United States Postal Service Awards Texas Tech Instructor

Written by: Ben Samples

Jesse Vogler, an instructor for Texas Tech University’s College of Architecture, has received the United States Postal Service Rita Lloyd Moroney Award.

The award is reserved for scholarship on any topic involving the history of the U.S. postal system from the colonial era to the present — including the history of the colonial postal system that preceded the establishment of the U.S. postal system in 1775. The awards include a senior prize ($2,000) for work published by faculty members, independent scholars, public historians, and other non-degree candidates and a junior prize ($1,000) for work written or published by undergraduates or graduate students.

Vogler’s paper, "‘Correct and Perfect’: Post Office Design Guidelines and the Standardization of the National Postal Landscape," analyzes individual campaigns to standardize post office architecture and the resulting tensions between the desire for a unified post office structure and maintaining local architectural traditions. Vogler, who authored the article in 2004 while attending the University of California at Berkley, received the junior prize for his work.

"It’s a great honor to be recognized by the USPS," Vogler said. "The intersection of postal space and public space is a great lens to view a topic with significant relevance to contemporary research and design of an accessible and inclusive public realm."

The awards honor Rita Lloyd Moroney, who began conducting historical research for the Postmaster General in 1962 and then served as Historian of the U.S. Postal Service from 1973 to 1991. The awards are designed to encourage scholarship on the history of the U.S. postal system and cultivate awareness of the system’s effects on American life.