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Kimball (Thomas Lord) Papers
mssKimball
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Table of contents
Contributing Institution:
The Huntington Library
Title: Thomas Lord Kimball papers
Creator:
Kimball, Thomas Lord, 1831-1899
Identifier/Call Number: mssKimball
Physical Description:
5.42 Linear Feet
(13 boxes)
Date (inclusive): Approximately 1859-1901
Abstract: This collection consists of the
personal and business papers of American railroad executive Thomas Lord Kimball (1831-1899)
and is primarily focused on his activities with the Union Pacific Railroad.
Language of Material: Materials are in
English.
Open to qualified researchers by prior application through the Reader Services Department.
For more information, contact Reader Services.
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from
or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The
responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining
necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
[Identification of item]. Thomas Lord Kimball papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino,
California.
Purchased from Jack Kimball, March 1948.
Railroad executive Thomas Lord Kimball (1831-1899) was born in Buxton, Maine. He taught
school during the late 1840s and early 1850s before becoming interested in the express
business. Kimball married Mary Porter Rogers in 1854 or 1855 and had four children,
including the architect Thomas Rogers Kimball (1862-1934). In 1857 Kimball and his family
moved to Ohio, and in 1859 Kimball began working for an amateur newspaper and wrote a series
of articles on the Pennsylvania Railroad Company. In 1860 he became an agent for the
Pennsylvania Railroad, for which he spent over a decade as southwestern passenger agent,
assistant general passenger agent, and general Western passenger agent. In 1871 Kimball's
associate Thomas A. Scott was made president of the Union Pacific Railway Company and
appointed Kimball as general passenger and ticket agent. That same year Kimball moved to
Omaha, where he would spend most of the rest of his life. In 1880 Sidney Dillon appointed
Kimball as assistant general manager of the Union Pacific, for which company he would also
serve as general traffic manager, assistant to the first vice-president, and third
vice-president, a position he was appointed to in 1889, in addition to being president of
the Union Depot Company. Kimball left the Union Pacific in 1897 and died in 1899.
The collection consists of the personal and business papers of Thomas Lord Kimball,
primarily focused on his activities with the Union Pacific Railroad. The personal
correspondence includes over 330 letters sent by Kimball to his wife Mary Porter Rogers
Kimball between 1859 and 1893, a letter from Kimball to his daughter Frances (1870), and a
letter to Mary Kimball from I.S. Hodsdon (correspondence between Hodsdon and Thomas Kimball
is included in the business correspondence). The personal papers also include diaries kept
by Kimball between 1860 and 1899, diaries kept by Mary Kimball between 1890 and 1898, and a
biographical sketch of Kimball. The railroad papers include business correspondence from a
variety of correspondents including Frederick L. Ames, Sidney Dillon, I.S. Hodsdon, W.H.
Holmes, Jay Gould, and E.P. Vining, as well as a few pieces of outgoing correspondence by
Kimball. The financial and operation papers include Kimball's Union Pacific pocket notebooks
dated 1891-1899, a small group of Jay Gould manuscripts (1877-1880), correspondence on the
W.C. Thompson scandal (1872-1873), a letter appointing Kimball as travelling agent for the
Pennsylvania Railroad Co. (1860), correspondence on the sale of a Unitarian Church in Omaha
(1877-1880), production summaries for the Union Depot in Omaha (1879-1896), and
miscellaneous railroad agreements, circulars, passes, receipts, promissory notes, financial
statements, and stocks and bonds. The political papers consist of incoming correspondence,
an agreement for Charles H. Brown to back the Union Pacific in pending legislation before
Congress (1877), an agreement between Kimball and the National Union Publishing Co. (1877),
a congressional voting record (1878), and a payroll. The mining papers include items related
to the Newcastle Mining and Improvement Co. in Wyoming (1891-1894) and the Ella Mine in
Idaho (1879-1880), as well as an analysis of coal on the Union Pacific Railroad line and a
report on the coal business in Wyoming (1888). Also included is a box of newspaper clippings
regarding Kimball's railroad activities from 1888-1889 (approx. 470 items).
Arranged by subject and format.
Former call number: mssKimball papers.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Domestic relations -- 19th century
Mines and mineral resources -- Idaho
Mines and mineral resources -- Wyoming
Railroad travel -- United States -- History -- 19th century
Railroads -- Employees
Nebraska -- History -- 19th century
Nebraska -- Politics and government
Omaha (Neb.) -- History
West (U.S.) -- History -- 19th century
Business records -- United States -- 19th century
Diaries -- United States -- 19th century
Ephemera -- United States -- 19th century
Letters (correspondence) -- United States -- 19th century
Ames, Frederick L. (Frederick Lothrop),
1835-1893
Dillon, Sidney, 1812-1892
Gould, Jay, 1836-1892
Kimball, Mary Porter Rogers
Union Pacific Railroad Company -- Employees
Union Pacific Railroad Company -- History -- 19th
century.