled and lost money. In most cases, they were instructed to send the money through a system other than the US mail. As a result we were not in a position to assist them.
In order to be proactive in these areas, the US Postal Inspection Service has produced DVDs and downloadable movies that are free to the public. The U.S. Postal Inspection Service urges victims to learn more about their rights and services by ordering free DVDs. Remember, being a victim of a crime is nothing to be ashamed of. And neither is seeking help to recover from it. Some of the areas explored in these videos include identity theft, investment scheme fraud, work at home scams and Internet fraud. There are even videos on international lottery schemes. Just use your search engine for the US Postal Inspection Service fedflix, and you will find several sources.
There was a film produced around 1936 that depicts the tenacity of Postal Inspectors. Since then Hollywood has produced other films spotlighting this. The rich history of this organization dates back to when the first “Surveyor” was established in 1772. In 1702, Congress enacted a law that those stealing mail were subject to the death penalty. In 1801 the title of surveyor was changed to Special Agent.

Please remember to support the Museum of Postal History by participating in our Corned Beef Extravaganza set for 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. Wednesday at the Senate at 1500 E. Fifth St. Come and enjoy Reuben’s, Nathan’s Hot Dogs, cream puffs, cookies, and homemade potato soup. Bring your appetite because we will have plenty of other treats for you to try.

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