Digital reproductions of this collection are available online.
The Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company, often referred to as the P. S. & N. or the Shawmut Line, ran freight and passenger service between Pennsylvania and New York from 1899 to 1947. The primary business of this line was to transport coal from the Shawmut Mining Company mines in Pennsylvania to Buffalo, Rochester, and New York City. Between 1899 and 1903, the P. S. & N. underwent a costly conversion from narrow to standard gauge track; this project and the decline of the coal industry in the twentieth century led to financial problems for the company. In 1945, the company was sold to Harry W. Findley of Carnegie, Pennsylvania.
This collection consists of a single copybook containing approximately 650 outgoing letters from P. S. & N. President John Byrne. Between September 1901 and February 1902, Byrne wrote to officers of mining and rail companies, and to officials within his own corporation. Byrne corresponded with the vice president of the Shawmut Mining Company, F. E. Cartwright, and Frederick D. Underwood, president of the Erie Railroad Company. The volume also included letters to Henry S. Hastings, Byrne's auditor and assistant treasurer. Also present are a series of letters to Congressman James Knox Polk Hall, in which Byrne negotiates the price of bank lands in Elk County, Pennsylvania. The letters are bound in chronological order, and the volume contains an alphabetized, handwritten index of correspondents.
No restrictions.
Gift to the Darlington Memorial Library in 1937.
This collection was located in the Darlington Memorial Library in the University's Cathedral of Learning until 2007 when it was moved to the ULS Archives Service Center for processing, storage, preservation and service. However, it remains in the custodianship of the ULS Special Collections Department.
Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company Records, 1901-1902, DAR.1937.01, Darlington Collection, Archives & Special Collections, University of Pittsburgh Library System
Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company Records, 1901-1902, DAR.1937.01, Darlington Collection, Special Collections Department, University of Pittsburgh
This collection was processed by Angela Manella in August 2007.
No copyright restrictions.
Pittsburg, Shawmut & Northern Railroad Company Papers, 1872-1960, #2161, Division of Rare and Manuscript Collections, Cornell University Library
John W. Barriger III Papers, John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, St. Louis Mercantile Library at the University of Missouri, St. Louis