The Railway Mail Service (RMS) Library is a major collection of materials pertaining to en route distribution history. Incorporated in May 2003, it can assist researchers interested in Railway Mail Service, route agent, Seapost, Railway Post Office (RPO), and Highway Post Office (HPO) history. The collection has many unique, original-source documents that provide answers to questions dealing with the transportation and distribution of USA Mail between 1862 and 1977, as well as other countries during the 19th century and 20th century. History The RMS Library has grown from the AmeRPO ("American RPO") Society Library established in the early 1950s by Bryant Alden Long, co-author of Mail by Rail. After a period of stagnation, it was acquired by Hershel Rankin, who renamed it the RMS Library. When he was 80 years old and no longer able to handle research requests, Dr. Frank R. Scheer purchased the collection. Over a two-year period, the collection was moved from Florida to Virginia and renamed the "Railway Mail Service Library." The collection The RMS Library has every major book published about the Railway Mail Service/Postal Transportation Service (RMS/PTS). It also has many periodical articles written about en route distribution, and continually seeks ones that are not represented. There are six types of original-source documentation in the collection, however. These are: Photographs of HPO and RPO vehicles The Railway Post Office and Postal Transport Journal issues between 1905 and 1959 Oral recollections of former clerks on audio and videotapes, as well as movies about the RMS/PTS General orders describing weekly changes within several divisions General and standpoint schemes of mail distribution Schedules of mail trains/routes. Schemes and schedules are particularly helpful for understanding how the network of mail transportation and distribution activities operated, as well as when routes began, ended, or underwent significant changes. Since 1982, several major additions have been made to the collection. These include the Edwin Bergman scheme and schedule collection, Lloyd Jackson's, John Kay's, Lawrence Kruse's, Ed Maloney's, and Roy Schmidt's postal artifacts, Carm Cosentino's Transfer Office covers, Charles Scott's Fifth Division RMS records, worldwide postal emblems assembled by Len Cohen, James Mundy's postal locks, Lt. Col (ret) A. B. "Chip" Komoroske's railroad books, H. W. "Red" Reed's post office route maps, John McClelland's 1905 to 1949 bound issues of The Railway Post Office, as well as Paul Nagle's set of the Postal Transport Journal between 1950 and 1959. A multitude of