GREAT NORTHERN RAILWAY COMPANY (U.S.):
An Inventory of Its Corporate Records at the Minnesota Historical Society
Manuscripts Collection
OVERVIEW
| Creator: | Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.), creator. | |
| Title: | Great Northern Railway corporate records. | |
| Dates: | 1854-1970. | |
| Language: | Materials in English. | |
| Abstract: | The corporate records of the St. Paul-based Great Northern Railway, its predecessors, and its subsidiaries and affiliates, document its operations across the northern tier of western states for more than one hundred years, until its 1970 merger with the Northern Pacific, the Chicago, Burlington and Quincy, and the Spokane, Portland and Seattle that formed the Burlington Northern. | |
| Quantity: | Approximately 4900 cubic feet. | |
| Location: | See Detailed Description for shelf locations. |
SCOPE AND CONTENTS
The Great Northern
Railway Company included not only the parent corporation, but also more than 300
branch lines and subsidiary companies that it either wholly or partly owned. Many
were owned and operated jointly by the by Northern Pacific and Great Northern.
Minutes, reports, correspondence and subject files, financial and accounting records, photographs, engineering drawings, land records, engineering and valuation records, advertising literature, timetables, publications, and many other materials documenting the principal staff and operating departments. Those include the offices of the president, secretary, treasurer, and comptroller; the law and land departments; mechanical and chief engineers; public relations and personnel officers; and managers responsible for rail operations.
Of special importance are the President's Office subject files, comprising 1,000 feet of executive correspondence, reports, statistical data, maps, drawings, and printed matter compiled to keep top officials informed on important current and past activities. They provide the best summary available of the company's experience over time.
In addition to the main line materials are records of more than 250 branch lines, subsidiaries, and related companies. They include rail and highway transport, oil and mineral, land and townsite, power, irrigation, steamship, lumbering, and stock-holding firms dispersed geographically from the Great Lakes to Puget Sound.
ADMINISTRATIVE INFORMATION
Availability:
The collection is open for research use.
Preferred Citation:
[Indicate the cited item and/or series here]. Great Northern Railway Corporate Records. Minnesota Historical Society.
See the Chicago Manual of Style for additional examples.
Accession Information:
Accession numbers: Many, see individual series inventories.
Processing Information:
Catalog ID number: 990017351400104294
Work on the Great Northern railway company records was supported with funds by the Northwest Area Foundation, the Grotto Foundation, and the Jerome Foundation.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION
The following listings link to detailed finding aids for each of the collection's 17 series.
| Advertising and Publicity Department Records, 1884-1973. 147 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Records created
or compiled by the Great Northern administrative unit responsible for
managing corporate advertising and public relations work. | |||||||||||
| Agricultural Development Department Records, 1913-1968. 43 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Subject files,
and crop reports and summaries, created by the Great Northern administrative
department responsible for improving agricultural practices and developing
agricultural production throughout the northwestern states. | |||||||||||
| Comptroller Records, 1879-1973. 485 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Correspondence
and subject files, annual reports to regulatory agencies, accounting
records, operating statistical data, construction records, and miscellaneous
records created or compiled by the Great Northern administrative department
responsible for the accounting, auditing, and statistical analysis functions
of the railway company, and which also served as the corporation's principal
record keeper. | |||||||||||
| Engineering Department Records, 1882-1970. 105 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Correspondence
and subject files, maps, architectural drawings, and construction project
registers and indexes documenting the activities of the Great Northern
administrative department responsible for locating, surveying, constructing,
and maintaining roadways and structures. | |||||||||||
| Industrial Development Department Records, [195-]-[196-]. 4 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Research
reports, promotional brochures, and site photographs produced by the Great
Northern administrative department responsible for attracting and managing
industrial development within and along its right-of-way throughout the
northwestern states. | |||||||||||
| Land Department Records, 1867-1970 (bulk 1990-1940). 20 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Various series
of records documenting the disposition and management of land tracts in
Minnesota, North Dakota, Montana, Idaho, and Washington that were owned by
Great Northern. | |||||||||||
| Law Department Records, 1877-1970. 79 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Printed court
case reports (1877-1963), legal case files (1923-1971), and merger files
(1957-1968) documenting the legal affairs of the Great Northern and the
activities of its law department. | |||||||||||
| Mechanical Department Records, 1879-1969. 127.5 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Mechanical
drawings and other records relating to the Great Northern fleet of cars and
locomotives. | |||||||||||
| Operating Department (general manager) Records, 1874-1969. 90 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Correspondence
and subject files, and a few miscellaneous records, created or compiled by
the Great Northern administrative department responsible for operating the
physical properties of the Great Northern railway system. | |||||||||||
| Personnel Department Records, 1890s. 17 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Selected
personnel files created by Great Northern during the first decade of its
corporate existence, which document the hiring and service of many of its
earliest employees. The sequence includes file numbers 1-1532 and 1680-1927.
