Guide to the Illinois Central Archives in the Newberry Library 1851-1906
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GUIDE TO THE ILLINOIS CENTRAL ARCHIVES IN THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY 1851-1906 Compiled by Carolyn Curtis Mohr THE NEWBERRY LIBRARY CHICAGO, ILLINOIS 1951 Copyright 1951 by The Newberry Library Chicago INTRODUCTION In July, 1943, the Illinois Central Railroad deposited in the Newberry Library the bulk of its central office papers from February, 1851, the date of its charter, to November, 1906, the end of the presidency of Stuyvesant Fish. The deposit, which is subject to recall by the railroad at any time, was effected through an exchange of letters between the President of the road and the Librarian, both of whom realized that by making available to qualified students the records of the principal road joining the midwest and the south, fresh light would be thrown upon the growth of corporations and upon the social and economic history of the region through which the road passes. Some papers still remain in the custody of the Company, chiefly those of the Land and Tax Department, and the minutes of the Board, including the "dockets" of important papers laid before the Board at each of its meetings. Such records have been cataloged and are designated in this Guide by asterisks, and when of value to the student can be consulted in the General Offices of the Railroad. This publication is a combined catalog and Guide, giving an indication, necessarily brief, to the character of each group of documents. The deposit con- tains some 400,000 letters, 126 bundles or boxes of miscellaneous material, and 2,000 bound volumes of account books. All papers have been left, as far as possible, in the form in which they were classified by the Company, for the Illinois Central arranged and even indexed its papers in a more businesslike fashion than many other corporations of its time. The length of the descriptive entry following each classification of documents bears no relation to the importance of the subject-matter. A single line may describe thousands of letters, where it is assumed that the student knows that certain officials' papers deal with his particular research problem. The index, therefore, is no more full than the individual entries upon which it is built. It must not be regarded as a complete index, but only a suggestive one to be used with imagination. Anyone interested in "Government transportation," for instance, will find that the few index references under that heading do not exhaust the 'possibilities; if he searches the letterbooks of presidents and of legal counsels, he will turn up a wealth of correspondence on military accounts in the decade following the Civil War. There are three supplementary indices: one a chronological index which conveniently shows what materials there are for each decade from the 1850's to 1906; another a list of officials which may be of help to the beginning student; a third is a special list of maps. iii INTRODUCTION Permission to use the Illinois Central Archives must be obtained in advance, in writing, from the Librarian. The preparation of this Guide follows the well-organized principles developed by Elisabeth Coleman Jackson during her long period of service as a member of the Library's staff. The compiler is under a debt