FRANK MULHOLLAND - Daily Union Managing Editor
The Shelby County Lincoln Heritage, Inc., and the Shelbyville Post Office are joining in a tribute to Shelbyville’s native renown artist Robert M. Root. This tribute is taking place in the post office because of the famous 1936 United States Air Mail Poster Root created. A colored 30” by 36” reproduction of this 1936 poster will hang in the Shelbyville Post Office.
The dedication ceremony will take place in the post office lobby on Saturday, March 20, at 2 p.m. hosted by the post office staff and Postmistress Dawn Hagan. Dr. Edwin Walker, Chairman of the Art Department at Millikin University, will make the presentation to the post office. Limited editions wall size posters will be available for sale that day. They will be priced at $15 on the day of the dedication and $20 after that day. Refreshments will be served.
“The only colored poster of Robert Root is in the possession of Ed Boedecker, a local Root collector in Shelbyville,” said Whitney “Whit” Hardy, president of the Shelby County Lincoln Heritage. “However, no where can you see this poster and have an explanation of how this all came about.”
Ironically this all came about because another Shelbyville resident, Jesse M. Donaldson who was serving as the First Deputy Assistant to the Postmaster General of the United States, commissioned Root to create an Air Mail Poster. That Air Mail poster was displayed at all of the State Postmasters’ conventions and at the National Postmasters’ Convention in San Francisco.
Donaldson began his postal career in Shelbyville about 1908 and was one of the first mail carriers in Shelbyville. He became a postal inspector and then a supervisor and manager, serving in Tennessee, Oklahoma and Missouri. In 1945 he was appointed Assistant Postmaster General. During Donaldson’s tenure, Postmaster General Robert Hannegan became increasingly dissatisfied with his job, so Donaldson often sat in for him at cabinet meetings and served as acting Postmaster General. When Hannegan retired in 1947, President Harry Truman appointed Donaldson Postmaster General. Donaldson was the first career postal employee to serve in the department’s top position, which had traditionally been reserved for the leader of the president’s political party. Donaldson served in that position until the end of Truman’s term in 1953, receiving credit for modernizing postal operations and streamlining services.
“The public is invited to attend and honor Shelbyville’s native artist,” continued Hardy. “We invite local artists, teachers, students, historians, and Root collectors to come out and show their support for Root and his contributions to Shelbyville, to our nation, and the world,” continued Hardy.
Dawn Hagan, Shelbyville Postmistress said Boedecker is planning to bring in the original poster that he owns, to the dedication if the weather permits.
“We will put the original next to the copy to compare the two,” said Hagan. “Also Mr. Boedecker will talk about how he happened to have the original.”
Robert Root was born on March 20, 1863 to John and Eunice Root. At an early age he showed a talent for drawing. His painting of the 1858 Lincoln - Douglas Debate in Charleston now hangs in the Illinois State Capitol. Root’s painting of the 1856 Lincoln-Thornton Debate in Shelbyville helped to save the event from being erased from history. His 6’ x 8’ painting can be seen in Courtroom A of the Shelby County Courthouse.
The Air Mail Poster was one of Root’s last work, but became one of his most famous pieces. Root died August 21, 1937.
