Humanities desk
< July 16	<< Jun \| July \| Aug >>	July 18 >

Welcome to the Wikipedia Humanities Reference Desk Archives
The page you are currently viewing is an archive page. While you can leave answers for any questions shown below, please ask new questions on one of the current reference desk pages.

July 17

In-store USPS

Throughout US history, lots of post offices have been operated in people's stores or houses; they just ran the post office as an adjunct to what they were already doing. Some of these still exist, e.g. the postal counter in the store shown at File:I.O.O.F. Building in Stinesville.jpg. Nowadays, they're calling these "village post offices", but apparently they started doing them in 2011. Is there a specific term for pre-2011 in-store or in-house post offices, and do we have an article on it? Nyttend (talk) 02:19, 17 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

In Britain, at least, if run under a contract, and not by employees of the Post Office, they were (and are) called "sub-post offices". Rojomoke (talk) 11:52, 17 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

In the US there are many stores that offer some postal services, like selling stamps and collecting mail, which they then drop off at a mail box or post office, but do nothing else. I'm not sure how they fit in. StuRat (talk) 19:12, 17 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Caveat emptor, a lot of local private stores that sell USPS postage do so at outrageously marked-up rates, which they do not necessarily make clear to the customer. μηδείς (talk) 21:58, 17 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

No, this is a different situation: I'm meaning official post offices (PO boxes, an official postmaster, etc.) located inside businesses, in particular before 2011. Nyttend (talk) 23:49, 17 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

As Nyttend says, this was an extremely common arrangement in the 19th and early 20th centuries, being essentially the standard setup in small towns. If you Google "post office and general store," you will see a number of examples. I do not know of any special term for it though. John M Baker (talk) 02:55, 18 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Have you tried asking the USPS, or alternatively, the National Postal Museum? --174.88.133.35 (talk) 04:39, 18 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

In Green Acres/Petticoat Junction, Sam Drucker owned the general store and was also the postmaster (along with many other positions). I don't know if that situation really existed or is purely fictional. StuRat (talk) 13:41, 18 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

@Nyttend:, the historic term is "contract station" or "rural station"; generically, "Community Post Office." Also, "substation" (1895 to 1902) (The contemporary term is contract postal unit (CPU)).

I hope you'll add this to the USPS article and, if making new article, I would suggest Community Post Office, with redirects for the terms above. See Glossary, p. 6.

Historian, United States Postal Service (January 2006). "Stations and Branches" (PDF). USPS.com. Archived from the original (PDF) on May 29, 2015. Retrieved 4 March 2017. -- Paulscrawl (talk) 17:00, 18 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

To my knowledge, the post office in Ripton, Vermont is still run out of the back of the general store. It's been a number of years since I was actually in the store though, so things may have changed. If you call them, they should be able to tell you what they call themselves. And until about 5 years ago, the post office in Monkton, Vermont was run out of the back of a resident's garage. It has since moved to an office built off the side of the volunteer fire department. That building is on private property owned by a local farmer. So, they might have a name for it similar to that of Ripton. I don't know about Ripton but I do know that the zip code (postal code) for Monkton only extends as far as the walls of the building. There are PO boxes but they don't offer any delivery. That is handled by the surrounding towns that do have delivery. Dismas|^(talk) 17:34, 18 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

There are several contemporary variants, all distinct: CPU, CPO, and VPO. Good background article:

Hutkins, Steve (January 29, 2012). "Contract post offices, closing faster than they open". Save the Post Office. Archived from the original on December 9, 2014. Retrieved 18 July 2015. -- Paulscrawl (talk) 17:47, 18 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Iran Nuclear Agreement

I am trying to go back to old news reports, but didn't find the answer. Why did the WH pursue a nuclear agreement with Iran? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 2602:306:3304:CD0:192A:5075:5624:9159 (talk) 17:18, 17 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The wordy-titled article Negotiations leading to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action may help. ←Baseball Bugs ^{What's up, Doc?} carrots→ 17:44, 17 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon

Hi. I'm looking for help in writing Disappearance of Joanne Ratcliffe and Kirste Gordon‎. I was born many years after the event, but from what i can gather, the Ratcliffe-Gordon disappearance is second only to the Beaumont children disappearance for South Australians and ranks alongside the Beaumonts and the Disappearance of Eloise Worledge for Australian child crime history.

I'm having trouble finding sources. Of course, most online newspaper archives only go back to the 1990s or late 1980s and even then there are gaps. God only knows who currently holds the copyright for The News (Adelaide), Adelaide's old afternoon newspaper.

Can anyone here help me? Paul Austin (talk) 20:07, 17 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Here's a start, type this into google: kirste gordon site:news.google.com/newspapers All the first page of results look contemporary, though I don't know if the newspapers found are Australian. 184.147.131.217 (talk) 23:35, 17 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The National Library of Australia's "Trove" website may also be useful for past Australian newspapers.--Shirt58 (talk) 04:31, 18 July 2015 (UTC)[reply]