Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Extent:
0.5 Cubic feet (3 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Photographs
Drawings
Specifications
Date:
1864-1865, and undated.
Scope and Contents:
Company records, including specifications, drawings and plans, photographs, and other miscellaneous archival material.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
Mining company, Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
Collected for the National Museum of American History.
Restrictions:
Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Records include voluminous correspondence, much of it to or from W.P. Millington, Secretary of the Estate; with the Lehigh Valley Coal Company and Lehigh Valley Railroad Company; and with the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company. Also reports, including annual reports, reports by the Mining Engineer, and reports on visits by trustees; applications for permits; leases, including the lease for the City of Philadelphia as trustee under the will of Stephen Girard to Lehigh Valley Coal Company, 1884-1899; deeds; original agreements regarding the land, 1785 and 1793; licenses to mine coal; photographs, including photographs taken as part of surveys; blueprints; maps; patents; and daily journals for the years 1872, 1873, and 1879, kept by E.C. Wagner, Assistant Superintendent for the Girard Estate, detailing such things as inspections, meetings, etc.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
In 1830, Stephen Girard, a merchant, financier, and philanthropist, purchased 67 tracts of land in Pennsylvania that had been held by trustees of the first Bank of the United States. A large portion of the land passed into the Girard Trusts, bequeathed by Girard to the city of Philadelphia. Beginning in 1862, leases for the mining of coal on these lands were granted by the Estate.
Provenance:
Collected for the Museum for the Division of Extractive Industries.
Restrictions:
Collection open for research on site by appointment. Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI. Search this
Former owner:
Mechanical and Civil Engineering, Division of [former name], NMAH, SI. Search this
Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI Search this
Extent:
3 Cubic feet (12 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Ledgers (account books)
Financial records
Reports
Accident reports
Contracts
Correspondence
Inventories
Place:
Pennsylvania
Date:
1937-1954.
Scope and Contents note:
The collection documents the business activities of the Hammond Coal Company. It includes correspondence, "bootleg" registrations, reports on mine inspections, equipment inventories, grievances, financial records, production reports, contracts, employee information, accident and injury reports, and payroll ledgers. Also included are papers relating to labor union relations.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical/Historical note:
Coal mining company in Girardville, Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research access on site by appointment.,Unprotected photographs must be handled with gloves.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
The collection contains drawings of mine machinery and buildings, including buildings within the company town such as worker housing and churches; photographs, including glass plate negatives, of mining machinery, operations, and employees; papers relating to Eckley B. Coxe's patents; legal papers; maps, including real estate maps, contour and topographical maps, maps of highways and roads, insurance maps and others; deeds; leases; and agreements.
Arrangement:
1 series.
Biographical / Historical:
Coxe Brothers was an anthracite coal producer which dated back to the coal property purchases by Tench Coxe between 1790 and 1824. Members of the Coxe family controlled numerous companies and businesses in the area, and remained independent for most of its history due to the management of Eckley B. Coxe. They designed much of their own equipment and machinery. In 1905 the Lehigh Valley Railroad Company purchased the capital stock of Coxe Brothers and Company.
Related Materials:
Additional papers relating to Coxe Brothers and Company are located in the Coxe Family Mining Papers, 1774-1968, at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; the William Wilgus Collection, 1915-1916, the Historical Society of Pennsylvania; and the Lehigh Valley Railroad Records, 1849-1962, at the Pennsylvania State Archives.
Provenance:
Originally collected for the Division of Extractive Industries, National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History), the exact date and source of acquisition is unknown. The collection was transferred by the Division of Work and Industry to the Archives Center in 2007.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
This collection consists of the Commission's report, comprising: a 352 page report, including numerous photographs and maps; one 24 page printed copy of the report; one map of the city of Scranton, dated 1912; and eight blueprints of coal field sites.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged by type of material.
Biographical / Historical:
The Pennsylvania State Anthracite Mine Cave Commission was created by an Act of the General Assembly of the state of Pennsylvania and approved by the governor, John K. Tener, on March 24, 1911.