of gratitude to her, to Margaret Collins who typed this manuscript for publication, and to those employees in the President's and Secretary's offices of the Illinois Central Railroad who cooperated in every way to make the Guide as complete and accurate as possible. C.C.M. August 1951 iv CONTENTS Page INTRODUCTION iii ABBREVIATIONS xv ILLINOIS CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY Page 1 Letters by individual writer or recipient: W. K. Ackerman, Secretary, Treasurer, President 1854-83 1 N.P.Banks, Director 1861 2 C.A.Beck, General Manager 1890 2 Mason Brayman, Solicitor 1851-55 2 W.G.Bruen, Assistant Secretary 1902-06 2 W.P.Burrall, President, Counsel 1853-56 2 J.C.Clarke, Superintendent, General Manager, 1856-59, President 1874-91 2-3 W.W.Crane, Freight Agent 1899 3 J.H.Done, General Superintendent 1855-56 3 F.R.Doty, Roadmaster 1887-94 3 J.M.Douglas,Attorney,President, Solicitor 1860-77 3-4 Stuyvesant Fish, Vice-president. Treasurer, President 1883-1906 4 J.M.Forbes, Michigan Central President 1851-56 4 J.N.A.Griswold, Director, President 1854-56 5 E.H.Harriman, Vice-President 1888 5 J.C. Jacobs, Division Superintendent 1856-57 5 E.T.Jeffery, General Manager 1888-89 5 B.F.Johnson, Assistant to President 1853-56 5 J.F. Joy, Counsel, Director, Michigan Central President 1851-75 5 Joseph Kirkland, Auditor 1856-58 6 Ebenezer Lane, Director 1855-58 6 G.B.McClellan, Vice-president and Chief Engineer 1857-60 6 R.B. Mason, Engineer, Superintendent 1852-56 6 D.A.Neal, Director, Vice-President 1852-56 6 John Newell, Engineer, Vice-president, President, Director 1859-75 7 W.H.Osborn, Director, President 1854-71 7 D.W.Parker, Superintendent, Iowa Lines 1878. 7 J.N.Perkins, Director, President, Treasurer 1855-56 8 T.W.Place, Master Mechanic 1895-1902 8 v CONTENTS Page L.V.F.Randolph, Treasurer 1884-85 8 Robert Schuyler. President. Director 1852-54 8 E.P.Skene, Land Commissioner 1897 8 Jonathan Sturges. Director 1852-57 8 T.E.Walker, Treasurer 1863-65 8 J .J C. Welling. Auditor. Comptroller Vice-President 1889-1910 8-9 John Wentworth. Chicago Newspaperman. Congressman 1851-55 9 11 General Letters by Office: Chicago Office 1866-97 10 Machinery Department 1867-1916 10 New York Office 1851-1907 10-12 Post Office Department 1876-86 12 2 Reports. Legal Reports 13-14 Corporate Documents 14-15 Contracts 15-16 Military Accounts. Taxes 16-17 Legal Opinions. Litigation 17-19 Cairo Affairs 19 Chicago Lake Front Affairs 19-21 Circulars. Scrapbooks. Histories 21-22 3 Minutes. Board Papers Minute Books 23-24 Records of Committees 24 Papers Accompanying Board Meetings 24-43 Papers Accompanying Stockholders' Meetings 43-44 Historical Items. Pamphlets 44-45 Tariffs. Timetables. Maps 45 Personnel 45-46 4 Securities Stocks, Dividends 47-48 Coupons 48 Transfers 48 Subscriptions. Balances, Lists 48-49 Leased Line Stock 49 5 Accounting Ledgers 50 Journals 50 vi CONTENTS Page Cash. 50 Mileage 50 Freight 50 Earnings and Expenses 50 Bills, Balances 50-51 Construction 51-52 6 Southern Lines (Dates given show inclusive dates of documents under each entry) ALABAMA AND VICKSBURG RAILWAY COMPANY 1861-1925 53 ALABAMA WESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY 1905-1913 53 BATON ROUGE, HAMMOND & EASTERN RAILROAD 1905-07 53 THE CANTON, ABERDEEN & NASHVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY 1882-1919 53-54 