Dead ZIP Codes #1: 40024
$7.00

“The mail here is of course very strange, and everything goes through the hands of people who if well-meaning are often inefficient or mixed up, or just don’t pass everything on.” — Thomas Merton
From 1963 through 1969, when it was retired, the 40024 ZIP code was associated almost entirely with one specific person: the Trappist monk, writer and mystic Brother Louis, better known as Thomas Merton (1915-1968). The pamphlet explores how a modest monastic mailroom became an improbable global hub of spiritual and literary correspondence. After Merton died in 1968, the ZIP code was discontinued, and with it one of America’s most unusual post offices.
This set includes a pamphlet with a 1,000 word essay on Merton and the post office at the Abbey, and a faithful reproduction of a 1966 Gethsemani postcard hand-tipped into the card, and ready to be mailed to your own literary correspondents.
This is the inaugural installment of Dead ZIP Codes, an occasional series of pamphlets and accompanying postcards exploring the histories of discontinued ZIP codes.