Arago: Labor Unions & Associations

A member of the National Association of Railway Postal Clerks (NARPC) wore this badge at the 1904 meeting in Boston, Massachusetts. The upper metal tag has two cod fish, symbols of Boston, flanking a shield imprinted “US Mail”. It is connected by a red ribbon to a hanging medal with another figurative representation of Massachusetts, a man dressed in seventeenth-century Pilgrim clothing.

The NARPC voted to change its name at this 1904 convention and became the Railway Mail Association (RMA). Through mergers, the RMA ultimately became part of the American Postal Workers Union.