Prairie Post Office: Enlarging the Common Life in Rural North Dakota
By K. Amy Phillips and Steven R. Bolduc, photographs by Wayne Gudmundson, history by Kevin Carvell. North Dakota State University Press, Fargo, North Dakota, 2017, 109 pages, Softcover.
This book includes photographs of the "North Dakota Post Offices Named on the 2011 Retail Access Optimization Initiative Closings List", which included 76 rural communities. North Dakota towns with German-Russian roots include: Almont, Dodge, Golden Valley, Hague, Karlsruhe, Lehr, Mercer, Oberon, Pettibone, Robinson, Tuttle and Zap.
In the Foreword, Darryl Anderson writes: "In this richly illustrated history of the prairie post office, the authors have wisely used the candid and moving photographs of Wayne Gudmundson not simply to illustrate but literally show the important presence of the Post Office in the local community.
"By telling the story, the authors inevitably have become advocates for the farmers, for small businesses, for the rural poor, and for rural communities, including tribal communities, that continue to rely heavily on postal services."
The authors, K. Amy Phillips and Steven R. Bolduc, write in the Preface: "The Prairie Post Office is our tribute to the people in North Dakota and around the country who live and love a rural life and who understand, betther than anyone, the institutions needed to support it."
Kevin Carvell, Mott, ND, has written Chapter I, "A History of the Postal Service in Northern Dakota Territory and the State of North Dakota". Carvell has a private library collection of some 13,000 North Dakota books.
The book features more than 100 color photos of North Dakota post offices, postal employees and postal customers by well known photographer, Wayne Gudmundson.
