Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Early Aeronautical Newsclippings (Alexander Graham Bell) Collection, Acc. NASM.XXXX.0086, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Images of railroads, including some published by railroad companies, of trains, collisions, etc. Views divided by railroad: Central Pacific (4), Denver & Rio Grande (1), Mt. Washington Railroad (9), Northern Pacific (5) Pennsylvania Railroad (2), Pennsylvania & Ohio in New Hampshire (3), St. Paul (MN) & Omaha Railroad (1), Union Pacific (5, incl. 2 by the Jackson Bros., 1 by A. J. Russell, and 1 by C. R. Savage), Rome, Watertown & Ogdensburgh R.R. (1), Utica & Black River (7), and 15 miscellaneous.
Restrictions:
Unrestricted research use on site. Photographs must be handled with white cotton gloves, unless protected by plastic sleeves.
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.
Topic:
Railroads -- Stereographs -- 1870-1990 Search this
Warshaw Collection of Business Americana, 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).
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Transportation Search this
National Museum of American History (U.S.). Division of Engineering and Industry Search this
Extent:
18 Cubic feet (78 boxes)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Right of way deeds
Reports
Letterpress copybooks
Mechanical drawings
Estimates
Financial statements
Circular letters
Bills
Accident reports
Correspondence
Place:
Lackawanna County (Pa.)
Luzerne County (Pa.)
Cressona (Pa.)
Harrisburg (Pa.)
Norristown (Pa.)
Philadelphia (Pa.)
New Jersey
Sumerton (Pa.)
Cheltenham (Pa.)
Sunbury (Pa.)
Reading (Pa.)
Trenton (N.J.)
Schuylkill County (Pa.)
Pennsylvania
Date:
1860-1936
Summary:
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 five series.
Series 1: Letterpress Copybooks, 1866-1870
Series 2: Chief Engineer Standard Plans, 1904-1942
Series 3: Construction Reports, 1901-1913
Series 4: Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC) Valuation of Railroads, 1913-1922
Series 5: Reports and Miscellaneous Papers, 1860-1936
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.
The papers of Philadelphia art historian and writer Charles Henry Hart date from 1774-1930, bulk 1888-1918, and measure 6.1 linear feet. Found within the papers are correspondence, subject files, scattered personal business records, a file of images of art work, notes and writings, and printed material. The subject files include letters from art historians, art collectors, dealers, and gallery owners.
Scope and Content Note:
The papers of Philadelphia art historian and writer Charles Henry Hart date from 1774-1930, bulk 1888-1918, and measure 6.1 linear feet. Found within the papers are correspondence, subject files, scattered personal business records, a file of images of art work, notes and writings, and printed material. The subject files include letters from art historians, art collectors, dealers, and gallery owners.
Twelve folders of general correspondence consists primarily of letters received from colleagues, dealers, gallery owners, and publishers discussing art-related topics not specifically addressed in the Subject Files arranged in Series 3 below. There is one folder of miscellaneous personal business records.
Subject files comprise the largest and most important series in the collection. The files contain a wide variety of materials, including letters, notes and writings, clippings, reproductions of art work, and photographs. Letters are from art historians, art collectors, dealers, and gallery owners mostly concerning notable subjects of portraits, artists, organizations, including the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, and miscellaneous subjects such as miniature paintings and H. W. Elson's book History of the United States. Several files contain letters from the descendants of John Quincy Adams, Asher B. Durand, Benjamin Latrobe, and Nathaniel Hawthorne.
The images files contain a mixture of printed reproductions of art work, photographs of art work, and original art work compiled and used by Hart as reference material.
Notes and writings consist primarily of notes on art-related topics including the work of various artists, activities of arts organizations, collectors, galleries and museums, sales of art work, and background material about the subjects of portraits. There is also a typescript by Hart containing descriptions of art work to be published in a catalog of the Herbert Lee Pratt collection.
