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.
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
No access restrictions Many of SIA's holdings are located off-site, and advance notice is recommended to consult a collection. Please email the SIA Reference Team at osiaref@si.edu
2 Film reels (33 minutes, black-and-white silent; 800 feet, 16mm)
Type:
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Film reels
Silent films
Place:
North America
Pennsylvania
Buck Run (Schuylkill County, Pa.)
Date:
circa 1930-1940
Scope and Contents:
Footage documenting coal mine operation and other activities in Schuykill County, Pennsylvania filmed by Mr. Wettereau's uncle, Benjamin Hay. Footage shows local people, school children, mine workers and miners, and a man with a dog (collie) posing for camera or working. Much of the footage shows the daily workings of an anthracite coal mining operation (Schuykill County, Pennsylvania) in both winter and warmer weather.
Shown are steam shovels moving coal, various rail cars that are empty, filled with coal, being filled with coal and carrying miners into and out of tunnel; bull dozer pushing dirt; track workers working on the train tracks; workers laying pipe across trestle over ravine and alongside rail tracks; water running out of a tunnel through a sluiceway; internal shots of large mine building and men picking up their pay at window. Writing on bull dozer and steam shovel reads: Bazley Inc, Pottsville, PA. Also captured is a spirited horse (thoroughbred?) held by a man and being ridden by a man; car being pulled out of snow bank; homes in a town with two young women (one in raccoon coat) playing with two dogs (one is the collie) in snow (older woman with camera photographing them); tree branches and power and telephone lines and poles weighed down with ice (presumably after a winter ice storm).
Legacy keywords: Coal mines and mining ; Heavy machinery ; Railroad ties ; Railroad cars ; Railroad tracks ; Ice ; Land use, Rural ; Village Communities ; Amateur films
Please note that the contents of the collection and the language and terminology used reflect the context and culture of the time of its creation. As an historical document, its contents may be at odds with contemporary views and terminology and considered offensive today. The information within this collection does not reflect the views of the Smithsonian Institution or Anthropology Archives, but is available in its original form to facilitate research.
Local Numbers:
HSFA 1983.12.1
Provenance:
Received from Richard B. Wettereau and Cynthia Wettereau in 1983.
Restrictions:
The collection is open for research. Please contact the archives for information on availability of access copies of audiovisual recordings. Original audiovisual material in the Human Studies Film Archives may not be played.
Before the Molly Maguires : the emergence of the ethno-religious factor in the politics of the lower anthracite region, 1844-1872 / William A.Gudelunas, Jr. and William G. Shade
St. Clair : a nineteenth-century coal town's experience with a disaster-prone industry / Anthony F.C. Wallace ; with maps and technical drawings by Robert Howard
Report of Heber S. Thompson, Esq., ... : on the Fire at Kehley's Run Colliery, situated on the lands of the Girard Estate, near Shenandoah City, Schuylkill County, Pa