The Commission was appointed to investigate and report on both the physical conditions and the legal rights over the anthracite coal fields at Scranton, Pennsylvania. It was also impowered, by the state legislature, to recommend appropriate legislation over the legal and proprietary land rights of landowners and miners at Scranton.
Headed by Mr. W. J. Richards of Pottsville, the Commission was to submit its report to the legislature not later than February 1, 1913. Mr. Richards was elected President of the Commission on June 12, 1911 and the Commission's report was ready on March 1, 1913.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Photographs from a project entitled "Kentucky Coal Country," in which photographer Gordon Smith concentrates on economic and social factors in Kentucky. The photographs document poverty, erosion of the land through strip mining, and other harsh realities in Kentucky.
Scope and Contents:
The seven photographs in this group are all from a project entitled "Kentucky Coal Country," in which Gordon Smith concentrates on economic and social factors in Kentucky. They powerfully and starkly document poverty, erosion of the land through strip mining, and other harsh realities in Kentucky. All negatives were made in 1994, but these prints were made by Smith in late 1998 and/or early 1999. All are silver gelatin, printed on 16" x 20" paper, and are unmounted. Included with the prints are copies of the artist's project description and a caption list with his comments for forty images in the series.
Smith's photographs depict the Appalachian region of Kentucky, whose residents remain among the poorest in the nation. "This region, whose underground fortunes are still being ruthlessly plundered, now faces a near lifeless economy patched together by low paying service jobs, food stamps and welfare cheques," he writes. "...[The] Appalachian Regional Commission has overseen the spending of huge quantities of taxpayer dollars in an effort to penetrate the economic, geographic and cultural isolation of this mountainous region... Two thirds of these funds have been absorbed by road construction efforts which appear to have been more beneficial to local contractors and the coal and lumber industries than the population at large. The lavish spending program has had little effect in transforming the area's coal-linked economic base... The state of Kentucky has been particularly hard hit."
Smith's photographs indicate his concerns about the devastation of both the land and the people in the Appalachian region of Kentucky. The photographs in this selection vividly show the effects of strip mining, as well as people living in poverty. "Machines have stolen forever the jobs that kept this land alive," he comments. "...As communities perish and families are split apart, one of America's oldest and least understood cultures is in danger of being wiped away..."
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged into two series.
Series 1: Documents,
Series 2: Photographs,
Biographical / Historical:
Gordon R. Smith is an American photojournalist whose photographs are in the collections of the Library of Congress, the Bibliothèque Nationale (Paris), the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Center for Creative Photography (Tucson, Arizona), the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, and many other American and European collections. He has been included in many group exhibitions, and he has had solo exhibitions in galleries in the United States, Canada, Colombia, Denmark, France, Germany, and the Netherlands. He has received grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts (Visual Arts Fellowship, 1994) and Eastman Kodak Company (Materials Grant, 1990).
His work has been published in the Washington Post, New York Newsday, The Philadelphia Inquirer, Photographer's Forum, S F Camerawork, Photo Metro, The Photo Review, Camera Austria, and other newspapers and magazines. He is based in Pennsylvania.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Gordon R. Smith,1999, January 25.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Photographer holds copyrights. Reproduction permission from artist; contact information upon request.
Topic:
Coal mines and mining -- 1990-2000 -- Kentucky Search this
Commercial paper writing tablet containing Bretz's notes on photograph by flash in the coal mines of Pennsylvania. Cover: "The Palmetto Tablet No. 4 / permanently bound, / ruled and perforated," sold "From Sykes & Rice, Commercial and School Supplies a Specialty. Pottsville, Pa." "Keystone Handy Pencil Tablet" on verso. Contains eight leaves, some torn out. Bretz's "photo artist" blind-stamp at bottom of first page. Note on second page regarding "photographs of Kohinoor Mine interior by Electric Light." Bretz describes his camera, lens, plates, exposure times, etc. The notes appear to have been made in response to a request for an article about Bretz's work.
Biographical / Historical:
Bretz photographed throughout the northern and western portions of Pennsylvania, particularly in the coal mining regions around Pottsville and State College.
