This special edition of “News Quiz” will test your knowledge of postal history in honor of the 250th anniversary of USPS. The correct answers appear at the end.
1. What was the U.S. postal network called when President George Washington signed legislation formalizing it in 1792?
a) General Post Office
b) U.S. Post Office
c) U.S. Post Office Department
d) U.S. Postal Service
2. True or false: The crew of Apollo 12 canceled the first piece of mail carried to the moon in 1969.
a) True
b) False
3. Fill in the blanks: The first U.S. stamps were sold in booklets in (blank) and coils in (blank).
a) 1884, 1892
b) 1892, 1900
c) 1900, 1908
d) 1908, 1916
4. Who was the subject of the first Black Heritage stamp in 1978?
a) Benjamin Banneker
b) Frederick Douglass
c) Martin Luther King Jr.
d) Harriet Tubman
5. Match the postal “first” in Column A with the year it was introduced in Column B.
Column A
a) Free city delivery
b) Public telegraph service
c) Money orders
d) U.S. postage stamp
Column B
I) 1845
II) 1847
III) 1863
IV) 1864
Answers: 1) a. 2) b. The crew of Apollo 11 canceled the first piece of mail carried to the moon in 1969. 3) c. 4) d. 5) a. III., b. I., c. IV., d. II.
