Friday, December 19, 2025
His big heart grew USPS Operation Santa
A Jewish postmaster in midcentury New York helped scale up and shape the effort
USPS Operation Santa is the postal institution it is today thanks in large part to Albert Goldman, who is believed to be New York City’s first Jewish postmaster.
A recent Jewish News Service article offers insight into Goldman, who served from 1935 to 1952, and includes observations from Stephen Kochersperger, the Postal Service’s historian, and June Brandt, a USPS senior research analyst.
“You can see how brilliant he was,” Kochersperger says in the article. “We were lucky to have him.”
Brandt points out that the then-Post Office Department’s Letters to Santa program had been around since 1912 but vastly expanded under Goldman.
“Santa letters were his big thing,” she says, and the article quotes media sources calling him “the father of the Santa Claus fund” and the “official opener of letters-to-Santa Claus.”
Both USPS employees praise the postmaster’s civic-mindedness and media savvy.
Kochersperger said he believes the big role played by the Postal Office Department in the 1947 film “Miracle on 34th Street” was a Goldman coup. “I’m certain that would not have happened but for Albert Goldman,” he says.
He also credits the postmaster with the public relations masterstroke of placing enormous mailbox-shaped temporary postal stations in busy areas of the city.
The article dives into the many complexities of the postmaster, who was proudly Jewish but embraced not just the Letters to Santa program but Christmas tree lightings and lobby displays with fervor.
Author Menachem Wecker wrote that Goldman often spoke at churches and interfaith events and joins the tradition of Irving Berlin and Mel Torme, Jewish composers of Christmas classics “who have made their mark on the holiday.”
One thing shines through: Goldman relished his postal role and cared deeply about the less fortunate.
“No worthy cause in this city has ever had to ring twice to enlist the enthusiastic support of Albert Goldman,” the New York Times wrote in its obituary.
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People
From out of the past
Employees discover a treasure trove and a retail associate helps get care packages to troops
While cleaning out the basement at the Greeley, CO, Post Office’s downtown location recently, employees made an interesting discovery: a stash of postal publications from the 1940s.
Most of the publications were issues of Postmasters Gazette, a magazine published by a professional association for postmasters. There was also a rarer find: a Post Office Department publication dated 1946.
“During these projects, we tend to find little treasures now and again, but it was interesting to find this postal time capsule,” said James Tanner, a USPS inventory control specialist in Denver who assisted with the cleanup.
The cover of the publication, called Your Postal Service, shows letter carriers on the steps of what is now known as the James A. Farley Post Office in New York City. The employees wear uniform coats similar to the kind replicated in the new Ralph Lauren clothing line.
The publication offers interesting statistics, such as the amount of twine (4.3 million pounds) and leather straps (295,000) purchased by the Post Office Department in fiscal year 1945.
“It was an honor to find these magazines in this building,” said Stacey Carey, the local customer services manager.
Managers at facilities where postal artifacts are discovered should email photos and a description of each item to the Postal Service historian’s office.
Mailing love
The Buffalo Gap, TX, Post Office recently processed 550 Priority Mail boxes destined for Texas Army National Guard troops deployed overseas.
Members of a local church filled each box with Texas-themed items such as chili and beef jerky, along with socks, toiletries and other essentials. Each box was emblazoned with “America Supports You.”
Allyse Lamb, a local USPS retail associate, scanned all the boxes before sending them to the Abilene, TX, Processing and Distribution Center.
“There are many moving parts involved, and a lot of scheduling and networking has to be planned,” Lamb said. “It’s very rewarding to see everything [come together] for our guardsmen who can’t be home this year.”
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News Quiz
American teamwork
What do you know about the 250-year partnership between USPS and the military?
“News Quiz” is a weekly feature that lets you test your knowledge of recent Link stories. The correct answers appear at the end.
1. The Military Postal Service Agency, which works in partnership with USPS, was established in what year?
a) 1789
b) 1914
c) 1941
d) 1980
2. Who was the courageous clerk who saved Benjamin Franklin’s original ledger during the Patent Office Fire in 1836?
a) Cornelius Cox
b) David Danielson
c) Freda Flemington
d) Harold Handy
3. Which of the following is not true of this year’s peak delivery season?
a) 40,000 seasonal employees have been hired to handle the increased mail volume.
b) More than 36,000 new delivery vehicles have hit the streets across the country.
c) New sorter machines have increased daily processing capacity to 88 million packages.
d) Updated service standards will aid delivery of mail and packages within the same region.
4. How many years has Olathe, KS, Letter Carrier Jim Sommers worked without calling out sick?
a) 16
b) 18
c) 22
d) 25
5. What alerted Midwest City, OK, Letter Carrier Jairo Lopez that a customer along his route was in danger?
a) Heavy smoke coming from the customer’s house
b) Neighbors frantically knocking on the front door
c) Police officers surrounding the house
d) The customer’s dog barking loudly
Answers: 1) d. 2) a. 3) a. USPS has hired 14,000 seasonal employees this year. 4) d. 5) a.
Employees to get letter with overtime tax deduction information
The Postal Service will send a letter in mid-January with information about a new temporary federal tax deduction for certain portions of federal overtime payments made to eligible employees.
The letter will include the employee’s qualified overtime amount for 2025.
Employees are encouraged to ensure their mailing address is up to date by going to LiteBlue and selecting “My Contact Information” in the “Employee Apps” section.
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His big heart grew USPS Operation Santa
A Jewish postmaster in midcentury New York helped scale up and shape the effort
-
People
From out of the past
Employees discover a treasure trove and a retail associate helps get care packages to troops
-
News Quiz
American teamwork
What do you know about the 250-year partnership between USPS and the military?
-
Brief
Employees to get letter with overtime tax deduction information