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The BOUND VOLUMES record group consists of bound volumes which require special shelving because of their format, size, and bulk. In general, the volumes are in poor or fragile condition and should be handled with care. These records were originally created by offices represented in other record groups, or by other companies. The BOUND VOLUMES include records of both the New New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and its subsidiary and predecessor companies. The subsidiary and predecessor companies are primarily New England transportation companies: railroads, railways, coach lines, and steamship lines; there are also a few companies of other types, such as real estate and coal companies.
The type of information found within the bound volumes varies widely with each company and may include one or more of the following: organizational, incorporation and termination information; minutes of board of directors' and stockholders' meetings; reorganization proceedings and related trusteeships; acquisitions of other companies; daily financial transactions arranged by date (journal entries) and by account (ledger entries); cash transactions (cash books); balance sheets; annual reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission; stock certificates, registers, journals, ledgers and dividends; bonds and mortgages; and letter books. This record group contains approximately 850 linear feet of material.
This record group is organized in four series:
| I NEW HAVEN RAILROAD II PREDECESSOR AND SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES III MULTIPLE-COMPANY VOLUMES IV UNIDENTIFIED VOLUMES |
Series I, NEW HAVEN RAILROAD, 1872-1980, contains those volumes generated by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company and is divided into five subseries: Secretary's Office, Accounting Department, Comptroller's Office, Securities, and L. S. Miller.
Secretary's Office, 1872-1963, is comprised of the minutes of the Board of Directors (BOD) and its committees, minutes of stockholders meetings, minutes of trustees meetings during the first reorganization (1935-47), and reorganization proceedings. There are two sets of the BOD minutes. The first set of minutes has an index for each volume, with volumes 31 to 33 each having an additional copy. These indices are placed in front of the appropriate volume, beginning with volume 3. The exception is volume 14, which is partially indexed with volume 13 and does not have a unique index. The index for volume one is separate from its volume due to its physical size. The index for volume 2 (No. 2), which is interfiled with the index for the minutes of the standing committee (S. com.), is located on index cards. The second set of minutes has an index which is located in the front of each volume. It is strongly recommended that the researcher use the typescript minutes located in Series I and II in the SECRETARY record group. The Secretary's Office subseries also contains charters and legislation pertaining to the New Haven and its predecessors and subsidiaries, and an index to Rhode Island railroad legislation to 1901.
Accounting Department, 1872-1969, volumes include journals, ledgers, balances, the Grand Central Terminal Capital Account, accounting procedures, other financial accounts, and registers and records of bonds, debentures, mortgages, warrants and stocks. The journals and ledgers are organized by type, i.e. Chief Clerks, General, Federal Control, and Materials and Supplies, and then by date. Between 1914 and 1918, even- number General Journal entries were entered into one volume and odd- numbered entries into the next volume. This division of even and odd entries also occurred in the Federal Control and U. S. Railroad Administration journals between 1918 and 1922. Most of the General Ledgers are indexed. These indexes are generally separate volumes but are placed in the front of their respective volumes. Many of the other journals are also indexed, usually on the inside front cover or the first few pages of the volume.
Comptroller's Office, 1902-50, contains statistics on passengers and freight, reports on other companies, and the financial records of insurance funds (accident and casualty, coal, and general) overseen by trustees of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad. (These trustees are unrelated to those that oversaw the reorganization periods of 1935-48 and 1962-80.)
Securities, 1899-1968, contains minutes of the custodians of securities and histories of securities. See the ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT record group for portfolios.
L. S. Miller, 1911-30, contains the files of L. S. Miller, who was an agent of the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad and of the National Bank of Commerce. This subseries contains his journals, ledgers, mortgage records and other financial materials.
Series II, PREDECESSOR AND SUBSIDIARY COMPANIES, 1802-1964, which also include leased lines, is arranged alphabetically by company name. Within each company, volumes are arranged by type: minutes; journals; cash books; ledgers; pay roll and voucher records; balance and trial balance sheets; bond and stock certificates, transfers and ledgers; letter books; and miscellaneous records (e.g., reorganization proceedings, passenger train records, contract books). Not all companies have all of these types of volumes. Preceding the listing of volumes, the name of the company is often followed by a brief history of the company and may include some or all of the following types of information: date of incorporation, date of organization, name changes, mergers, foreclosures, consolidation with other companies, names of predecessor and successor companies, and date of termination of corporate existance. The material for these histories is drawn from the 1915 chart of lines owned by the New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company, Charters of The New York, New Haven and Hartford Railroad Company and certain of its subsidiary lines together with the special legislation relating to the same (New Haven, 1906) and its supplements, and records of the companies themselves. These histories are intended only as a guide for cross-referencing. Additional cross- referencing is provided.
Series III, MULTIPLE-COMPANY VOLUMES, 1831-1953, contains volumes that were either used by or contain the records of two or more companies. Typically, the companies are related by mergers and consolidations as in the case of the joint volumes of the New York and Stamford Railway Company and the Greenwich Tramway Company, which predate the acquisition of both companies by the Consolidated Railway in 1905. The MULTIPLE-COMPANY VOLUMES are arranged alphabetically by the name of the first company listed. (This series does not include volumes that were used by a company and its immediate predecessor or successor. Volumes of that type are located in Series II.)
Series IV, UNIDENTIFIED VOLUMES, are those volumes whose generating company could not be determined. They are arranged by type (e.g., journal, ledger), and then by date. Possible originating company identification is included, when the information could be determined, in bracketed notes on the type of company (e.g., trolley, steamship), the location of head or regional office, or the names of vessels and stations. Most of these volumes are in extremely poor or fragile physical condition. NOTE: Researchers who are able to identify any of these volumes should notify the Archives staff.