Postman Reading Mail by Norman Rockwell

February 18, 1922 Issue of The Saturday Evening Post

Postman Reading Mail, this Norman Rockwell painting, appeared on the cover of The Saturday Evening Post published February 18, 1922...
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This painting was Rockwell's forty-fifth overall picture featured on the cover of The Post and the second Rockwell cover in 1922. The Post featured a Rockwell illustration on its cover ten times in 1922.

Postman Reading Mail

Well, now we know what happens in the Post Office when time permits. Only kidding, postal employees!

Rockwell gives us a humorous look at this postman. He is so busy reading the back of the postcard that he doesn't even notice Rockwell painting his portrait. Rockwell was one of the masters at staging humorous situations from everyday life.

The addressee on the postcard is "Miss Daisy Dell." No doubt Rockwell was poking fun at a real life person. The implication would be that her personal life would be very interesting to all her neighbors, especially the gossips.

The volume of mail in the small town post office depicted here must be really small. Rockwell shows a cubby with just 20 slots. Surely there were more than 20 people receiving mail in the town. The postman used this system for filing the mail as it arrived and handed each patrons mail to him or her at the window.

On top of the shelf we see the distractions available to the postman after he had read all the mail. We see a duck decoy, a pipe, a book and what appears to be shotgun shells. All are different ways to combat boredom...
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