February 20, 1858 | Contract
This receipt and letter describes the terms of sale for a slave in 1858.
March 5, 1860 | Contract
This March 5, 1860 receipt lists the names, ages, and purchase price of 31 slaves "sold & delivered" to the Mississippi Central Railroad.
March 5, 1860 | Contract
This March 5, 1860 receipt lists the names, ages, and purchase price of 21 slaves sold to the Mississippi Central Railroad.
January 20, 1874 | Contract
This January 20, 1874 document is an application to purchase land at $6.00 per acre from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company in Lancaster County, Nebraska. An immigrant from Bohemia, the applicant lists his length of time in the United States as six years and his time in Nebraska as 20 months. This purchaser's status as a relative newcomer to the country shows how the availability of land near railroads simultaneously provided opportunities for new immigrants to become property holders and also gave incentive for people to settle in the Great Plains.
March 14, 1874 | Contract
This March 14, 1874 application to purchase land in Lancaster County, Nebraska from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company details the costs associated with land purchases. As both an immigrant and a woman, this applicant shows that the availability of relatively cheap land opened ownership opportunities to a variety of non-traditional demographic groups.
March 18, 1874 | Contract
This signature sheet from a Johann Brunken's Nebraska land contract has spaces for fares and freight on the Burlington and Missouri River and the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy Railroads, showing at least two of the railroads that had expanded into Nebraska by 1874.
March 18, 1874 | Contract
In this March 18, 1874 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, a quarter section of Nebraska land sells for $7.00 per acre. A German immigrant who had lived in the United States for six years, Johann Brunken had spent only five days in Nebraska prior to his land purchase. The opportunity to own land as a recent immigrant may have influenced his decision to relocate.
March 26, 1874 | Contract
This March 26, 1874 document is an application to purchase land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company in Lancaster County, Nebraska. The applicant, Adolph Brauer, was a German immigrant who had lived in the United States for only four years, but apparently seized the opportunity provided by the railroads to purchase his own property.
May 25, 1874 | Contract
This May 25, 1874 document is an application to purchase land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company in Lancaster County, Nebraska. This applicant was an immigrant from Prussia, and financed his land purchase on "long credit", paying $43.20 when he filled out the application. Abundant land in the Great Plains gave immigrants like this man opportunities to become property owners.
June 9, 1874 | Contract
In this June 9, 1874 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, James O'Reily purchases 160 acres of land at $6.00 per acre on ten years credit. Leaving the "Length of time in Nebraska" line blank, O'Reily's application from Minnesota to purchase railroad land shows how the railroad's involvement in real estate may have influenced migration choices.
June 16, 1874 | Contract
In this June 16, 1874 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, Hungarian Andreas Mosser purchases land in Lancaster County, Nebraska. Mosser's application is especially remarkable, as he lists his time in the United States as "14 days" and his time in Nebraska as "8 days". The railroad clearly played an instrumental role in Mosser's new life in America, both by selling him his own land and likely by transporting him across the country to take possession of it, all within the span of only two weeks.
August 30, 1875 | Contract
In this August 30, 1875 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, 80 acres in Lancaster County, Nebraska sell for $6.00 per acre. Vaclav Krenek, who arrived from Prague, Bohemia seven months before he filled out this application, notes on his application that he owns no other land in Nebraska. Railroad land sales provided immigrants the chance to become property owners soon after their arrival.
May 5, 1876 | Contract
In this application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, August Wilke purchases 40 acres in Lancaster County, Nebraska for $5.50 per acre. A German immigrant who had lived in the United States for 16 years, Wilke already owned a homestead in the section adjacent to the one purchased here. Railroad land sales offered immigrants who had established themselves earlier the chance to increase their holdings.
June 26, 1876 | Contract
In this June 26, 1876 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, a Bohemian purchases 80 acres in Lancaster County, Nebraska, only eight days after arriving in the United States and four days after arriving in Nebraska. In a little over a week, this immigrant used the railroad as a means of transport across the country and as a vehicle of acquiring property.
February 10, 1877 | Contract
In this February 10, 1877 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, 80 acres of land in Lancaster County, Nebraska are sold for $7.00 per acre. This immigrant took advantage of railroad lands to increase his property holdings, as he already owned land in Nebraska.
August 8, 1877 | Contract
In this August 8, 1877 application to buy land from the Burlington and Missouri River Railroad Company, Joseph Fischer purchases 160 acres in Lancaster County, Nebraska for $7.00 per acre. An immigrant from Bohemia, Fischer took advantage of the railroad's 10-year credit plan to finance his new purchase. Railroad credit plans enabled immigrants and others who lacked ready cash to buy land.
1922 | Diary
This August 2, 1877 entry from President Rutherford B. Hayes' diary notes the proximity of his relatives to the violence in Pittsburgh.
1922 | Diary
This August 5, 1877 entry in his diary, President Rutherford B. Hayes affirms his views of limited government and the free labor right of contract, as well as his concerns about the "capitalists."
1924 | Diary
In this 1877 excerpt from Rutherford B. Hayes' diary, the President notes the positive qualities of the railroad men who are on strike, but sees their actions as detrimental to those who wish to work. He also wonders what actions could be taken to "end or dimish the evil" of strikes.
August 22, 1866 | Document
A type of travel document issued for travel under the auspices of the Freemen's Bureau. This August 22, 1866, voucher authorizes travel from Washington, D. C. to Southwick, Massachusetts on the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore Railroad. Many emancipated African Americans traveled American railroads to old and new homes in the wake of the Civil War - the Freemen's Burueau paid for much of the travel.