Local Numbers:
AC0060-0000910.tif
AC0060-0000911.tif
AC0060-0000912.tif
AC0060-0000913.tif
AC0060-0000914.tif
AC0060-0000915.tif
AC0060-0000916.tif
AC0060-0000917.tif
AC0060-0000918.tif
General:
In Box 7, Bretz folder. (Moved from original location in "Tablets" series.)
Other Archival Materials:
Ten trade cards and other items with Bretz's imprint in the same Warshaw collection folder. Elsewhere: A portable collodion darkroom tent used by Bretz is in the photographic history collection of the National Museum of American History. See http://www.civilwar.si.edu/life_portable_darkroom.html. A large collection of photographs by Bretz is in the Albin O. Kuhn Library and Gallery, University of Maryland Baltimore County, Catonsville, Maryland. See http://aok.lib.umbc.edu/specoll/digitcoll.php
Series Restrictions:
Collection is open for research. Some items may be restricted due to fragile condition.
Series Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana Subject Categories: Photography, Archives Center, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Sponsor:
Funding for partial processing of the collection was supported by a grant from the Smithsonian Institution's Collections Care and Preservation Fund (CCPF).
This collection consists of records primarily of the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company. Additionally, there are records of the Lehigh Navigation Coal Company and subsidiary companies including the Alliance Coal Mining Company. These records mostly describe anthracite mining in the vicinity of Mauch Chuck and Summit Hill, Pennsylvania. Also included is a smaller amount of material on railroad, canal, and river navigation work of LCNC.
Included are annual reports, 1913-1949, and a few other reports, 1912-1953. There are numerous types of fiscal records such as revenue statements, 1913-1949; ledgers, 1874-1906; financial forecasts, 1949-1953; trial balance books, 1920-1942; journals, 1874-1945; records of vouchers, 1882-1906; records of bills payable, 1907-1948; and individual ledgers, 1904-1944. Also included are records of coal production, 1900-1906; records of cost of coal mining and preparation, 1890-1954; and comparative statistical and cost data on coal mining and preparation, 1920-1939. In addition to fiscal records and records relating to coal production, there are inventories, 1898-1947 and records of improvements and special projects, 1909-1926. Also, there is a large group of payroll records, 1894-1907, and other records relating to employee compensation, 1870-1954.
Arrangement:
This collection is organized into twenty-two series.
Series 1: Annual Reports, 1826-1961
Series 2: Other Reports, 1912-1953
Series 3: Revenue Statements, 1913-1949
Series 4: Ledgers, 1874-1947
Series 5: Inventories, 1877-1945
Series 6: Financial Forecasts, 1949; 1951-1953
Series 7: Trial Balance Books, 1920-1942
Series 8: Journals, 1874-1945
Series 9: Record of Vouchers, 1882-1906
Series 10: Records of Bills Payable and Collectibles, 1907-1948
Series 11: Individual Ledgers, 1904-1908; 1919-1936; 1941-1945
Series 12: Records of Improvements and Special Projects, 1907-1913; 1920-1926
Series 13: Records of Coal Production, 1856-1952
Series 14: Records of Costs of Coal Mining and Preparation, 1890-1907; 1894-1954
Series 15: Comparative Statistical and Cost Data on Coal Mining and Preparation, 1873-1939
Series 16: Payroll Records, 1882-1951
Series 17: Employee Compensation, 1870-1954
Series 18: Contracts, Agreements and Leases, 1879-1931
Series 19: Printed Materials Relating to the Anthracite Industry, 1815-1954
Series 20: Miscellaneous Materials, 1874-1966
Series 21: Oversize Materials, 1829-1945
Series 22: Photographs, 1829, 1929, undated
Biographical / Historical:
The Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company was formed on April 21, 1820 by the merger of the Lehigh Navigation Company and the Lehigh Coal Company. Both predecessor companies and the new company were organized by Josiah White, Erskine Hazard, and George F. Hauto. The LCNC was reorganized in 1821 and incorporated by the Pennsylvania legislature in 1822.
