Counter-top post office unit

John T. Jackson, American, 1891 - 1940 · 1891-1940

This counter-top, screen-line post office cabinet belonged to John T. Jackson (1862-1948), an African American postmaster in Alanthus, Culpepper County, Virginia. The front side of the cabinet has a central window that is covered with metal mesh as well as an opening at the bottom with a small shelf. Flanking the central window are vertical glass panels that reveal the sorting shelves, which were accessed from the back of the unit. Postal clerks worked from the back of the cabinet, where there are thirty slots for sorting.