Collections : [Rare Book & Manuscript Library]

This collection consists of 37 letters written in reply to a questionnaire sent out by the Philadelphia attorneys, Campbell, Reall, Foster, Bright, and Dallas, in regard to the case of SHARPLESS ET AL. VS. THE MAYOR, ALDERMEN, AND CITIZENS OF PHILADELPHIA IN 1853. These letters of reply contain information for 17 states, New Hampshire, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Indiana, Iowa, Arkansas, Virginia, Kentucky, North Carolina, Georgia, Tennessee, Alabama, Maine, and Louisiana. The letters give brief but full accounts of the history, legislation, and policy of aid to railroads by local governments in these states up to 1853, the year in which all of the letters are dated. The letters were written by state officials and functionaries and are all in script of the clarity of mid-19th century legal hands. Also, articles of incorporation for the West Virginia railroads Clarksburg, Weston and Glenville Railroad and Transportation Company, Weston and Buckhannon Railroad Company, Weston and Elk River Railroad Company, Weston and West Fork Railroad Company, and Buckhannon River Railroad Company; railroad stock certificates; and scrapbooks containing news clippings relating to the Great Erie Railway War, 1868, and sample railroad tickets for the New York Central Railroad.