The company was involved in anthracite mining and transportation, initially, they made the Lehigh River navigable as a means of getting their coal to Easton and then to Philadelphia via the Delaware River. Later, through canal construction, railway construction and agreements with existing railroads, the company delivered its product to New York, New England, and elsewhere. In the 1820s, LCNC laid rails from its mines to the river landing at Mauch Chunk and also began its railroad from Summit Hill, in the late 1820s, construction of the Lehigh Canal was completed from Mauch Chunk to Easton. Between 1836 and 1838 the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad was completed from the northern anthracite field, connecting Wilkes Barre to White Haven.
In 1840, the first successful iron furnace blast was made with Lehigh coal, in 1844, the company began its first important underground mining. In the 1860s and 1870s, the company completed a railroad from Wilkes Barre to Easton, and the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad was leased to the Central Railroad of New Jersey, thereby guaranteeing LCNC access to New York. Early in the twentieth century, the New England area was opened to LCNC through railroad construction.
In 1930 the Lehigh Navigation Coal Company was founded essentially as a holding company for LCNC and other companies, and other organizational changes were made. The company went out of business in 1965.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
Pennsylvania State Archives
Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company Records, 1792-1978
Penn State University Libraries
Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company Records, 1835-1913
Lehigh University Special Collections
Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company collection, 1826-1913
Provenance:
Donated by the Lehigh Coal and Navigation Company, Pennsylvania.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Schuylkill River (Pa.) -- Anthracite coal industry
Date:
1866-1927
Scope and Contents:
This collection consists of approximately seventeen cubic feet of records of the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company, dating from the period 1866-1927. The bulk of the collection comprises 124 letterpress copybooks from the company's Engineering Department. These contain letters and reports sent by engineers located at the major centers of the company's operations in the Schuylkill coal field — Ashland, Mahanoy City, Pottsville, and Shamokin. They also include the Chief Engineer, the Assistant Engineer, division engineers, resident engineers, associate engineers, mining engineers and their assistants, and transitmen. Among these were George S. Clemens, Joseph B. Garner, John R. Hoffman, James F. Jones, Henry M. Luther, Roland C. Luther, Henry Pleasants, John H. Pollard, John H. Strauch, and S. B. Whiting.
Their letterpress copybooks reflect the evolving organization of the Engineering Department, as job titles were changed and individuals were promoted or transferred from one post to another. The copybooks either accompanied the man when he took up a new post or remained in the office, where they were used by his successors. The copybooks in this collection have been arranged into series by person and position. Several additional volumes have been placed in a series of miscellaneous records at the end of the collection.
The correspondence in these volumes deals with all aspects of mining construction and operations, engineering personnel matters, and coordination with the Railroad for the shipment of coal, as well as periodic reports of operations and wagon accounts detailing how much coal had been shipped. Also included is correspondence relating to the formation and operation of the Schuylkill Coal Exchange Committee, which was set up to ease competition among the railroads in the Schuylkill region.
The collection also includes eight letterpress copybooks kept by S. B. Whiting while he was General Manager and General Superintendent of the company (1882-ca. 1888) . Whiting also kept letterbooks in which he pasted letters received from his superiors: Series 1 of the collection consists of two volumes of letters received (1879-1883) from Franklin B. Gowen, President, and one volume of letters received (1881-1884) from George DeB. Keim, General Solicitor and Vice President. In addition, there are eight letterpress copybooks kept by Roland C. Luther during his tenure as General Superintendent (ca. 1888-1902) and one volume from his tenure as the company's Second Vice President (1903-1905) . Also included is a volume of printed circular letters from both the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad and from the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company (1874-1887), which is located in Series 16.
Of additional interest is the inclusion of letters relating to the operation of the Anthracite Water Company among the letterpress copybooks of George S. Clemens, who served as that company's manager in the 1910s. In addition, several of the circular letters pertain directly to the 1888 anthracite coal strike.
Arrangement:
The collection is organized into 16 series.
