There's A Baby In The Post
Today In History with The Retrospectors
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Show Notes
The U.S. Postal Service permitted parcel delivery for packages under 11 pounds in 1913 - parameters which were pushed to their limits on 26th January, 1913, when Ohio couple Jesse and Matilda Beagle set a bizarre precedent by mailing their baby, James, a mile up the road to his grandmother.
As Parcel Fever swept the nation, other parents began to use the Postal Service as an affordable alternative to train tickets. Most famously 4-year-old Charlotte May Pierstoff was mailed 73 miles to her grandparents for 55 cents, inspiring a popular children’s book.
In this episode, Arion, Rebecca and Olly investigate the “self-mailing” antics of various adult eccentrics; reveal how the Postal Service had to intervene to terminate this troublesome trend; and highlight the demand and enthusiasm that initially greeted the great revolution of a rural postal service…
Further Reading:
• ‘When People Used the Postal Service to 'Mail' Their Children’ (HISTORY, 2018): https://www.history.com/news/mailing-children-post-office
• The strangest things sent in the post (BBC News, 2017): https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-42272052
• ‘How the Post Office Made America’ (Wendover Productions, 2017): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nu2WOxXxsHw
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The Retrospectors are Olly Mann, Rebecca Messina & Arion McNicoll, with Matt Hill.
Theme Music: Pass The Peas. Announcer: Bob Ravelli. Graphic Design: Terry Saunders. Edit Producer: Ollie Peart
Copyright: Rethink Audio / Olly Mann 2026
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