So far, I have processed 29 boxes, which have about 464 folders inside. Those boxes make up 4 different series in the Fall Brook Collection. Each series is unique and has its good and bad qualities and characteristics, but I learned a lot from all of them. And, when placing all of the series together, I am able to see a bigger picture that makes everything a little clearer and easier to understand.
48m.17: The first series that I processed was the Fall Brook Coal Company General Correspondence. This series was made up of incoming correspondence that was sent to company officials like John Magee, Duncan Magee, George Magee, and John Lang. This was probably the best series for me to start with, as the series provided a look at the daily operations of the Fall Brook rail and coal companies. Much of the correspondence was from businesses requesting the shipment of coal. The series also included correspondence of the setting of coal rates, requests for employment, the surveying and opening of new mines and railroad lines, and the discussion of labor issues such as strikes and unions. Although there were many days where I would see request after request for coal, I really enjoyed this collection. I think what made it enjoyable was the letterheads of all of the business correspondence. They were ornate, and helped me picture Tioga County and the expanding industries of the time. In addition, this series covered a large amount of time, from 1860 to 1906, allowing me to see changes and growth in the industry.
What I found most interesting in this series was the inability to standardize coal. Railroad cars, flour, wheat, shoes, and other products of the 1800's could be standardized or, at least, the manufacturer could set standards in which all of the products needed to follow. Coal was not like this. Coal was mined deep in the mountains, by men who spent hours down in the wet damp mine, breaking the coal. The coal was then sent above ground where it was weighed, and sent for shipment. With the high demand for coal, and the distance between the shipper and the miner, there was no way to have quality standards on coal. The coal could be markers as “pea” or “stove” based on the size, but the amount of coal dust, the inequalities of the coal, and the value, could not be standardized. This caused many complaints and special requests. Many of the letters that I have found request specific coal, from a certain vein, in a certain mine. Of course, there was no way to fill this request, as all of the coal was brought up on carts, miles away from the men who mined it, with little identification of where it was from.
48m.25: The second series that I processed was the Hon. John Magee Correspondence. John Magee was the founder of the Fall Brook Coal Company, and this collection provided a look at the growth of the Fall Brook Railroad and Coal Company from the surveying and opening of the mines, to the building and leasing of miles of tracks from central Pennsylvania to New York. This was my favorite series to process because I was able to see the coal and railroad company start from a few coal mines in central PA and grow to a large extensive network.
There were many personal letters from family members in this series which was probably my favorite part. While processing I would get caught up in trying to understand the buying and selling of bonds, the name changes of the railroads after leasing, and just general railroad business, that I would often forget about what was going on at the time that the correspondence was written. I would forget what was going on outside of the railroad business that was influencing the production. These personal letters helped me understand that as they discussed politics, the war, and everyday life.
48m.20: The third series was the Fall Brook Coal Company Agents’ Correspondence. This was an interesting series since it included the correspondence of four different agents at Fall Brook. These agents, A. Beers, R.J. Burnham, W. Howell, and H. Horning, all had different jobs and were stationed at different locations. Boxes of H. Brewer’s correspondence include various engineer drafts and plans for bridges, coal beds, and railroads lines as he was an engineer for Fall Brook. The other agents worked at coal yards and with shipment on canals so their correspondences included different information on the consignment and shipment of coal with different modes of transportation.
I started this series when I thought that I finally understood the network of the coal and railroad company, all of the positions, people, locations, and how they worked together. However, when I started looking though this, I realized that there was a lot more to learn, and tie into the story. This series confirmed the complexity of the railroads/coal company, and helped me understand many different aspects of it.
48m.60: The last series that I looked through was Colonel John Magee’s Correspondence. Colonel Magee was the son of John Magee, the founder of Fall Brook, and Vice President and eventually President of the company. The incoming correspondence, sent to Colonel John Magee, provided a look at the day-to-day activities of the Fall Brook Rail Road and Coal Company’s operations. The correspondence was from companies, legislators, businessmen, and railroad agents touch on a wide variety of issues including, the establishment of standardized coal and rail rates, coal contracts, stock and bond buying and selling, the expansion of railways, and drafted commerce laws.
What I liked about this series was that it covered labor issues more than the other series did. In the other series, I would hear about strikes and the demand for better conditions, but it was not very in-depth. I would often see a business asking Fall Brook if the strike at their mines would affect the shipment of coal. However, this series discussed the negotiations between the workers and the businessmen a little more. I was able to see the strikes of the workers, and what they were able to get, or not get. There were many letters about meetings that were held and negotiations for workers at Fall Brook and other mines in the area.
I think the biggest challenge for me, while processing this collection, was understanding the complexity of the railroad network. The railroads are just moving something to a different location, but in order to do that, they need to be weighed, switch railroads, and pay different rates to different companies. In addition, there are so many different companies that the railroad depends on, coal, lumber, steel, etc. If one company was hurting, the rest would be as well. I am, and always was, interested in PA history, and have had a few PA history classes, where railroads were discussed, but not in the depth necessary to understand all of the language used in the correspondence. I definitely learned a lot. I have been doing many online searches when I don’t understand the topic in order to finding out how exactly everything worked with the Fall Brook Company.
I learned a lot about railroads, companies, and business, but I also learned quite a bit about processing and archiving. Before this internship, I have researched in many archives and libraries and have handled documents, but I had never actually organized and processed them. Processing the collection was completely new. To process the collection, I unfolded the trifold correspondence, wiped the coal dust off of it if necessary, flattened it, and placed the correspondence in a new acid free folder and box. I did have to make my own decisions as an archivist as to how to organize the folders, and whether to not to remove the fasters of the documents. After folding, flattening, and storing the documents, I would then fill out an Excel sheet of information about each new box that I created-including the series title, series number, slot number, and dates included in the series. Yesterday, I attempted to write my first series descriptions for what I have processed, and I really enjoyed it. It was very much like writing an annotated bibliography, and pretty easy once you get the hang of it.
Processing this collection helped me see that it is not just the text of the correspondence and documents that tell the story, but rather the full document. The paper that the correspondence is written on, the fasteners and paperclips that hold the documents together, the letterheads, and the language help tell the story. Yes, you can read the text and understand what is happening and why, but reading (or trying to read) the cursive handwriting, with coal dust all over, and an old paperclips stuck to the top, create a more visual and understandable story. The actual documents tell a story better than a book, quote, or article can.
I know that I will be back at the Archives in a few weeks. I am currently working on two papers for classes that relate to the processing that I have done. Although I have taken notes while processing, I will most likely come back for some additional research. These papers that I am writing are both on the start of the Fall Brook Railroad, and the growth and importance of the company. One will be a traditional paper, but the other, I hope to use letterheads from the collection to tell the story.
I still have a lot of learning to do. I still don't think that I fully understand the complex network of railroads and big business, and I have just gotten my feet wet with the practices of processing and archiving. I have learned a lot, but there is more to learn. Today is my last day at the archives but I plan to continue learning about the Fall Brook Company. The Fall Brook Railroad may not have been the biggest or most important railroad, but it played an important role in the development of many industrial businesses. I plan to write a few papers and hopefully present them at some conferences. I will also continue updating my blog, even though I am not good at it, since I have folders of images and documents that I want to share.
I am very grateful that I had the opportunity to do this internship and I look forward to using the skills and knowledge that I have gained in the future!