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RR. Railroad History

 Record Group
Identifier: RR
The railroad history collecting area consists of papers, records and collections of a variety of archival materials related to southern New England’s railroad heritage, dating from the 1830s and the birth of railroad transportation in the United States to the 1980s. The materials are particularly strong in representing the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, better known as the New Haven Railroad, which was the predominant railroad in the region from 1872 to 1969. Coverage is strong for the New Haven Railroad’s predecessor lines, particularly the Central New England Railway, the New York & New England Railroad, and the Old Colony Railroad.

Found in 81 Collections and/or Records:

Don Ball, Jr. Railroad Photograph Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2003-0093
Abstract

Don Ball, Jr. (1938-1986) was a railroad employee and photographer and author of books about railroads. The collection consists of several hundred photographic images, most of them taken by Mr. Ball, of locomotives, stations, and railroad related scenes of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and other New England and eastern United States railroad lines.

Dates: undated, 1895-1975

Leroy Y. Beaujon Railroad Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 1997-0042
Abstract

Payroll vouchers, correspondence, timetables, photographs, reports, maps and plans, photocopies, newspaper clippings, and other research material related to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, the Central New England Railway, and its predecessor railroad lines.

Please note that selected photographs from this collection are available in the UConn Library digital repository at http://archives.lib.uconn.edu/

Dates: undated, 1866-2004

Brooks A. Bentz Railroad Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2003-0113
Abstract

The Brooks A. Bentz Railroad Collection consists almost exclusively of materials associated with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, including passenger and employee timetables, a parlor car wine list and dining car cafe menu, information about the railroad equipment provided for railroad employees, information about the railroad's merger with what became Penn Central in the late 1960s, a vehicle decal, a map of the railroad system (ca. 1925), and photographs of locomotives.

Dates: undated, 1889, 1913-1975

Bonelli Project 2000/Locomotive FL9 Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 1989-0052
Abstract

The collection contains correspondence, photograph, diagram, and a copy of the article "How the 'NH' was put back on the 'New Haven.'"

Dates: 1978-1984

Joseph A. Bongiorno Collection of Passenger Operations Services of the New Haven Railroad

 Collection
Identifier: 1989-0061
Abstract

The collection contains publications used by Mr. Bongiorno for his paper "The administration of the passenger operation services of the New Haven Railroad."

Dates: 1966-1980

Boston, Hartford and Erie Railroad Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 1992-0007
Abstract

The Railroad was chartered in May 1863 and reorganized in 1873 as the New York and New England Railroad Company.

Dates: undated, 1863-1885

Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express, and Station Employees Records

 Collection
Identifier: 1989-0026
Abstract The Brotherhood of Railway and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express, and Station Employees was organized in 1899, and was affiliated with the American Federation of Labor. Union name variants were the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express and Station Employees, AFL-CIO; the Brotherhood of Railway Clerks; and the Railway Clerks of America, Order. It was the largest single railroad organization for employees who devoted a majority of their time...
Dates: undated, 1910-1931, 1948

Harry F. Brown Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2002-0105
Abstract:

The Harry F. Brown Papers consist of 478 photographic images in various media of railroad electrification equipment along electrified main line section of the Shoreline route of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad.

Dates: 1908-1933, 1959, 1964

Richard C. Carpenter Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2010-0105
Abstract

Richard C. Carpenter was the author of A Railroad Atlas of the United States in 1946, a five volume set published by Johns Hopkins University Press. The papers include handdrawn original railroad track and signal maps drawn by Mr. Carpenter, Henry T. Wilhelm and William Bruce Coughlin, of railroads in the Mid-Atlantic States, New York and New England, and Indiana, Lower Michigan, and Ohio, that Mr. Carpenter used for research for the atlas.

Dates: 1889-2010

Harry B. Chase, Jr. Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2003-0037
Abstract The collection consists of writings by Harry B. Chase, Jr., which focus on the history of the railroad in Massachusetts in general and the experiences of his father, Harry B. Chase, Sr., an employee of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad, in particular. Included in the writings are excerpts from letters written by father to son entitled "'Boston & New York R.P.O. Train 500,' Letters from a New Haven Railroad Signal Maintainer to his Soldier Son in Wartime, 1942-1943," as well...
Dates: 1931-2015

Connecticut Central Railroad Records

 Collection
Identifier: 2009-0091
Abstract

The collection consists of administrative files, photographs, and DVDs associated with the formation, maintenance and demise of the Connecticut Central Railroad, a freight line that ran in and around Middletown, Connecticut, from 1987 to 1998.

Dates: undated, 1967-1998, 2008

Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2015-0106
Abstract

The Collection consists of materials created and gathered by Plainfield, Connecticut, railroad station agent and field terminal supervisor Ellsworth E. Williams, Jr.

Dates: undated, 1923, 1925, 1940-1977

Connecticut Street Railroad Photograph Album

 Collection
Identifier: 2013-0108
Abstract

Album of 685 photographs of scenes of street railroads and trolley cars in Connecticut.

Dates: circa 1890- circa 1940

Cos Cob Power Plant Records

 Collection
Identifier: 1988-0024
Abstract The Cos Cob Power Plant, an electrical power plant located in Greenwich, Connecticut, was part of a pioneering venture in mainline railroad electrification. With the Westinghouse Electric and Manufacturing Company, the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad designed an efficient system using alternating-current (ac) electrification that facilitated railroad traffic into urban areas after the New York legislature passed laws prohibiting the use of steam locomotives in New York City south...
Dates: undated, 1891-1986

Edward Cosier Family Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 1997-0017
Abstract

Edward Cosier (1865-1930) was an employee of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad for over 40 years.

