The author, a daughter and close family member of the reformer, combines personal recollections, family history, and documentary detail to trace the campaign for inexpensive, uniform postage. Chapters explain the antiquated postal arrangements, earlier reform efforts, the reformer's plan and its administrative and political reception at the Treasury and Post Office, the introduction of adhesive stamps and envelopes, and the operational changes that followed, concluding with the reformer's later years and an appendix quantifying postal results. Portraits, facsimiles, and anecdotal material illustrate both public achievements and private life.