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Fletcher (William Barger) Collection
MS 701
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives
Title: William Barger Fletcher collection
Identifier/Call Number: MS 701
Physical Description:
.333 Linear Feet
(1 manuscript box)
Date (inclusive): 1950-1976
Abstract: Correspondence from Denver, Colorado rail author and friend, Meredith (Mac) C. Poor and S. Durward Hoag, owner-manager of
the Motor Hotel in Lafayette, Marietta Ohio and friend of Fletcher. Subjects include excursions with the Rocky Mountain Railroad
Club to Jaurez, Laramie, Silverton, UP to Rawlings, Wy, Durango, Chama to Big Horn on Denver & Rio Grande. Includes clippings,
photographs and ephemera relating to steamboats.
Physical Location: SMCC I2.210.N6
William B. Fletcher was born on September 14, 1912 in Ironton, Missouri. His interests in railroads emerged when his Uncle
Alex, a Missouri Pacific Engineer, let him ride on the engine. During high school he learned station work and telegraphy
at the Missouri Pacific Depot in Ironton. He recieved a B.S. degree in mechanical engineering from the Missouri School of
Mines and Metallurgy and was employeed by the Department of Agriculture, the Missouri Valley Bridge and Iron Company and Bureau
of Ships in a shipbuilding program at Evansville, Indiana.
In 1946, he and a partner started Industrial Systems, Inc., South Gate California which engineered and installed paint finishing
systems.
For over 40 years he collected employee timetables, railroad artifacts and photographs. During railfan excursions, he made
audiotapes of the trips and distriuted them to other railfans.
William B. Fletcher was the Chairman of the Southern California Chapter of the Railway &Locomotive Historical Society for
over 20 years and then became a director of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society.
Mr. Fletcher retured in January 1980 and passed away May 18, 1993 in Downey, California. He and his wife had three children.
Arranged alphbatically by subject.
Collection is open for research by appointment.
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 CSRM Library & Archives.
The collection contains correspondence, photographs and railroad related ephemera from the 1950's through the 1970's. Correspondence
from Denver, Colorado rail author and friend, Meredith (Mac) C. Poor and S. Durward Hoag, owner-manager of the Motor Hotel
in Lafayette, Marietta Ohio and friend of Fletcher. Subjects inlcude excursions with the Rocky Mountain Railraod Club to Jaurez,
Laramie, Silverton, UP to Rawlings, Wy, Durango, Chama to Big Horn on Denver & Rio Grande. Includes clippings, photographs
and ephemera relating to Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad, St. Louis - San Francisco Railway and steamboats in the midwest.
Photographs are of steamboats as well as non-railroad and non-steamboat photos. Many of the photos are stamped with S. Durward
Hoag studio. Several of the steamboat photos seem to be original to the Hoag photo studio, while there are other photos that
Hoag made re-prints of from the Ohio area from the turn of the century and are stamped as such.
[Identification of item], William Fletcher Collection, MS 701, California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives, Sacramento,
California.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Steamships
Puffers (Steamboats)
Photographs--Portraits
Photograph collections
Correspondence--Letters
Chicago, Burlington & Quincy
Organization--Railroad Club--Rocky Mountain
Excursion--Railroad
Organization--Railroad Society--Railroad and Locomotive History Society