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Plainfield Originals

 

The Gospel Wagon
Private Postcard Collection [On Loan]

Plainfield Gospel Wagon

Here, Mr. and Mrs. Harrison pose in front of their Gospel Wagon on which they traveled to spread the gospel. Plainfield was the home base for the Harrisons who traveled over 5000 miles. This postcard holds a message about the next gospel meeting to be held in New York City the following weekend.

The tradition of spreading the good word in America can be traced back to the colonists who attempted to bring their faith to Native Americans here in New Jersey and then to the West. In Plainfield, Scottish Presbyterians, Wesleyan Methodists, Sabbatarians, Quakers, as well as Evangelical groups settled here for freedom of religion and to share their faith. Many carried their messages of hope using storytelling, sermon, song, and prayer along main roads and back paths of the country building audiences along their circuit route. This postcard was on temporary loan for this exhibit; it is not part of the permanent collection.

 

Philip The Letter Carrier
Photograph - Phillip Geise stands beside horse-drawn mail cart

Horse drawn mail, Philip Geise

Philip Giese is pictured here in an early photograph with his “modern” postal horse and cart.  Before this innovation all mail was carried in satchels. Born in 1865, Philip Giese was a letter carrier with the Plainfield Post Office for 34 years.  His one-man Netherwood route was divided into 10 postal routes soon after he retired in 1930.  Photograph taken from Plainfield Public Library’s Charles Giese Family Collection.

 
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