The files typically contain application forms and letters, internal
memoranda about the employee or prospect, performance data, and service
records. | |||||||||||
| Presidents Records, 1872-1970. 25 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Correspondence
and subject files, letterpress books, miscellaneous operating statistics
(1946-1968), notes and manuscripts on Great Northern history, and other
materials created by the Great Northern president's office. | |||||||||||
| Presidents Subject Files, 1890-1970. 1250 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Correspondence and subject files, letterpress books, miscellaneous
operating statistics (1946-1968), notes and manuscripts on Great Northern
history, and other materials created by the Great Northern president's
office. | |||||||||||
| Nos. 1-7085. | |||||||||||
| Nos. 7086-12,950. | |||||||||||
| Nos. 12,951-18,363. | |||||||||||
| Right-of-way, Land and Tax Department Records, 1857-1969 (bulk 1880-1920). 49.5 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Correspondence
and subject files (1857-1969), property tax records, records of easements
and permits granted, and land and timber examination files created by the
Great Northern administrative department responsible for managing the
company's right-of-way property. | |||||||||||
| Secretary's Records, 1873-1970. 57 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Minute books
(1889-1970) and related records, annual reports to stockholders (1890-1968),
printed system maps (1891-1929), historical sketches and data, and corporate
bylaws created or compiled by the office of the Great Northern corporate
secretary. | |||||||||||
| Traffic Department Records, 1898-1951. 60 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Several series
of correspondence and subject files and a volume (1898-1899) of monthly
commission statements documenting work of the Great Northern administrative
department responsible for developing and managing the railway's freight and
passenger traffic. | |||||||||||
| Treasurer's Records, 1888-1956. 31.5 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Stock and bond
records (1889-1957), railway operating reports (1888-1956), and cash books
(1901-1921) created or compiled by the Great Northern administrative
department responsible for managing corporate financing monies and related
activities. | |||||||||||
| Valuation Department Records, 1881-1991 (bulk 1915-1928). 79.65 cubic feet. | |||||||||||
 Reports to the
Interstate Commerce Commission's Bureau of Valuation, ICC hearing records
and related files, right-of-way and trackage maps, and track profiles
produced or maintained by the Great Northern administrative unit responsible
for tracking and reporting on the monetary value (cost of reproduction) of
the Great Northern's physical properties and those of its
subsidiaries. | |||||||||||
| Branch Lines. | |||||||||||
| The branch lines and their records are described in our library catalog. | |||||||||||
| Fuller inventories are available at the Minnesota Historical Society library. | |||||||||||
RELATED MATERIALS
CATALOG HEADINGS
This collection is indexed under the following headings in the catalog of the Minnesota Historical Society. Researchers desiring materials about related topics, persons or places should search the catalog using these headings.
- Topics:
- Railroads -- Northwestern States.
- Railroads -- Northwestern States -- Design and construction.
- Railroads -- Northwestern States -- Management.
- Railroads -- Northwestern States -- Branch lines.
- Railroads -- Northwestern States -- Finance.
- Railroads -- Rolling stock -- Northwestern States.
- Railroads -- Northwestern States -- Statistics.
- Railroad land grants.
- Railroads and state.
- Railroads -- Mergers -- Northwestern States.
- Railroads -- Valuation -- Northwestern States.
- Railroads -- Freight -- Rates -- Northwestern States.
- Persons:
- Budd, John Marshall, 1907-1979.
- Budd, Ralph, 1879-1962.
- Dalrymple, F. Stewart, 1882-1933.
- Gavin, Frank J.
- Hidy, Muriel.
- Hidy, Ralph Willard, 1905-
- Hill, James J. (James Jerome), 1838-1916.
- Hill, Louis Warren, 1872-1948.
- Kenney, William P., 1870-1939.
- Winchell, Horace V. (Horace Vaughn), 1865-1923.
- Organizations:
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.).
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Accounting.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Agricultural Development Department.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Comptroller.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Engineering Department.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Finance.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Immigration and Agricultural Development Department.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Industrial Development Department.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Legal Department.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Management.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Mineral Research and Development Department.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Minot Division.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Passenger Traffic Department.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Personnel records.
- Great Northern Railway Company (U.S.) -- Secretary records.
- Canadian Northern Railway Company.
- Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company.
- Kootenai Valley Railroad Company.
- Midland & Great Northern Joint Railway.
- Spokane, Portland, and Seattle Railway.
- St. Paul and Duluth Railroad Company.
- St. Paul, Minneapolis & Manitoba Railway Company.
- Document Types:
- Advertisements.
- Architectural drawings (visual works).
- Legal files.
- Letterpress copybooks.
- Maps.
- Photographs.
- Technical drawings.
- Occupations:
- Chief executive officers.
- Executives -- Northwestern States.
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