Dates: 1896-1999

Edward F. Donegan Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2005-0078
Abstract

Papers collected or created by Edward F. Donegan, a conductor for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad from 1941 to 1967. The materials include labor contracts, conductor fare cards and instructions, safety bulletins, diagrams of the railroad's interlocking stations along the right-of-way, and photographs.

Dates: undated, 1916-1982

Francis D. Donovan Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2006-0195
Abstract

Francis D. Donovan (1917-2005) was a resident of Medway, Massachusetts, and an avid railroad photograph and memorabilia collector and researcher, particularly of materials associated with the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and its predecessor lines. His papers consist of his writings and research files about the railroad; photographs of stations, engines, and railroad scenes; maps, scrapbooks, postcards and timetables.

Dates: undated, 1829-1997

Pierre Thomas Dumaine Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2002-0080
Abstract

President of New England Transportation Company.

Dates: 1952-1955

Elmer F. Farnham Railroad Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 1999-0032
Abstract

Elmer F. Farnham was a resident of Norwich, Connecticut, and a features writer for the Norwich Bulletin. He was author of The Quickest Route: The History of the Norwich & Worcester Railroad, published in 1973 by Pequot Press. The collection consists of photographs of locomotives and railroad scenes of the Norwich & Worcestor Railroad, the Central Vermont Railway, and other southern New England railroads.

Dates: undated, 1966

James M. Finch Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 1993-0044
Scope and Content

The collection contains publications, reports and documents collected by Mr. Finch in his various positions.

Dates: undated, circa 1946-1985

Louise Gaffney Flannigan Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2007-0066
Abstract Louise Gaffney Flannigan (1867-1949) of New Haven, Connecticut, was the sister and wife of railroad brakemen, and frequently wrote poems and other writings about railroad workers, particularly those who were members of the Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen Elm City Lodge #201 in New Haven, in memorial to those who died while in service to the railroad, or in celebration of their good work and bravery. The Papers consist of poems and writings, including about train trips she took to Orlando,...
Dates: undated, 1887 - 1897, 1911, 1915, 1932

Frank A. Field, Jr., Railroad Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2022-0020
Content Description

The collection consists of approximately 1000 photographic prints and negatives, almost all of which show images of structures, cars and locomotives of the New Haven Railroad, mostly from the 1910s to the 1950s. Also includes press kits for the Talgo train and the Dan'l Webster.

Mr. Field was not the photographer for any of the images. Photographers are unidentified or unknown.

Dates: undated, 1913-1950s

Marc J. Frattasio Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2003-0092
Abstract The collection contains the original manuscript, first draft, and final draft of The New Haven Railroad in the McGinnis Era, by Marc F. Frattasio. The book was published by White River Productions of Hart, Missouri in 2003.Also included are writings by Catherine Quinlan, who served as a grill car girl for the New Haven Railroad, with related photographs and...
Dates: 1997-2003

Allyn Fuller Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 1998-0175
Abstract

Born 1889; resident of Canaan, Connecticut; railroad enthusiast; died 1971.

Dates: undated, 1836-1979

Richard H. Gillespie Railroad Photograph Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2013-0053
Abstract

Photographic prints of steam and electric locomotives of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and a few of its predecessor railroad lines including the Naugatuck Railroad, the Connecticut River Railroad, the New York & New England Railroad and the New York, Westchester & Boston Railroad, collected by Richard H. Gillespie of Stamford, Connecticut. The collection also includes two scrapbooks compiled by Mr. Gillespie of newspaper clippings and photographic prints.

Dates: undated, 1856-1961

Charles B. Gunn Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 1988-0001
Abstract

The Charles B. Gunn Collection consists of papers produced by and about Gunn, as well as materials he collected of historical information about the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, Penn Central, Amtrak, and Conrail. The collection includes photographs taken by Gunn when he served as official photographer for the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, in the mid-1950s.

Dates: undated, 1834-2002

Lyndon A. Haight Collection of the Central New England Railway

 Collection
Identifier: 2000-0041
Abstract

The collection consists of photocopies of timetables, maps, posters, correspondence and historical writings about the Central New England Railway, gathered by Lyndon A. Haight as research materials.

Dates: 1886-1956

Ronald J. Hall Railroad Collection

 Collection
Identifier: 2018-0047
Content Description

The collection consists of 4327 slides of images related to the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad. A separate listing is available of brief descriptions of each of the images, citing number on the slide.

Dates: 1860-1969

Bruce K. Heald Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2021-0112
Scope and Contents

The collection focuses on the New Haven Railroad in the 20th Century, primarily the Engineering Department (Burton K Heald) and the Operating Department (Bruce K Heald) by father and son who worked the respective departments. It also includes newspaper and magazine articles about various aspects of railroading and railroad history and some personal items, including correspondence between father and son.

Dates: undated, 1890s - 2020

William Higginbotham Papers

 Collection
Identifier: 2011-0083
Abstract

William Higginbotham photographed railroad locomotives and scenes beginning in the 1930s. The papers consist of images of railroad locomotives and cars, stations and structures and other scenes, of street railway cars in New England and of trains and scenes of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and the New York Central Railroad.

Dates: undated, 1895, 1902, 1931-1972