Baltimore
& Ohio Railroad Museum
Wednesday June 14, 2000
This afternoon Vera and I went to the B&O Railroad Museum on
Pratt Street in Baltimore to research my Great Grandfather’s
employment history. I hoped
that there would be some record still on file.
We had an interesting and successful afternoon.
The receptionist told us the archivist only sees people by
appointment. She gave us
the business card of Ann Calhoun, the B&O Museum archivist.
We went to the inner harbor for lunch and called from a pay
phone. We spoke to her
assistant and managed to arrange an appointment for 14:30.
The assistant agreed to see us because we are only in town for a
short time and the archivists will be out of town tomorrow.
We met Ann Calhoun at her office on the second floor of the
museum. She was very
pleasant and happy to assist us. She
asked us if her assistant mentioned there is a fee for use of the
records. Although the assistant never mentioned the fee ($10), I told
her I would gladly pay it. She
quickly explained what records are stored at the museum.
The B&O museum has incomplete payroll records beginning in
1904 and ending in the 1970’s. Two
separate, unrelated events are responsible for the destruction of most
of the B&O records. The
great Baltimore fire of 1904 destroyed virtually all of the company’s
records. The fire occurred
on a Sunday and by the time employees were alerted, most of the building
was lost. They managed to
save some of the documents from the President’s office.
After the C&O and B&O Railroads became CSX and moved the
headquarters from Baltimore to Jacksonville, Florida in the 1980s, CSX
destroyed most of the remaining B&O records.
Ann Calhoun said B&O clerks bought a Kodak micro-cassette
machine and filmed payroll records themselves in the 1970’s.
CSX decided to donate the viewing machine, file cabinets, and all
surviving tapes to the museum when the CSX headquarters moved to
Jacksonville. So ten years
ago the museum gained possession of the only surviving copy of the
historic Baltimore & Ohio Railroad’s personnel records.
These records are almost exclusively payroll records of
employees, beginning in 1904. Sadly,
there are two drawers full of tapes, which cannot be read since they
were recorded on a different type of tape than those, which work in the
viewer.
Researchers
with ancestors who worked for B&O may be able to find a work history
on the tapes. Unfortunately
there is no printer, so one has to hand copy information.
The good news is the archivists created a worksheet, which
matches the columns on the payroll records.
So you can easily copy the information you discover.
Researchers are likely to discover unusual entries in the
records. For instance, I
found it interesting that the company repeatedly deducted money from
employee’s pay during the Great Depression.
Ann Calhoun said this was common as companies, especially the
railroads, struggled to remain profitable or simply to stay afloat.
Asa Harman
Wyatt, my Great Grandfather, began working for the B&O in 1899. He worked in packaging and warehousing for two months until
he was dismissed. Asa must
have enjoyed the work or it may simply be a coincidence that he returned
in 1913 and continued as an employee until he retired in 1935. Over the years he was furloughed or “laid off” at least
five times and resigned once. Asa
also participated in a strike in July 1922.
His lowest salary or “rate of pay” was .15 cents as a laborer
in 1914. His highest salary
was $2.33, which he also earned in 1914.
I
found this information listed alphabetically on a cassette labeled “D
46.” Ann Calhoun was very
helpful and her familiarity with the records was invaluable.
Also, she knows a great deal about
B&O’s history. I
am indebted to her for her assistance. |