Printed material consists of clippings about Hart and miscellaneous art-related topics, auction catalogs, and an incomplete set of pages from Hart's book Memoirs of the Life and Work of Jean Antoine Houdon: Sculpture of Voltaire and of Washington.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged as 6 series:
Missing Title
Series 1: Correspondence, 1838-1930 (Box 1; 12 folders)
Series 2: Personal Business Records, 1893-1917 (Box 1; 1 folder)
Series 3: Subject Files, 1774-1922 (Boxes 1-4, 8; 4.0 linear feet)
Series 4: File of Images, circa 1890-1900 (Boxes 5, 8; 0.6 linear feet)
Series 5: Notes and Writings, 1890-1922 (Boxes 5-6; 0.8 linear feet)
Series 6: Printed Material, 1822-1925 (Boxes 6-7; 0.8 linear feet)
Biographical Note:
Charles Henry Hart (1847-1918) was an art historian, lawyer, writer, and director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts from 1885-1904. He worked primarily in the Philadelphia area and published widely on the subject of eighteenth and nineteenth-century portraiture in America.
Charles Henry Hart was born on February 4, 1847 in Philadelphia, the son of Julia Leavey and Samuel Hart. He graduated from the University of Pennsylvania in 1869 and practiced law until 1894, when he turned his interest to art and writing after suffering injuries in a railroad accident. He became a noted author of books and articles about art, especially portraiture. He had a special interest in the work of Gilbert Stuart. Hart's writings often focused on exposing fraudulent attributions of art work.
From 1882 to 1902, Hart was director of the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts in Philadelphia. In 1893, he also served as chairman of the Committee on Retrospective American Art at the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago. Hart was a member of several organizations including the American Historical Association, the Essex Institute, and the Players Club.
Hart's first wife, Armine Nixon, was a great-granddaughter of Robert Morris, a signer of the Declaration of Independence. She died in 1897. According to the New York Times, in 1905 he married Marianne Livingstone Phillips, with whom he fathered a son, Charles Henry Hart, Jr. In 1912, Hart married Anita Beatriz Arabe.
Charles Henry Hart died on July 29, 1918 in New York City.
Related Material:
Also found in the Archives of American Art are 2 volumes of an autograph collection compiled by Charles Henry Hart.
The Archives also has a collection of correspondence between Charles and Clarence W. Bowen loaned by the New York Public Library for microfilming on reels N10-N11. The correspondence concerns Hart's activities on the planning committee of the Centennial of George Washington's Inauguration, New York City, 1889; and Hart's chairmanship of the Committee on Retrospective Art for the World's Columbian Exposition in Chicago, 1893.
Additional Charles Henry Hart papers are also available at the Winterthur Library in Delaware.
Provenance:
The Charles Henry Hart papers were donated anonymously in 1971.
Restrictions:
Use of original papers requires an appointment.
Rights:
The Archives of American Art makes its archival collections available for non-commercial, educational and personal use unless restricted by copyright and/or donor restrictions, including but not limited to access and publication restrictions. AAA makes no representations concerning such rights and restrictions and it is the user's responsibility to determine whether rights or restrictions exist and to obtain any necessary permission to access, use, reproduce and publish the collections. Please refer to the Smithsonian's Terms of Use for additional information.
The collection consists of photographic prints of railroad construction in Pierron, St. Jacob, and Collinsville, Illinois, from 1925-1927.
Scope and Contents:
The collection contains photographs documenting the relocation of the main railroad line between Pierron and Collinsville, Illinois from 1925 to 1927. Photographs include views of stations, track and bridge and of a railroad accident. The collection is arranged sequentially by photograph number and then chronologically.
Arrangement:
The collection is arranged in one series by photograph number.
Biographical / Historical:
During the bustling age of railroad transportation in the late 1920s, Illinois became a focal point for railway construction. In earlier decades small corporations had built railroads connecting the state's borders, but by the late 1880s many of these companies had joined together into larger corporations. The Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago, and St. Louis Railroad was a combination of several railroad companies that merged for financial reasons. PCC and St. Louis was later absorbed into the Pennsylvania Railroad.
