Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company Records - Correspondence, 1857-1918

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 correspondence series consists of incoming and outgoing letters by CB&Q executives, members of the board, lawyers, and other employees. There is extensive correspondence from presidents G.B. Harris and C.E. Perkins, as well as vice president and treasurer J.C. Peasley and vice president T.J. Potter. Many CB&Q executives were routinely promoted and held numerous positions within the company, and the correspondence reflects their different jobs and responsibilities. While much of the material is from higher level executives and their assistants, there is also significant correspondence from other departments, including freight agents, ticket agents, transfer agents, purchasing agents, and road masters, as well as incoming letters from employees further down the hierarchy, reflecting a wide variety of work experience at CB&Q. Correspondence content also reflects this diversity, and includes corporate, financial, and legal matters, expansion and acquisition, relations with other railroads and subsidiaries, personnel and policies, and all aspects of railroad management. There is also extensive coverage of engineering and construction decisions, patents, passenger and freight rates, and accidents and damages, as well as pass requests and other routine business matters.

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.

Original title for this Record Group, in the 1949 printed guide, is "Letters by Individual Writer or Recipient."

Papers are organized in the following series:

Title Box Series 3 B1: Baldwin, W. W., 1879-1911 Boxes1-31 Series 3 B2: Sidney Bartlett, 1885-1889 Box 32 Series 3 B4: Gamaliel Bradford: Out letters, 1879-1880 Box 32 Series 3 C3: Cameron, J.S., 1881-1885 Boxes 33-42 Series 3 C5: Carter, J.L. , 1883-1901 Boxes 43-47 Series 3 D2.1: Dawes, C.M., 1898 Box 48 Series 3 D2.11: Delano, F.A., Out-letters, 1890 Box 48 Series 3 D3.1: Demling, J. F. – In-letters, 1891-1898 Boxes 49-50 Series 3 D4.1: Denison, J. N. – Out-letters, 1864-1880 Boxes 51-61 Series 3 D6.1: Dexter, Wirt, Out-letters, 1881-1890 Box 62 Series 3 F3: Forbes, J.M., 1878-1896 Boxes 63-65 Series 3 G2.1: Gardner, J.L., 1881-1899 Box 66 Series 3 G5: Goddard, L.O., 1881-1898 1881-1898 Boxes 67-87 Series 3 G7: J. N. A. Griswold, 1875-1877 Box 88 Series 3 H2.1: Hall, A. T. – In-letters, 1867-1880 Boxes 89-94 Series 3 H4: Harris, Robert, 1867-1879 Boxes 95-111 Series 3 H5: Harris, G. B., 1857-1917 Boxes112-269 Series 3 H6: Howland, Thomas S., 1875-1902 Boxes 270-274 Series 3 H7.1: Higginson, C.M., Out-letters, 1888-1890 Box 275 Series 3 H8: Hunnewell, F.W. , 1883-1902 Boxes 275-276 Series 3 L3: Ladd, W.J., 1883-1901 Boxes 277-318 Series 3 M2: Manholtz, C.L., 1878-1879 Boxes 319-320 Series 3 O5.1: Olney, Richard, 1883-1904 Boxes 321 Series 3 P2: Peasley, J.C., 1877-1903 Boxes 322-444 Series 3 P4: Perkins, C. E., 1871-1918 Boxes 445-621 Series 3 P5.1: Perkins, W. C. – Out-letters, 1880 Box 622 Series 3 P6 Potter, T. J., 1874-1888 Boxes 623-714 Series 3 P8.1: Pratt, E. E. – Out-letters, 1881-1884, 1890-1891 Boxes 715-717 Series 3 R2.1: Rhodes, G. W. – In-letters, 1888-1892 Box 718 Series 3 R3: Ripley, E. P., 1878-1887 Boxes 719-726 Series 3 R4.1: Ross, G. H. – In-letters – Car Service Papers, 1889-1890 Box 727 Series 3 S5.1: Stanwood, A. G. – Out-letters, 1892-1894, 1897-1899 Boxes 728-731 Series 3 S7: Stone, H. B., 1882-1890 Boxes 732-735 Series 3 S8: Strong, W. B., 1873-1878 Boxes 736-740 Series 3 T3.1: Taylor, J. G. – In-letters from W. W. Baldwin, 1885-1906 Boxes 741-742 Series 3 T5: Touzalin, A. E., 1881-1882 Boxes 743-747 Series 3 T7: Tyson, George, 1875-1879 Box 748 Series 3 W3: Walker. J. M., 1862-1881 Boxes 749-759 Series 3 W4.1: H.W. Weiss: Out-letters, 1878-1896 Boxes 760-770 Series 3 W6.1: W. Howard White: Out Letters, 1881-1883 Box 771

• Names
  • Baldwin, W. W. (William Wright), 1845-
  • Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company.
  • Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company.
  • Forbes, John Murray, 1813-1898
  • Harris, George B., 1848-1918
  • Perkins, C. E. (Charles Elliott), 1840-1907
• Subject
  • Chicago
  • Manuscripts, American -- Illinois -- Chicago
  • Railroads
  • Railroads -- Employees
  • Railroads -- Management
  • Railroads -- West (U.S.)
  • World’s Columbian Exposition (1893 : Chicago, Ill.)