Title: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Sutter Lodge No. 340 collection

Dates: 1890-1951

Collection Number: MS 411

Creator/Collector: Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Sutter Lodge Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Golden State Lodge

Extent: 10 oversize boxes

Repository: California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Abstract: This collection contains ledgers and correspondence from the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Sutter Lodge No. 340 and one ledger from its women's group, Golden State Lodge.

Language of Material: English

This collection is open for research at our off-site storage facility with one week's notice. Contact Library & Archives staff to arrange for access.

Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the District Collections Manager. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, Sutter Lodge No. 340 collection. California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Gift of Gail Cortopassi, 1998. From the collection of Alfred Francis Wollmering, a Southern Pacific employee for 34 years.

The Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen was a cooperative association founded in the summer of 1883 in Albany, New York for the main purpose of providing disability benefits to its members. A rival Brotherhood of Railroad Brakemen branch was founded in 1883 by eight brakemen for the Delaware & Hudson Railroad who met secretly in Oneonota, New York. This group became Lodge No. 1 of the Brotherhood. By 1884, at their first annual convention, they had 39 lodges and 900 members in the United States and Canada. In January 1889, in Fort Gratiot, Michigan, the Brotherhood created a women's group which they named the Grand Lodge. In 1890, the name of the organization was changed to the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen. Concerned with practical issues such as providing pension and disability benefits for its members, the Brotherhood also supported shorter hours, better wages, education and other improved working conditions for its members. Grievance committees were set up to hear members' grievances against employers and to try to facilitate a resolution between employees and employers on these issues. The Brotherhood created an Auxiliary to do charitable works, such as the establishment of a home for indigent and elderly members, and tuberculosis research. In 1969, the Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen merged with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Engineers, the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen, and the Switchmen's Union of North America to form the the United Transportation Union.

This collection is arranged into 7 series: 1 ATTENDANCE REGISTERS 2 FINANCIAL RECORDS 3 GRIEVANCE COMMITTEE 4 MEMBERSHIP AND POLICY REGISTER 5 MINUTES OF MEETINGS 6 RECORD BOOKS 7 VISITORS' REGISTER