Provenance:
Collection donated by Walter H. Merker, Jr., on November 1977.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research use. 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.
Pittsburgh, Cincinnati, Chicago and St. Louis Railroad photographs (PCC and St. Louis), 1925-1928, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Gorrell, Edgar S. (Edgar Staley), 1891-1945 Search this
Container:
Box 9, Folder 5
Type:
Archival materials
Date:
May 1939 - June 1939
Scope and Contents:
Newspaper Articles on the Inauguration of Transatlantic Air Service: The Moncton Daily Times, 1939 June 26; The Irish Press, 1939 June 29; The Irish Times, 1939 June 29
Collection Restrictions:
No restrictions on access
Collection Rights:
Material is subject to Smithsonian Terms of Use. Should you wish to use NASM material in any medium, please submit an Application for Permission to Reproduce NASM Material, available at Permissions Requests.
Collection Citation:
Edgar S. Gorrell Collection, Acc. XXXX-0057, National Air and Space Museum, Smithsonian Institution.
Mansfield, Mass.: Four persons were injured, one fatally, when the Owl, a crack Boston-New York train of the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad crashed into a freight train at a cross-over here last night. Photo shows the wrecked engine of the O...
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.
Approximately 11,000 images collected by Thomas Norrell consisting of original photographic prints and photographic postcards, original film and glass plate negatives, and duplicate/copy photographic prints and negatives. The majority are external views of single locomotive engines of North American railroad and industrial companies. Images of international railroad company locomotives and of representative locomotives from various locomotive works and builders are also included. The collection contains a small number of subject-specific images covering such topics as train wrecks, funeral trains, experimental locomotives, miniature trains, and locomotives at the 1933 and 1939 World's Fairs.
Scope and Contents:
The collection contains material related primarily, but not exclusively, to early North American railroad locomotives. Photographs and negatives comprise the bulk of the material in the collection, with the number of individual images well exceeding 10,000. While the collection is particularly valuable for its images of locomotives from smaller or relatively obscure railroad lines and industrial concerns (such as mining and lumber companies), it also includes a substantial number of images from the leaders of the railroad industry in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries (such as the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad).
Norrell's organization of the collection reflects his technical knowledge of railroad engines and his familiarity with various railroad companies. His use of Whyte notation as an organizational schema gives evidence to this. Whyte notation is broadly utilized by the railroad industry as a way to classify locomotives based on their wheel configuration. A count of leading (non-driving) wheels, middle driving wheels, and trailing wheels (non-driving) is represented by a three-digit hyphenated number. For example, a locomotive with four leading wheels, four driving wheels, and two trailing wheels would be classified as a 4-4-2. Norrell utilized this convention when subdividing railroad companies for which he had collected many images, such as the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Central Railroad of New Jersey, Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railroad, and the Lehigh Valley Railroad, among others. Norrell subdivided portions of his collection of Pennsylvania Railroad images based on that company's distinct classification system, where letters of the alphabet corresponded to different Whyte notations.
Norrell used other criteria to help subdivide larger assemblages of single-company railroad images, and these have been maintained. In some instances, he used the company number designation found on the locomotive itself (as in the case of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad). Other times, subject designations were used to distinguish rail yards, passenger cars, and special or prominent locomotives. Because the Pennsylvania Railroad comprised such a large segment of images, Norrell organized it according to a number of subdivision types (including year, Whyte notation, and subject) rather than any single one.
The collection is arranged into three series: Series 1, Negatives, 1831-1967, undated, Series 2, Photographic Prints, circa 1850-1960, and Series 3, Ephemera, undated.
Series 1, Negatives, 1831-1967, undated,contains photographic negatives and is divided into two subseries: Subseries 1, Film Negatives, 1831-1967, undated, and Subseries 2, Glass Plate Negatives, 1831-1967, undated.
