Short Coats and Shirts

Although long coats were still the standard coat until the 1950s, the Post Office Department permitted long-sleeved shirts and ties to be worn as outerwear in 1901. In 1931, a sweater coat could be work instead of the traditional coat during the winter. In 1944, elbow length shirts were permissible, and in 1948 short-sleeved shirts were permissible. Finally, in 1953, the long coat was replaced with the zippered Eisenhower style jacket, seen in the image below. In 1956, a patch with the Post Office Department emblem appeared on the sleeve.

Eisenhower Jacket: Image courtesy of the Smithsonian National Postal Museum online exhibit