CANTON, ABERDEEN & NASHVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY IN ALABAMA 1898-1913 54 CHESAPEAKE, OHIO & SOUTHWESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY 1857-98 54-55 CHICAGO, ST. LOUIS AND NEW ORLEANS RAILROAD COMPANY 1873-1918 55-59 GRAND GULF AND PORT GIBSON RAIL- ROAD COMPANY 1866-82 59 GULF AND SHIP ISLAND RAILROAD COMPANY 1897-1914 59 THE HODGENVILLE & ELIZABETHTOWN RAILWAY COMPANY 1886-1902 59-60 JACKSON & SOUTH EASTERN RAILROAD COMPANY 1905-14 60 THE KENTUCKY WESTERN RAILWAY COMPANY 1899-1902 60 LOUISVILLE, NEW ORLEANS & TEXAS RAILWAY COMPANY OF ARKANSAS 1889-1936 60 LOUISVILLE, NEW ORLEANS & TEXAS RAILWAY COMPANY (Consolidated Cor- poration) 1859-96 61-62 vii CONTENTS Page MEMPHIS AND STATE LINE RAILROAD COMPANY 1903-08 62 MEMPHIS AND VICKSBURG RAILROAD COMPANY 1871-85 62 MEMPHIS, PADUCAH & NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY 1876-81 62 MERIDIAN, BROOKHAVEN & NATCHEZ RAILROAD COMPANY 1891-1910 62-63 MISSISSIPPI AND ALABAMA RAILROAD COMPANY 1905-13 63 MISSISSIPPI & TENNESSEE RAILROAD COMPANY 1852-89 63-64 THE MISSISSIPPI CENTRAL RAILROAD COMPANY 1852-76 64-65 THE MISSISSIPPI CENTRAL & TENNESSEE RAILROAD COMPANY 1854-59 66 MISSISSIPPI RIVER RAILROAD COMPANY 1858-72 66 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY COMPANY 1872-1930 66 THE MISSISSIPPI VALLEY & SHIP ISLAND RAILROAD COMPANY 1878 67 NATCHEZ, JACKSON AND COLUMBUS RAILROAD 1871-91 67 NEW ORLEANS & MISSISSIPPI VALLEY RAILROAD COMPANY 1881-84 67 THE NEW ORLEANS, BATON ROUGE, VICKS- BURG & MEMPHIS RAILROAD COMPANY 1882-84 67 NEW ORLEANS BELT RAILROAD COMPANY 1877-86 67-68 NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON & GREAT NORTH- ERN RAILROAD COMPANY 1851-89 68-69 NEW ORLEANS, JACKSON AND NORTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY 1877 69 NEW ORLEANS, ST. LOUIS & CHICAGO RAILROAD COMPANY 1874-82 69-70 OHIO VALLEY RAILWAY COMPANY 1885-1910 70 OWENSBORO FALLS OF ROUGH AND GREEN RIVER RAILROAD COMPANY 1887-97 70-71 PADUCAH & GULF RAILROAD COMPANY 1869-72 71 PADUCAH & MEMPHIS RAILROAD COMPANY 1871-77 71 SHORT ROUTE RAILWAY TRANSFER COMPANY 1873-98 71 SOUTHERN RAILWAY ASSOCIATION 1857-82 72 viii CONTENTS Page TENNESSEE SOUTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY 1881-84 72 THE TROY & TIPTONVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY 1887-1903 72 VICKSBURG & MERIDIAN RAILROAD COMPANY 1841-1923 72-73 VICKSBURG, SHREVEPORT AND PACIFIC RAILROAD COMPANY 1853-1936 73-74 THE WEST AND EAST RAILROAD COMPANY 1874-87 74-75 WEST FELICIANA RAILROAD COMPANY 1831-43,1871 75 WILMOT AND WESTERN RAILROAD COMPANY 1905-06 75 THE YAZOO & MISSISSIPPI VALLEY RAIL- ROAD COMPANY (Original Company) 1879-1910 75-78 THE YAZOO & MISSISSIPPI VALLEY RAIL- ROAD COMPANY (Consolidated Corporation) 1827-1926 78-80 YAZOO DELTA RAILWAY COMPANY 1895-1914 80-81 7 LAND RECORDS Letters 82 Reports, Lists 82-84 Sales 84 Ledgers, Journals 85 Plats, Maps 85 Deeds 85-86 Town Lots 86-87 Leases, Title Records 87-88 Taxes. 88-89 71 LAND COMPANIES Iowa Homestead Company 90 The Iowa Land and Loan Company 90-92 Iowa Rail Road Land Company 92 Southern Land and Investment Company 92 8 OTHER RAILROADS (Dates given show inclusive dates of documents under each entry) ADDISON RAILROAD COMPANY 1890-1902 93 ALBERT LEA & SOUTHERN RAILROAD COMPANY 1899-1903 93 ix CONTENTS Page BELLEVILLE AND CARONDELET