The series contains original negative images, copy negatives of other printed images, and copy negatives of printed material, such as book illustrations. The inclusive dates for the series reflect the subject of the material photographed (as in the case of copy negatives) rather than the date the negative was created.
The negatives primarily depict views of single locomotive engines from various North American and international mainline and short line railroads. Interspersed among these are views of company-owned locomotives representing such North American industries as mining (coal, iron, limestone, copper, gold, quartz, zinc), lumber (timber, pulp, paper), metallurgical production (coke, iron, steel), stone/brick production (masonry, cement, gravel), utilities (power, light, telephone), chemical production, leather production, automotive production, and food service. A number of military railroad locomotives as well as early metropolitan transit systems are also represented among the negatives. Most of the images depict steam locomotives, though some diesel engines, diesel-electric hybrid engines, passenger and freight cars, and assorted repair/service vehicles are also spread throughout.
Subseries 1, Film Negatives, 1831-1967, undated consists of polyester film negatives ranging in size from 2 1/4" x 4 1/4" to 5" x 7". Additional larger polyester film negatives are interfiled with the glass plate negatives of Subseries 2 and range in size from 5" x 7" to 8" x 10".
The negatives are physically arranged by size, then by the negative series number originally assigned to them by the United States National Museum, Division of Transportation. This numbering system generally, but not always, follows an alphabetical order by name of railroad company (North American and international) or industrial company. The majority of the film negatives are 5" x 7" or smaller, and the number series for this size of negative begins with 85-20939 and ends with 85-31126.
Film negatives larger than 5" x 7" are separated and interfiled with the glass plate negatives of Subseries 2. As such, the negative series number range for these larger film negatives is not always consecutive. The first series number range begins at 82-4189 and ends at 82-4429. The second range begins at 82-13786 and ends at 82-13795. A printed, item-level index of the negatives containing an alphabetical list of railroad and industrial company names and associated negative numbers is available for consultation in the Archives Center.
The envelope enclosures for all negatives generally include the name of the railroad or industrial company, the engine/locomotive number, the engine/locomotive builder, the Whyte classification (wheel arrangement), the year of the engine/locomotive's construction, a brief description of the image, the size of the negative, and the negative series number.
Subseries 2, Glass Plate Negatives, 1831-1967, undated, consists of glass plate negatives ranging in size from 5" x 7" to 10" x 12". Three broken glass plate negatives have been re-housed and are stored separately. Otherwise the plates are arranged by size, then by original negative series number as assigned by the United States National Museum, Division of Transportation. This number range is not always consecutive because the glass plate negatives are interfiled with the larger film negatives of Subseries 1. A printed, item-level index of the negatives containing an alphabetical list of railroad and industrial company names and associated negative numbers is available for consultation in the Archives Center.
The 8" x 10" glass plate negative number series begins with 82-4168 and ends with 82-4424.
The 5" x 7" glass plate negatives contain series numbers 82-13783 to 82-13785.
The 12" x 10" glass plate negatives contain series numbers 82-4430 to 82-4452.
The envelope enclosures for the negatives generally include the name of the railroad or industrial company, the engine/locomotive builder, the Whyte classification (wheel arrangement), in some cases a brief description of the image, and the negative series number.
Series 2, Photographic Prints, circa 1850-1960,consists of visual material, including photographic postcards, illustrated postcards, photographic prints (made through a variety of photographic processes), and a photograph album. It contains five subseries: Subseries 1, North American Railroad Companies; Subseries 2, International Railroad Companies; Subseries 3, Railroad Builders; Subseries 4, Subjects; and Subseries 5, Duplicate Images.