Series 1: Letters received, S. B. Whiting, 1881-1883
Series 2: George S. Clemens, Shamokin, Ashland, and Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1875-1921
Series 3: Ashland, Pennsylvania, 1866-1881
Series 4: John H. Pollard, Ashland, Pennsylvania, 1881-1905
Series 5: John H. Pollard, T. R. Spinney, and Joseph Garner, Ashland, Pennsylvania, 1888-1911
Series 6: John H. Pollard and T. B. Van Buren, Ashland and Mahanoy City, 1902-1913
Series 7: Division Engineer, Ashland, Pennsylvania, 1902-1927
Series 8: Henry M. Luther and John H. Pollard, Ashland, Pennsylvania, 1881-1905
Series 9: Joseph S. Harris, Pottsville, 1871-1877
Series 10: J. Price Wetherill, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1879-1881
Series 11: James F. Jones and Roland C. Luther, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1881-1891
Series 12: John R. Hoffman and Roland C. Luther, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1883-1909
Series 13: Henry Pleasants and S. B. Whiting, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1874-1880
Series 14: S. B. Whiting and Roland C. Luther, Pottsville and Reading, Pennsylvania, 1877-1905
Series 15: George A. Brooke and John H. Strauch, Pottsville, Pennsylvania, 1879-1909
Series 16: Miscellaneous Records, 1873-1987
Biographical / Historical:
The Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Co. was organized in order to ensure its parent company, the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad, a dominant position in the transportation of anthracite coal from the Schuylkill fields of eastern Pennsylvania. For thirty years after its incorporation in 1833, the Philadelphia & Reading had been the main carrier of coal from this region, shipping anthracite coal from independently owned mines to Philadelphia. By the mid-1860s, however, the company faced increasing competition from other railroads as well as interruptions in supply due to miners' strikes. In response, Franklin B. Gowen, President of the Philadelphia & Reading, decided to gain control of enough coal acreage to ensure the company's survival. However, since it was illegal for railroads to directly own coal fields or operate mines in Pennsylvania, the company had to organize a separate company for the purpose. Accordingly, the Laurel Run Improvement Company was incorporated in May 1871. By taking advantage of a loophole in the Laurel Run company's charter, the Philadelphia & Reading purchased it in November 1871, and thus circumvented the legal restrictions on railroad ownership of coal lands. The newly-acquired company was renamed the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company in December 1871.
The company quickly acquired coal lands: by 1872, 80,000 acres had been purchased; by 1874, almost 100,000 acres - approximately one-third of the entire Schuylkill coal field. Originally, the company did not intend to mine coal itself; rather, it would rent the collieries it had acquired to independent operators, with the stipulation that the end product must be shipped over the Philadelphia & Reading railroad's lines. Unfortunately, this arrangement did not prove to be either practical or profitable and the company had to take direct control of its mining operations. Despite this step, however, the Coal & Iron Company continued to be unprofitable. In 1913 the United States government brought suit against the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad under the Sherman Anti-Trust Act, claiming that its ownership of both the Coal & Iron Company and the Railroad were a monopoly of trade. The case went to the U.S. Supreme Court, which ruled against the railroad in 1920. Under the terms of an agreement worked out by the Court, in December 1923, the Philadelphia & Reading transferred its interests in the Coal & Iron Company to a new company formed for the purpose — the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Corporation.
Related Materials:
Materials at the National Museum of American History
The Division of Work & Industry has a collection of photographs from the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company, 1866-1927.
Materials at Other Organizations
Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware
The bulk of the surviving records of the Philadelphia and Reading Coal and Iron Company and its parent company, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company.
Provenance:
These records were obtained by the National Museum of American History sometime prior to 1978. They were transferred from the Division of Agriculture and Natural Resources to the Archives Center in July 1989. An additional thirty-five volumes were transferred to the Archives Center in July 1996.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Documents relating to the business of the Swatara Railroad Company of Danville, Pennsylvania and particularly of its president, "Judge" William Donaldson. Includes receipts, bills, contracts, operating statistics, financial statements and correspondence, filed chronologically by year.
