Gottlieb & Schwartz records, 1921-1949

Processed with funding provided by the National Historical Publications and Records Commission.

This collection is open for research use.

Copyright may be retained by the the creators of items, or their descendants, as stipulated by United States copyright law, unless otherwise noted.

Most of the collection is a gift of the University of Chicago Law School (accession #: M1972.0012). Scrapbooks pertaining to his career were a gift of Ulysses S. Schwartz.

Gottlieb & Schwartz records (Chicago History Museum) plus a detailed description, date, and box/folder number of a specific item.

Briefs, notices, agreements, transcripts, drafts of legal documents, court exhibits, research files, memoranda, correspondence, pamphlets, clippings, and other records of the Chicago law firm Gottlieb & Schwartz. The firm represented bondholders of the Chicago Surface Lines, and the collection includes notices to bondholders and copies of bondholders' protective agreements, as well as financial assessments and valuations of the Chicago Surface Lines. Most of the materials in the collection relate to the unification of Chicago public transit, especially as it influenced Chicago Surface Lines bondholders. Also present are materials on plans for the reorganization of the Chicago Surface Lines and Chicago public transit, as well as on city ordinances created to enable transit unification. Present are transcripts and exhibits from federal district court and Illinois Commerce Commission (ICC) hearings on transit reorganization and unification plans.

The collection also contains transcripts of hearings, clippings, press releases, pamphlets, and correspondence related to Senate Resolution 83, known as the Walsh Resolution, which passed in 1928 and lead to an investigation of public utility holding companies by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

Gottlieb & Schwartz (later Gottlieb, Schwartz & Friedman) was a Chicago law firm whose clients included bondholders of the Chicago Surface Lines. The firm represented bondholders of Chicago City Railway Company and Calumet & South Chicago Railway Company, two member companies of the Chicago Surface Lines, during the transition to a unified transit system and the creation of the Chicago Transit Authority. Members of the firm included Harry N. Gottlieb, Charles K. Schwartz and William J. Friedman. Ulysses S. Schwartz, brother of Charles Schwartz, initially represented the bondholders of the two railway companies in court until Friedman replaced him in 1939.

• Names
  • Friedman, William J
  • Gottlieb, Harry N
  • Schwartz, Charles K.
  • Schwartz, Ulysses S., 1887--Archives
  • Gottlieb & Schwartz (Law firm : Chicago, Ill.)--Archives
  • Calumet and South Chicago Railway Company
  • Chicago Surface Lines
  • Chicago City Railway Company
  • Chicago Railways Company
  • Chicago Transit Authority
  • United States--Federal Trade Commission
• Subject
  • Actions and defenses--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Law firms--Illinois--Chicago--20th centory
  • Lawyers--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Public utilities--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Public utilities--Law and legislation--Illinois--Chicago
  • Railroad companies--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Railroads, Elevated--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Street-railroads--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
  • Street-railroads--Law and legislation--Illinois--Chicago
  • Local transit--Illinois--Chicago--20th century
• Geographic Coverage
  • Chicago (Ill.)--Commerce--20th century
  • Chicago (Ill.)--Politics and government--20th century

The collection is arranged in seven series.

Early transit reorganization cases and unification plans, 1924-1948 (box 1-6)

Series 1 contains legal documents such as notices and briefs, memoranda, correspondence, financial reports, and company literature related to efforts to reorganize the Chicago Surface Lines and unify Chicago public transit prior to 1935. Includes materials related to failed transit unification plans from 1930 and 1934, and a 1930 ordinance to enable unification. Also present are documents pertaining to the sales, receiverships, and bondholders' protective committees of individual Chicago Surface Lines member companies, especially Chicago City Railway Company and Calumet & South Chicago Railway Company.

Reorganization Committee for Chicago Surface Lines, 1928-1949 (box 7-16)

Series 2 consists of briefs, notices, memoranda, meeting minutes, correspondence, court transcripts, drafts, printers' proofs, clippings, research materials, and other documents related to the work of the 1935 Reorganization Committee, or Abbott Committee, to create a plan of reorganization for the Chicago Surface Lines. The series contains findings and recommendations of the Abbott Committee, as well as amendments and objections to the plan from Chicago Surface Lines bondholders and others. Also present are some materials on a proposed merger with the elevated lines.

Series 3. General transit unification materials, 1931-1947) (box 16-27)

Series 3 contains briefs, notices, memoranda, pamphlets, financial reports, correspondence, court transcripts, research materials, and other documents related to efforts to unify Chicago public transit. The series contains a 1938 report by court advisor Walter Shaw, which formed the basis for subsequent unification plans. Also included are materials on such subjects as a proposed ordinance providing for transit unification, the creation of a subway system, negotiations for the unification of Chicago Surface Lines and Chicago Rapid Transit, and transit fares, as well as valuations hearings for the Chicago Surface Lines, reports by the Security Exchange Commission, materials addressing Chicago Surface Lines bondholders, statements from bondholder committees, and literature on "Chicago's traction problem."

Series 4. Federal courts hearings on transit unification, 1935-1949 (box 28-43, 71)

Series 4 contains briefs and other legal documents, exhibits, drafts of court documents, and transcripts of hearings that took place before federal judges James H. Wilkerson and Michael L. Igoe in district court. Much of the series consists of court transcripts, dating from 1935 to 1949. Also present are bound volumes of exhibits for a 1945 hearing on amended unification plans. Box 71 contains copies of reports on land owned by railroad companies in states other than Illinois, created by the Interstate Commerce Commission's Bureau of Valuation in the 1910s.

Series 5. Illinois Commerce Commission hearings on transit unification, 1921-1947 (box 44-55)

Series 5 contains briefs, transcripts, exhibits, abstracts of testimony, pamphlets, memoranda, correspondence, research materials, drafts, and other documents related to ICC hearings on transit unification plans. Includes materials pertaining to valuation of transit companies, fares, and universal transfers. Present are 6 boxes of published volumes of transcripts and exhibits from ICC hearings in 1942 and 1943.

Series 6. Federal Trade Commission clippings and press releases, 1928-1936 (box 56-59)

Series 6 consists of newspaper clippings and FTC press releases and memoranda related to the Walsh Resolution, public utilities, and investigations of utility companies. Some correspondence accompanies newspaper clippings. Also includes two scrapbooks.

Series 7. Federal Trade Commission public utilitis hearings, 1928-1934 (box 59-70)

Series 7 consists of reports, transcripts, and summaries of FTC proceedings related to the investigation of public utility companies. Also included are some pamphlets and booklets related to the Walsh Resolution and the legality of the FTC's investigation into public utilities