Official Registers of the United States
Official Registers are one of the best, consolidated compilations of postal histories for the years 1816-1959 [but
principally to 1911]. They serve as directories to post offices, postmasters, mail contractors, employees of the Post
Office Department and of the Postal Service, departmental organizational changes, and employees of the auditor’s
office of the Treasury Department and printers for the Post Office Department.
Although the binder’s title to these books has always been the Official Register of the United States (and
occasional abbreviations thereof), guides to government publications and legislative enactments refer to them as the
Official Registers, Register of Officials and Agents, Directory, Biennial Register, or the Blue Book. The last title was
derived from the physical appearance of the blue roan binding. Over a 143-year period the title pages of the 84 issues
are correctly known (and curtailed to that relating to postal matters) as follows:
1816-31
1835-51
1837
1879-1905
A Register of Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States …
Register of All Officers and Agents, Civil, Military, and Naval, in the Service of the United States …
The Biennial Register of All Officers and Agents in the Service of the United States …
Official Register of the United States, Containing a List of Officers and Employees in the Civil, Military,
and Naval Service
Volume II. The Post-Office Department and The Postal Service
1907-11
Official Register. Persons in the Civil, Military, and Naval Service of the United States ...
Volume II. The Postal Service
1913-15
Official Register of the United States. Persons in the Civil, Military, and Naval Service. Exclusive of the
Postal Service.
Directory
1917-21
Official Register of the United States. Directory
1925-34 and 1935-59
Official Register of the United States
The compilation and preparation of the Official Register (O.R.) was directed by the Departments of State for
1816-59, and the following persons or companies of the City of Washington were designated to print the publication:
1816 ..... Jonathan Elliott
1835-37 .... Blair & Rives
1849-51 .... Gideon and Co.
1817 .... E. DeKraft
1839 .... A.B. Claxton and Co.
1853 ....Robert Armstrong
1819-27 .... Davis and Force
1841 .... Thomas Allen
1855-57 ...
A.O.P.
Nicholson
1829-31 .... William A. Davis
1843-47 .... J. & G.S. Gideon
1859 .... William Harris
1833 .... Francis Preston Blair
The printing of the O.R. from 1861 to 1959 was undertaken by the Government Printing Office. Its compilation and
preparation, however, was delegated to the Secretary of the Department of the Interior from 1861, to the Census Bureau
of the same department from 1907, to the Director of the Census of the Department of Commerce and Labor from
1909, and finally to the United States Civil Service Commission from 1933.
Legislative enactments of 1816, 1832, 1851, 1861, 1874, 1893, 1895, 1902, 1904, 1905, 1906, 1913, 1919, 1935
(executive order), 1938, 1951 and 1960 relate to the various government agencies; number of copies; distribution; and
contents of the O.R.
The first issue of the O.R. appeared five months after it had been approved for compilation, preparation and printing
by resolution of Congress of April 27, 1816. This short period, however, did not permit the Department of State to
gather all the necessary statistics about individuals and their compensation. Consequently, the last page of the 1816
publication “advertises” that there are unavoidable inaccuracies and omissions of data. The publication was authorized
for issuance once every two years as of September 30 in the year in which a new Congress assembled. An act of 1895
changed the date of issuance to July 1.
The growth of the O.R. in size and number of postal names in shown as follows by the number of pages over tenyear periods:
1821 - 132; 1831 - 232; 1841 - 422; 1851 - 770; 1861 - 590; 1871 - 596; 1881 - 892; 1891 - 1,425 (includes index to
names); 1901 - 1,798 (includes index to names); 1911 - 774 [in a different format and not indexed].
For the period 1877-1905 the O.R. also contained an alphabetical index to postal names. So numerous had the
employees of the POD and of the Postal Service become that for the period 1879-1911 Volume II of the publication
contained postal names exclusively. Volume II of 1911 contains about 218,288 names and cost $12,575.81 to print the
authorized number of issues. The task of preparing the volume became so great that more than six months elapsed
between the data it covered and the date of its publication. Moreover, so many changes occurred during that time that
Volume II was incomplete and inaccurate.
The 1923 issue of the O.R. was postponed; the Joint Committee on Printing considered the publication one of the
wastes in public printing and binding. It was again printed in 1925 and annually thereafter with the exception of the
1935 issue. In that year late, legislative instructions about the composition, preparation and distribution of the O.R.
prevented its issuance on time. The last issue of the publication is 1959 for the act of 1960 forbids the appropriation of
moneys to the United States Service for printing the O.R. Presumably, the limited postal information appearing in the
book from 1937 about administrative employees of the POD appeared simultaneously in the United States Government
Organization Manual and the Congressional Directory.
For the benefit of postal historians the O.R. contain the following types of information:
Post Offices Location (1816-39; discontinuance dates for 1839), also Net Proceeds and Quarterly Returns Periods
(1841-59; distribution offices for 1841 and establishment and discontinuance dates for 1863); Location and
Balances Due to the U.S. (1861-69; establishment and discontinuance dates and name changes for 1863); Location
(1871-1905; establishment, discontinuance, and re-establishment dates for 1889-99).
Canadian Post Offices Periods for Which Accounts Were Rendered 1835-37, also Net Proceeds 1841-47.
Postmasters Place of Employment, Place of Birth, and Compensation 1816-33, also Period of Service 1835-93
(dismissed or removed for 1835, acting for 1863 and 1893, and those with delinquent accounts for 1889-93), also
from Whence Appointed 1895-1911 (those with delinquent accounts for 1895-97).