Subseries 1, North American Railroad Companies, circa 1850-1960 includes photographic and illustrated postcards and photographic prints of North American railroad companies, industrial railroads, and urban transit companies. The images range in size from 2 1/4" x 4 1/4" to 8" x 10," with the majority being silver gelatin prints. Occasional albumen prints, cyanotype prints, and salted paper prints are found in the collection. The majority of the images are views of single locomotive engines, though some images of railroad stations, roundhouses, rail yards, and passenger cars are interspersed throughout. While the majority of the photographs are 4" x 6" or smaller, there are prints larger than 4" x 6" which are arranged alphabetically by railroad or industrial company name. In some cases multiple larger images from railroad companies with names close to each other alphabetically are filed together in a single folder and identified with the first common letters of the company names.
Norrell's original alphabetical organization by railroad or industrial company name has been preserved. In some instances where a substantial number of images for a particular railroad company exist, Norrell subidivided the images either by Whyte notation (wheel arrangement) or by subject. This usually follows either an alphabetical or numerical organization, but not in every case. In many instances, hand-written notes and postage appear on the reverse of the photographic postcards. Addresses and salutations indicate that many of the postcards were not sent to Thomas Norrell directly, but were acquired by him at a later date.
Subseries 2, International Railroad Companies, circa 1850-1960, includes photographs, illustrated postcards, and a photograph album depicting international railroads and railroad locomotives. Of particular interest is the photograph album compiled by Thomas Norrell containing sixty individual photographs of steam locomotive engines from eighteen assorted British, continental European, and South American railroad companies. The images are all approximately 14" x 10," and each corresponds to an identification chart mounted in the front of the album indicating the railroad company, engine number, Whyte notation (wheel arrangement), and special notes about each engine.
Subseries 3, Railroad Builders, circa 1850-1960 consists photographic prints and photographic postcards containing images of locomotives separated by builder. Norrell's original alphabetical arrangement of the images by locomotive works or manufacturing company name has been preserved.
Subseries 4, Subjects, 1804-1940, contains photographic prints and photographic postcards organized by subject. The images are arranged chronologically by date of the subject of the images. Of particular interest are Norrell's photographs of locomotives at the 1933-1934 Chicago and 1939-1940 New York World's Fairs.
Subseries 5, Duplicate Images, circa 1850-1960, contains duplicate photographic prints and duplicate copy prints created from the either the photographs in Series 2 or from the film and glass plate negatives from Series 1. The duplicate images, including photographic postcards and photographic prints, are subdivided by first letter of the name of the railroad or industrial company. The duplicate copy prints created from the negatives are arranged numerically by a negative number recorded on the negative itself.
Series 3, Ephemera, undated,consists of an unidentified and undated piece of railroad track.
References
Staufer, Alvin F. Pennsy Power III 1847-1968. Medina, OH: Alvin F. Staufer, 1993.
Subseries 1: North American Railroad Companies, circa 1850-1960
Subseries 2: International Railroad Companies, circa 1850-1960
Subseries 3: Railroad Builders, circa 1850-1960
Subseries 4: Subjects, 1804-1940
Subseries 5: Duplicate Images, circa 1850-1960
Series 3: Ephemera, undated
Biographical / Historical:
Thomas Norrell was born in West Ham (Essex County) England on November 11, 1899. He emigrated to the United States as a young man and became a naturalized citizen in 1911. He took an apprenticeship at the Baldwin Locomotive Works around 1920. Although the Baldwin works benefited from a boom in the export of steam locomotives meant to replenish foreign rail systems impacted by use during the First World War, the upswing was short-lived. Business at Baldwin slowed considerably in the 1920s as diesel engines began replacing steam locomotives. Recognizing that opportunities for advancement within Baldwin were scarce, Norrell moved out of railroad work completely and into the paper box industry. He married his wife Wilhelmina in 1929, and they resided in Cranston, Rhode Island and later Silver Spring, Maryland.
