October 30, 1857 | Broadsides
In this October 30, 1857 circular, Ginery Twichell, Superintendent of the Boston and Worcester Railroad, describes the reasons for a ten percent pay cut for all employees. He cites the recent reduction in receipts from passengers and freight, as well as the "sudden and unexpected financial storm" as the basis for the change.
November 9, 1872 | Illustration
This image from the November 9, 1872 issue of Harper's Weekly depicts a workmen's train in the subway of London, England as a part of a fictional story entitled London: A Pilgrimage by Gustave Doré and Blanchard Jerrold.
July 25, 1877 | Illustration
This image from the front page of the July 25, 1877 issue of PUCK Magazine mockingly depicts two strikers "digging their own graves."
August 1, 1877 | Illustration
This cover illustration from the August 1, 1877 issue of PUCK Magazine depicts a poor family's decision to go on strike.
August 1, 1877 | Illustration
This image from the August 1, 1877 edition of PUCK Magazine is a pun on Kars (a city in Turkey) that depicts a soldier being pulled behind a railroad car.
August 1, 1877 | Illustration
This dramatic image appeared on two pages of the August 1, 1877 edition of PUCK Magazine and illustrates a skeleton-headed train running past apparently injured women, with dark images of laborers in the smoke.
August 8, 1877 | Illustration
This cover image from the August 8, 1877 issue of PUCK Magazine depicts Henry Ward Beecher as a hypocrite.
August 11, 1877 | Illustration
This August 11, 1877 image depicts the blockade of railroad engines in Martinsburg, West Virginia, by orderly and well-dressed citizens. Unlike Allan Pinkerton's depictions, this Harper's illustration features the role of women less as unruly participants and more as witnesses and forces of restraint and care in the stand-off.
August 11, 1877 | Illustration
This August 11, 1877 image from Harper's Weekly depicts the burning of the Lebanon Valley Railroad bridge by rioters during the Great Railroad Strike.
1878 | Illustration
Railroad detective Allan Pinkerton's history of the strike emphasized the unruliness of the mob and the threat of foreign, anarchist, and communist influences on American labor. He also emphasized the role of women in inciting the conflict. Here, his illustration shows women leading a mob against the police during the 1877 railroad strike in Baltimore.
November 14, 1883 | Broadsides
This General Order from November 14, 1883, circulated by S. T. Smith, General Superintendent of the Kansas Division of the Union Pacific Railroad, notifies all stations on the Kansas Division that "standard time" will begin at exactly 9:00 a.m. on Sunday, November 18, 1883. This order coincides with the establishment of time zones throughout the United States, a development necessitated by the speed of railroad travel.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911) captures a railroad freight crew posing with an Erie Railroad car in the background.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911), shows a railroad engineer, "oil-can in hand," lubricating the wheel of a locomotive.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911), captures a railroad fireman shoveling coal into the firebox.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911), depicts a room full of freight department clerks.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911) depicts a large number of railroad mechanics posing with a locomotive.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911), shows a railroad conductor at work.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911), captures a track walker, lantern in hand, performing his nightly duties.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911) shows a number of railroad workers standing atop a wrecking train.
1928 | Photograph
John W. Garrett, President of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad from 1858-1884, steered the railroad through the crisis of the Civil War, maintaining a firm commitment to the Union. In the strike Garrett regretted pay cuts and attempted to retain his employees, but firmly held to the principle of free labor's right to contract.
© 2006–2008 All Rights Reserved. William G. Thomas, III | Comments?
