Guide to the Western Union Telegraph Company Records NMAH.AC.0205 Robert Harding and Alison Oswald 1986 Archives Center, National Museum of American History P.O. Box 37012 Suite 1100, MRC 601 Washington, D.C. 20013-7012 [email protected] http://americanhistory.si.edu/archives Table of Contents Collection Overview ........................................................................................................ 1 Administrative Information .............................................................................................. 1 Biographical / Historical.................................................................................................... 3 Arrangement..................................................................................................................... 6 Scope and Contents........................................................................................................ 6 Names and Subjects ...................................................................................................... 7 Container Listing ............................................................................................................. 9 Series 1: Historical and Background Information, 1851-1994.................................. 9 Series 2: Subsidiaries, 1844-1986......................................................................... 17 Series 3: Executive Records, 1848-1987............................................................... 94 Series 4: Presidential Letterbooks and Writings, 1865-1911............................... 102 Series 5: Correspondence, 1837-1985................................................................ 106 Series 6: Cyrus W. Field Papers, 1840-1892...................................................... 110 Series 7: Secretary's Files, 1844-1987................................................................ 113 Series 8: Financial Records, 1859-1995.............................................................. 119 Series 9: Legal Records (includes agreements, contracts, deeds, leases, licenses), 1867-1968, 1971.................................................................................................. 126 Series 10: Railroad Records, 1854-1945............................................................. 147 Series 11: Law Department Records, 1868-1979................................................ 173 Series 12: Patent Materials, 1840-1970............................................................... 317 Series 13: Operating Records, 1868-1970s......................................................... 333 Series 14: Westar VI-S, 1974, 1983-1986........................................................... 344 Series 15: Engineering Department Records, 1874-1970.................................... 346 Series 16: Plant Department Records, 1963, 1867-1937.................................... 358 Series 17: Superintendent of Supplies Records, 1888-1948............................... 363 Series 18: Employee/Personnel Records, 1852-1985......................................... 364 Series 19: Public Relations Department Records, 1858-1980............................. 376 Series 20: Western Union Museum, 1859-1964.................................................. 400 Series 21: Maps and Charts, 1820-1964............................................................. 404 Series 22: Telegrams, 1852-1960s...................................................................... 410 Series 23: Photographs, circa 1870-1980............................................................ 423 Series 24: Scrapbooks, 1835-1956...................................................................... 491 Series 25: Notebooks, 1880-1942........................................................................ 493 Series 26: Audio Visual Materials, 1925-1994..................................................... 496 Series 27: Addenda.............................................................................................. 510 Western Union Telegraph Company Records NMAH.AC.0205 Collection Overview Repository: Archives Center, National Museum of American History Title: Western Union Telegraph Company Records Identifier: NMAH.AC.0205 Date: circa 1820-1995 Creator: United Telegraph Workers. Western Union Telegraph Company Extent: 452 Cubic feet (871 boxes and 23 map folders) Language: Collection text is in English. Some materials in French and German. Summary: The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life. Administrative Information Acquisition Information The collection was donated by Western Union in September of 1971. Provenance This collection originated as a portion of the Western Union Telegraph Museum begun in 1912 by H.W. Drake, an electrical engineer of the Western Union Company. He collected old telegraph instruments and other apparatus for their historic value and for their use in commercial and advertising displays or exhibits. Later these collected devices were instrumental in settling patent litigation for the company. He also collected the ancillary archival materials that comprise this collection. In 1930, when Western Union's general headquarters moved from 195 Broadway to 60 Hudson Street, a small room was set aside to house the growing collection of artifacts and papers. In 1933 Western Union was represented in an exhibit at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago. Many instruments from the collection of the Western Union Museum were included in the exposition. To fully detail the history of the telegraph, many original instruments were borrowed from the Smithsonian Institution and replicated. These reproductions helped improve Western Union's collection. When the fair ended, the objects were returned to the renamed Western Union Engineering Museum. In the early 1930s internal memoranda were sent to Western Union divisional plant superintendents urging them to save old telegraph instruments. Soon thereafter old instruments arrived from Western Union's divisions around the country. Engineering Department laboratories in particular sent many objects. By 1936 over five hundred Page 1 of 534 Western Union Telegraph Company Records NMAH.AC.0205 artifacts had been collected. The museum was maintained by J. Schmid and volunteers from the Engineering Division. In 1969, Western Union officials decided to close the Museum and to use its space for offices. The objects and archival material were to be stored in a warehouse in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At that time Smithsonian curators suggested to Western Union that certain material be transferred to the Smithsonian rather than to storage. It was hoped that this would ensure the preservation and availability of at least some items. At this time J.E. Stebner, the Western Union Museum curator, donated many items to the Smithsonian, believing that they would be permanently preserved and used in relating the story of communication. In January, 1971, Western Union officials proposed a transfer of the Western Union Museum to the National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History) under an indefinite loan agreement in the hopes of making the materials more readily available for exhibition purposes and for use by historians. In September, 1971, the collection was received by the Museum as a gift and was deposited in the Division of Electricity (now part of the Division of Information Technology and Society). Separated Materials Artifacts (apparatus and equipment) were donated to the Division of Information Technology and Society, now known as the Division of Work & Industry, National Museum of American History. Related Materials Materials in the Archives Center Additional moving image about Western Union Telegraph Company can be found in the Industry on Parade Collection (AC0507). This includes Cable to Cuba! by Bell Laboratory, AT & T, featuring the cable ship, the C.S. Lord Kelvin, and Communications Centennial! by the Western Union Company. Materials at Other Organizations Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware. Western Union International Records form part of the MCI International, Inc. Records at the First Data Corporation, Greenwood Village, Colorado. Records of First Data Corporation and its predecessors, including Western Union, First Financial Management Corporation (Atlanta) and First Data Resources (Omaha). Western Union collection supports research of telegraphy and related technologies, and includes company records, annual reports, photographs, print and broadcast advertising, telegraph equipment, and messenger uniforms. Smithsonian Institution Archives Western Union Telegraph Expedition, 1865-1867 This collection includes correspondence, mostly to Spencer F. Baird, from members of the Scientific Corps of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, including Kennicott, Dall, Bannister, and Elliott; copies of reports submitted to divisional chiefs from expedition staff members; newspaper