Despite his shift away from railroads as a vocation, Norrell maintained a life-long interest in trains and was a collector of photographic and print material related to locomotive engines, train cars, and industrial railroads. He contributed a number of articles to various railroad periodicals and was generous in providing images from his collection to other authors for reproduction in their publications. Norrell also influenced and supported a number of prominent railroad historians, including John H. White Jr., curator of the Division of Transportation in the Smithsonian National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History). It was through White's efforts that Norrell's collection became part of the Smithsonian Institution.
In 1942 Norrell gained some degree of notoriety for having rediscovered the famed Brady Civil War negatives in the vault of the Phelps Publishing Company in Springfield, Massachusetts while searching for an unrelated daguerreotype of an early Massachusetts locomotive. The locomotive had been identified from a wood-engraving made by an artist for a Phelps subsidiary publication, and Norrell secured permission to search the Phelps Company's vault for the image. During his search, Norrell stumbled upon and recognized the famed Civil War collection from earlier printed publications of the images. He brought the collection to the attention of the National Archives, which deferred to the Library of Congress. The storage fees for the images had been unpaid for many years by their owner, and the Phelps Company, interested only in recovering compensation for the use of the space, seized the images and sold them at cost to the Library of Congress in 1944.
Norrell later lived in Fredericksburg, Virginia, close to his daughter Elise Mann. He died there on February 1, 1985.
References
Bell, Kurt R. "On the Shoulders of a Giant: A Profile of John H. White, Jr.," Railroad History, 204 (Spring-Summer 2011): 6-23.
Hodge, Robert, comp. An Index to the Death Notices in the Free Lance-Star (Fredericksburg, Virginia), 1981-1991. Fredericksburg, VA: Robert A. Hodge (1992).
Norrell, Thomas. "The Norris Construction Record," Railroad and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin, 150 (1983): 57-XX.
Norrell, Thomas. "Uriah Wells, Locomotive Builder of Petersburg," Railroad and Locomotive Historical Society Bulletin, 124 (1969): 40-XX.
U.S. Department of Commerce, Bureau of the Census. Fifteenth Census of the United States: 1930: Population Schedule. Massachusetts Enumeration District 9-169, Supervisor's District 10, Sheet 4-1, 1930.
Vanderbilt, Paul, comp. Guide to the Special Collections of Prints and Photographs in the Library of Congress. Washington D.C.: The Library of Congress, 1955.
Related Materials:
Materials in the Archives Center
Baldwin Locomotive Works Collection (Engine Registers and Order Books), 1833-1956, (AC0157)
Baldwin Locomotive Works Drawings, 1870-1890, (AC0353)
John H. White, Jr. Railroad Reference Collection, 1880s-1990, (AC0523)
Materials Held by the National Museum of American History, Division of Work and Industry
Three images from the collection, including an 1848 daguerreotype image of the locomotive "Tioga", an 1855 daguerreotype image of a locomotive on the Niagara Falls, and a circa 1870 daguerreotype image of a Rome, Watertown, and Ogdensburgh locomotive.
Materials Held by Other Institutions
Thomas Norrell photographic album, and other views of rail transportation in Canada and the United States, circa 1920-1979, R5500-27-4-E, Andrew Audubon Merrilees fonds. Library and Archives Canada, Ottawa.
Provenance:
The collection was donated to the United States National Museum, Division of Transportation (now known as the National Museum of American History, Division of Work and Industry) by Thomas Norrell on April 19, 1966.
Restrictions:
Collection is open for research but the negatives are stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Special arrangements required to view negatives due to cold storage. Using negatives requires a three hour waiting period. Some glass plate negatives are broken and may require special handling care.Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
Rights:
Copyright status unknown, though most images are in the public domain.
Freedmen's Bureau Digital Collection, 1865–1872, is a product of and owned by the National Museum of African American History and Culture, Smithsonian Institution. Copyright for digital images is retained by the donor, FamilySearch International; permission for commercial use of the digital images may be requested from FamilySearch International, Intellectual Property Office, at: cor-intellectualproperty@ldschurch.org.
