Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records - Decade Subject File, 1856-1935

Deposit of the Chicago, Burlington, and Quincy Company, 1943, with subsequent additions, 1948-onward. Ownership transferred to Newberry Library by Burlington Northern Company, 1975.

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records are open for research in the Special Collections Reading Room; 1 box at a time (Priority III).

The Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records are the physical property of the Newberry Library. Copyright may belong to the authors or their legal heirs or assigns. For permission to publish or reproduce any materials from this collection, contact the Roger and Julie Baskes Department of Special Collections.

Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records, The Newberry Library, Chicago.

Martha Briggs, Alison Hinderliter, Lisa Janssen, Kelly Kress, Emma Martin, Andrew Olofsson, and Pamela Olson, 2014.

The Decade Subject Files consist of a variety of miscellaneous materials, originally bundled in envelopes, labeled by subject, and filed in the office of CB&Q president C.E. Perkins. In 1949, these materials were grouped by the decades in which most of the material in each bundle fell, or by earliest decade if the materials were equally divided. Each decade comprises a separate series, and subseries within each decade follow the same sequence: Statements, Equipment, Personnel, Legal, Contracts, New Lines, Pools, and Miscellaneous. All subseries are not included in each decade series, and the 1880s Decade Subject File also includes an extra subseries dedicated to the Strike of 1888.

Correspondence and other papers related to different aspects of CB&Q operations, grouped by decade. Wherever possible, miscellaneous material was integrated into an appropriate subseries. Statements (Subseries 1) generally include financial information, such as earnings and expenses, as well as mileage, freight, and passenger reports.There are also miscellaneous reports concerning other areas of business, including construction, elevators, passes, stockyards, and auditors' and treasurers' reports. Equipment (Subseries 2) includes locomotive performance reports, coal land reports, and correspondence and other materials related to the purchase or construction of engines, train cars, tracks, depots, bridges, and other railroad machinery and supplies. Personnel (Subseries 3) includes items related to CB&Q employees, such as salary lists, rule books, discharge lists, and some materials related to labor organizations and the railroad strikes of 1877 and 1888. There are a few payroll records in Series 33 1870, but the bulk are found in Record Group A-9. Legal (Subseries 4) includes correspondence, printed materials, and other items related to various railroad legislation, railroad mail pay, and claims; also the Interstate Commerce Commission and other state railroad commissions. Contracts (Subseries 5) includes correspondence and other papers related to agreements with other companies and railroads regarding consolidation, insurance, express service, telegraph service, and contracts and leases. New Lines (Subseries 6) includes correspondence, reports, deeds, maps, surveys, and other papers related to new construction and the acquisition of branch roads. Pools (Subseries 7) includes correspondence, agreements, and other papers related to CB&Q involvement in freight and passenger pools and traffic associations. Miscellaneous (Subseries 8) includes a variety of materials unrelated to previous subseries, including grasshopper plagues, the Western Executive Committee, train robbery reports, and other matters. Series 33 1880 also includes a Subseries 9, which includes correspondence, reports, scrapbooks, circulars, and other papers related to the Strike of 1888.

Forms part of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records.

This finding aid supersedes the Guide to the Burlington Archives in the Newberry Library, 1851-1901 (Chicago: Newberry Library, 1949), and incorporates subsequent additions to the company records. Certain materials have been deaccessioned and donated to the Burlington Route Historical Society; see curator for details.

Papers are organized in the following series:

Title Box Series 33 1860: Decade Subject File 1860 Box 1; Vols. 1-6 Series 33 1870: Decade Subject File 1870 Boxes 2-28; +1-+2 Series 33 1880: Decade Subject File 1880 Boxes 29-118; +3; 8 oversize volumes.; 7 rolls; 1 flat file folder Series 33 1890: Decade Subject File 1890 Boxes 119-174; +4-+8; 14 oversize volumes; 1 flat file folder Series 33 1900: Decade Subject File 1900 Boxes 175-178; +9-+14

• Names
  • Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company.
  • United States. Interstate Commerce Commission.
• Subject
  • Chicago
  • Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Railroad law -- United States
  • Railroads
  • Railroads -- Employees
  • Railroads -- Employees -- Labor unions
  • Railroads -- Equipment and supplies
  • Railroads -- Finance
  • Railroads -- Illinois
  • Railroads -- Management
  • Strikes and lockouts -- Railroads