Biographical / Historical:
The Swatara and Good Spring Railroad was incorporated in 1831 with Judge William Donaldson as president. Renamed the Swatara Railroad in 1841, it was one of several lines connecting the First Pennsylvania anthracite coal field via waterways to the East Coast. Until 1848 it was powered by horses and was extended and rebuilt periodically. In 1863, Donaldson sold his interest in the Swatara to the Philadelphia & Reading Co., which renamed it the Good Spring Railroad.
Provenance:
Immediate source of acquisition unknown.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Topic:
Coal mines and mining -- 19th century -- Pennsylvania Search this
Railroads -- 19th century -- Pennsylvania Search this
Anthracite coal industry -- 19th century -- Pennsylvania Search this
Genre/Form:
Financial statements -- 19th century
Receipts -- 19th century
Correspondence -- 19th century
Citation:
Swatara Railroad Papers, dates, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Collection of engineering reports and correspondence from the Engineering Department of the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company. The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was most used for the transportation of anthracite coal within Pennsylvania from 1833 through the early 1970s.
Scope and Contents:
Primarily outgoing correspondence from the Engineering Department of the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad Company, the remainder being engineering reports and other miscellaneous papers.
Series 1: Letterpress Copybooks consists of 219 volumes from various engineers, each with own index (1865-1892): were generated by Chief Engineer, Assistant Chief Engineer, various resident engineers, other lower-level engineers, and the Chief Road-Master. Bulk of copybooks created by William H. Bines and Henry K. Nichols during long careers with the Philadelphia & Reading. Other volumes contain letters and reports by Charles W. Buckholz, Charles E. Byers, William Lorenz, and others. Correspondence covers all aspects of the engineering operations of the railroad, much of it at highest levels, being addressed to the Presidents of the Reading. Also includes one letterbook from John E. Wooten (1865), Superintendent.
Series 2: Reports of Chief Engineer to Auditor, 1908-1910; structural design calculation notebooks, 1901-1935; right of way deeds, 1903; and tracings of assorted machine parts.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into two series.
Series 1: Letterpress Copybooks
Series 2: Reports and Miscellaneous papers
Biographical / Historical:
This railroad was chartered in 1833 to provide low-cost transportation from the Schuylkill and Mahanoy anthracite coal fields in eastern Pennsylvania to Philadelphia. Main line from Philadelphia to Pottsville opened 1842. Reading expanded by acquiring other railroads, and by 1869 had monopoly of coal traffic from Schuylkill anthracite region.
Expansion accelerated when Franklin B. Gowen became president (1869) and attempted to dominate entire anthracite trade. Purchased Schuylkill Canal (1870) to eliminate competition for coal trade; then organized the Philadelphia & Reading Coal & Iron Company in 1871 to purchase and operate coal mines; secured over 40 percent of U.S. anthracite reserves, but debt incurred led railroad to bankruptcy and receivership (1880). Gowen's reckless style drove the Reading into second receivership (1886), and he was forced to resign.
Gowen's Successor, Archibald A. McLeod, tried to increase company control over anthracite trade (1892-1893), then control of several New England railroads. The Reading went bankrupt again and McLeod was ousted. In a reorganization (1896), the Philadelphia & Reading Railroad and the Coal & Iron Company became properties of the Reading Company, a holding company. Later additions to system were infrequent and largely confined to short branches and improvements inalignment. Due to anti-trust proceedings, company divested mining subsidiary (1923) and merged wholly owned railroad companies into an operating company. Acquired Lehigh & Susquehanna Railroad 1963, went bankrupt in early 1970s, and conveyed portions of its lines to Conrail (1976). The reorganized Reading Company retains real estate and other non-rail holdings.
Collection donated by the Reading Company, Philadelphia, Pa., 1960s.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research.
Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. The original glass plate is available for inspection if necessary in the Archives Center. A limited number of fragile glass negatives and positives in the collection can be viewed directly in the Archives Center by prior appointment. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Collection Rights:
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning copyright restrictions. Other intellectual property rights may apply. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