Collection Citation:
Courtesy of the U. S. National Archives and Records Administration, FamilySearch International, and the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Letters and memoranda written by Ludington family members to George Ludington, cashier of the Bank of Kent, Ludingtonville, New York.
Scope and Contents:
The Collection consists almost entirely of letters and business memoranda received by George Ludington. The major correspondents are his six brothers. Additional correspondents include other family members, friends and business associates. The documents are in varying states of physical preservation. A few fragments lack the originator's name or date.
The bulk of the correspondence is dated in the years just prior to and during the Civil War. The primary subject matter is business dealings, mainly financial transactions involving extension of loans by George Ludington, their servicing and repayment. Some correspondence relates to merchandise purchases and to dealings in commodities, primarily grain but also including cotton and lumber. There are numerous references to local "currencies" (the notes of banks, often of uncertain security) and to the credit-worthiness of individuals.
The letters often refer to matters of personal and family interest and include revealing comments on military aspects of the Civil War (particularly the draft and the then legal practice of paying substitutes for military duty.) One Ludington brother served in the Union Army and was seriously wounded. There are references to difficulties with Indian tribes in Illinois and Minnesota. A description of a disastrous railroad accident is included.
Arrangement:
The collection is divided into three series.
Series 1: Family correspondence, 1848-1889
Series 2: Other correspondence, 1817-1889
Series 3: Certificates of Deposit, 1862-1863
Biographical / Historical:
George Ludington was a banker who lived in Ludingtonville, Putnam County, New York. Four of his brothers were in the lumber manufacture and merchandising and other businesses in the Midwest. Another brother was in the import/export trade in New York City.
James Ludington was a lumber dealer of Milwaukee and occasionally Bloomington, (Indiana?). Most of his letters deal with financial relations with George Ludington and his bank. The amounts mentioned were large for those times, and James seemed to be equal in status to George, frequently offering advice on business matters. He was clearly in debt to George over the period covered by the correspondence, 1856-1864.
Nelson Ludington was a lumber manufacturer and dealer in Chicago, also in a debtor relationship to George Ludington. His letters expressed strong criticism of the conduct of Civil War operations.
Charles H. Ludington was a senior partner in Lathrop, Ludington and Company, an import/export firm in New York City.
Harrison Ludington was a senior partner of H. Ludington & Co., lumber merchants of Milwaukee and later mayor of that city (1872-1876) and governor of Wisconsin (1876-1878).
Sims Ludington, apparently the youngest brother of George, was a lumber merchant in Winona, Minnesota. He served in the Union Army and was seriously wounded in 1863.
Sam Ludington, based on a single letter in 1856, was apparently poorly educated with uncertain employment.
Other family members represented in the correspondence were B.L. Ludington (relationship uncertain), employed in the U.S. Appraisers Office, New York City, and a cousin, Henry B. Camby, New York City. One brief note indicates he may have been in the apparel business.
Non-family correspondents include the following:
Orlando B. Turrell, an employee of Caldwell and Co., a bank in St. Paul, Minnesota and later the cashier of the Marine Bank of that city. His letters, often lengthy and spanning 1857-1864, are mostly concerned with financial transactions and general business conditions in Minnesota but are written in a friendly style with many personal references.
Edwin Caldwell, a senior partner of the Savings Bank of Caldwell, Whitney and Co., St. Paul, Minnesota. His letters, written between 1857 and 1859, are primarily business-related, and are concerned with loan transactions for George Ludington's bank. However, there are numerous personal comments, reflecting a somewhat adversarial relationship with Ludington.
Related Materials:
Materials at Other Organizations
The State Historical Society of Wisconsin's holdings include the papers of Harrison Ludington, one of the Luddington brother's and a correspondent in this collection.
Provenance:
The collection was purchased from Augusta Warshaw, widow of Isadore Warshaw, in 1971.
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.
The train that never arrived : a saga of the Niagara excursion train that wrecked between Chatsworth and Piper City, August 10, 1887 / by Helen Louise Plaster Stoutemyer