Canadian Postmasters Place of Employment and Compensation 1835-47.
Employees of the Post Office Department
Washington, D.C. Official Title, Place of Birth, and Compensation 1816-49: also from Whence Appointed 18511921
Administrators and Supervisors Official Title and Compensation 1925-34 and 1936
Administrators Official Title and Compensation 1937-59
Blank Agency Place of Birth, from Whence Appointed, and Compensation 1865
Postage Stamp Agency Place of Birth, from Whence Appointed, and Compensation 1883-1903
Stamped Envelope Agency Place of Birth, From Whence Appointed, and Compensation 1885-93
Postal Note Agency Place of Birth, from Whence Appointed, and Compensation 1885-93
Postal Card Agency Place of Birth, from Whence Appointed, and Compensation 1885-1903
Mail Lock Repair Shop Place of Birth, from Whence Appointed, and Compensation 1885-1903
Mail Bag Repair Shop Place of Birth, from Whence Appointed, and Compensation 1895-1903.
Agents
Special Compensation 1841-43: also Period of Service 1845, also Additional Allowance but omits Period of
Service thereafter 1847-53, also Place of Employment and Place of Birth, and from Whence Appointed 185563
Local Compensation 1843-47: also Period of Service 1849-53, also Place of Employment 1855-59, also from
Whence Appointed 1861-67
Route Period of Service and Compensation 1849-53: also Place of Employment, Place of Birth, and from Whence
Employed 1855-77, under Railway Mail Service 1879-1911
Resident Abroad Place of Employment, Compensation, and Additional Allowance 1851-55
Employed to Accompany Mail in Railroad Cars and on Board of Steamboats Period of Service and Compensation
1841-47
In Charge of Reassortment of the Mails Between New York and San Francisco, and for the Supervision of the Mail
Conveyance Across the Isthmus of Panama Compensation and Additional Allowance 1851.
Clerks
In Post Offices (At Post Offices Yielding Commissions to Postmasters of More Than $2,000 Per Annum) Place of
Employment, Place of Birth, and Compensation 1816-41, also Period of Service 1843-75 (and thereafter
omitted), also from Whence Appointed 1865-1911
Railway Mail Terminals of Route, from Whence Appointed, and Compensation 1865-1911
On Ocean Steamers Between New York and Germany Place of Birth, from Whence Appointed, and Compensation
1895-99.
Letter Carriers
City Place of Employment and Compensation 1867-73: also Place of Birth 1875-81 (auxiliary carriers for 1879),
also from Whence Appointed 1883-1911 (allowance for horsekeeping for 1899 and substituted carriers for
1891, 1893 and 1905)
Rural Place of Employment, Place of Birth, from Whence Appointed, and Compensation 1899-1911 (includes
substitute carriers).
Mail Messengers Place of Employment, Period of Service, and Compensation 1849-95: also Route Number 1897-99.
Mail Route Messengers Place of Birth, from Whence Appointed, Terminals of Route, and Compensation 1867-77
(steamboat lines or bay line steamers for 1867).
Mail Transportation
Mail Contractors Compensation and Place of Birth 1816-25, Compensation only 1827, also Location by Region
1829 then by State 1831-1911, also Additional Allowance 1833-1979, also Fines and Deductions 1881-1911,
also Route Number 1843-1911, separated under Railroad, Steamboat and Star Service 1893-95, also under
Regulation, Screen or other Wagon Service 1897-1911
Express Mails: Compensation and Location by State 1837
River Mail Contracts Routes (Louisville to St. Louis, Louisville to New Orleans, and St. Louis to New Orleans),
Period of Service, and Contract Payments 1843-53
Steamboat Mail Service Under the Navy Department Terminals of Routes and Compensation 1851-55
Foreign Mail Service Terminals of Routes and Compensation 1851-55
Foreign Mail Transfer Service Location of Service, Period of Service, Route Number, Compensation, and
Additional Allowance 1901-1909
Pneumatic Tube Service Location of Service, Period of Service, Route Number, Compensation, and Additional
Allowance 1899-1911
Electric and Cable Car Service Location of Service, Route Number, and Compensation 1899-1911
Contractors on Special Routes Compensation and Location by State 1839-57, then designated “Special Mail
Service” 1859-79, also Location by Post Office 1881-1911.
Number of Employees
Post Office Department (Washington D.C.) Grouped by Bureaus, Offices, Divisions and Sex 1913-21, 1925-34,
1936-37
Postal Service (Outside of Washington D.C.) Grouped by Services and Sex 1913-21, 1925-34. Grouped by Sex
1936-37.
Employees of the Office of the Auditor of the Treasury Department for the Post Office Department (Fifth
Auditor before 1836; Sixth Auditor after 1836) Official Title, Place of Birth, and Compensation 1816-63: also
from Whence Appointed 1865-95.
Printers for the Post Office Department (Printed Blanks, Pamphlets, Circulars, Mail Routes, and Advertising
Proposals; Furnished Paper for Blanks; Packed and Sent Out Blanks; or Transported Papers) Type (s) of Work
Performed and Compensation 1833-35 and1839-65.
[Notes: Place of Employment State (or Territory) and Post Office; Place of Birth Country, State (or Territory),
County, and Post Office; From Whence Appointed State (or Territory), County, and Congressional District; Legal
Residence (State and Congressional District; Compensation Biennial, Annual, or Three-Months’ Period.]
[Corrected from Arthur Hecht, American Philatelist 1961]