Letter carrier band uniform cap

Letter carrier bands associated with union branches date back to the nineteenth century. The National Association of Letter Carriers (NALC) members and band participants believed letter carriers’ bands could “[kindle] the union spirit at NALC conventions and rallies” through music. The president of the Omaha NALC Branch said in 1893, “I think carriers could, in various ways, be instrumental in doing a great deal of good, not only for themselves but their brother carriers, by way of concerts and various entertainments.” Updates from various cities published in the Postal Record show friendly competition grew with the creation of local bands.

Throughout the twentieth century bands performed at the biennial NALC conventions as part of multi-day programs. According to the donors of this collection, the union covered all travel and accommodation expenses, making band membership an opportunity for members tour and connect with postal workers across the country in a way they might not have done on their own. While conventions were often the most significant performance, bands performed in local parades, for weddings, and in other community activities. Letter carrier bands might have started with union chapters, but the attitudes of camaraderie and service extended beyond the NALC.

History of the Band

The National Association of Letter Carriers, Branch 40, was established in Cleveland, Ohio, on October 6, 1889 as the Cleveland Letter Carriers Association. While a national association did not exist at this time, representatives of the Cleveland association met with representatives of other independent associations in 1890 to form the National Association of Letter Carriers. Cleveland received its official charter from the national organization on August 28, 1890 and the Cleveland Letter Carrier Band was established the same year.

Cleveland was not unique in forming a band. Articles in the NALC publication The Postal Record show numerous cities forming bands around the same period. The early Cleveland Band consisted of “a brass band with 26 pieces.” Letter carriers’ bands were so integral to the NALC that the National Association of Letter Carriers’ Bands formed in 1911. Cleveland, along with Boston, New York, Brooklyn, and Chicago, founded the new association. Their three initial goals were:

• To promote measures for the musical education of its members.

• The improvement of the musical features of the conventions of the NALC.

• To unite, fraternally and socially, all the letter carriers’ bands of the United States for their mutual benefit and enjoyment.

The bands continued to perform en mass at NALC conventions, as well as local and regional events. On the years the band did not perform at the national NALC conventions, they performed at the Ohio State Association. The band is still in existence today and continues to perform locally in the Cleveland area.

White cap with brass emblem of lyre; gold braid with two gold buttons of lyre on end; dark blue shiny brim

Where this page came from

This page was imported from Smithsonian National Postal Museum. Released by the Smithsonian Institution under CC0 through Smithsonian Open Access.

Nobody has written it yet — it is the source material at a new address, which is why search engines are asked to skip it and why no one earns from it. It is up for grabs: take it on, and it is yours to rewrite and to earn from.