Railway Express - Package Delivery - 1946 - ASRTIST SIGNED: Carl Berger

Description: Railway Express - Package Delivery - 1946: The Railway Express Agency (REA) was a national monopoly set up by the United States federal government in 1917. Rail express services provided small package and parcel transportation using the extant railroad infrastructure much as UPS functions today using the road system. The United States government was concerned about the rapid, safe movement of parcels, money, and goods during World War I and REA was its solution to this problem. REA ceased operations in 1975, when its business model ceased to be viable. The first parcel express agency in the United States is generally considered to have been started by William Harriden, who in 1839 began regular trips between New York City and Boston, Massachusetts as a courier transporting small parcels, currency and other valuables. William G. Fargo, a New York Central freight clerk at Auburn, N.Y., and Henry Wells, a leather worker at Batavia, N.Y., organized Wells Fargo & Co. in 1853. Other parcel express pioneers include Henry B. Plant, who formed Southern Express Company, Alvin Adams who founded Adams Express Company, and John Warren Butterfield. Express delivery in the early 19th century was virtually all done via horse, either via stagecoach or by riders. The express business flourished in the latter half of the 19th century, and by 1900 there were four principal parcel express companies, all of which included the rapidly advancing railways as one of their means of transport: Adams Express Company, Southern Express Company, American Express Company, and Wells Fargo. In 1913 the U.S. Post Office introduced its Parcel Post service, which offered major competition for the express companies. Despite this, private railway express business increased steadily through the end of World War I. During World War I, the United States Railroad Administration (USRA) took over the nation's railroads. Under the USRA, the four major and three minor express companies were consolidated as American Railway Express, Inc., save the portion of Southern Express that operated over the Southern Railway and the Mobile & Ohio. In March 1929, the assets and operations of American Railway Express Inc. were transferred to Railway Express Agency (REA). REA was owned by 86 railroads in proportion to the express traffic on their lines - no one railroad or group of railroads had control of the agency. In response to customer demand, REA added a Chicago, Illinois-based refrigerator car line. In 1927, REA began an Air Express Division. In 1938, the remainder of Southern Express also joined the consolidated REA. Carl V. Burger (June 18, 1888 – December 30, 1967) was an American "artist and writer of children’s books about animals and natural history." He is known for his children's and youth literature illustrations of The Incredible Journey by Sheila Burnford and the Newbery Medal honor novels Old Yeller by Fred Gipson and Little Rascal by Sterling North. Prior to the First World War, he worked for The Boston Post, drawing sports and political cartoons, as well as illustrations for the Sunday edition. He married Margaret Rothery on September 18, 1920. The Burgers had one child, Knox Burger. Carl completed his national service in the United States Armed Forces between 1917 and 1920, rising to the rank of captain, United States Army. During this period he organized and directed the American Expeditionary Forces School of Painting in Beaune, France. The illustrations in The History of the Inter-Allied Games, published in Paris by the United States Army, were drawn under Burger’s direction. Carl Burger commenced his artistic career as an Art Director for N.W. Ayer and Sons, a New York-based advertising firm with offices in Philadelphia. He also worked for Edwin Bird Wilson, Inc., a financial advertising firm with offices in New York City and Chicago and Barton, Durstine & Osborn. During World War Two, he was the art director for the American Red Cross in Washington, D.C. Burger wrote and illustrated his own books as well as illustrating many books and magazines. These included All About Fish, published by Random House in 1965. Burger also contributed All About Dogs and All About Elephants. He also painted large murals for the Bronx Zoo and the New York Aquarium.This Linen Era postcard, mailed in 1946, is in good condition. AB 218 (6-40). No. 12057.

Price: 9 USD

Location: Brooklyn, New York

End Time: 2024-09-26T15:11:02.000Z

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