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Guide to the Pacific Improvement Company Records, 1869-1931 (inclusive), 1883-1927 (bulk) JL001
JL001  
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Collection Overview
 
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Description
The collection is made up of approximately fifty percent loose material and fifty percent bound volumes (percentage estimated in shelf space). The loose material consists of documents, both routine business and legal, correspondence, reports, minutes, various types of financial business, and maps and blueprints. Many of the subsidiary companies represented in these papers are not present in the series of bound material, and this loose material is dated, on an average, earlier than the volumes. The Louisville, New Orleans and Texas Railway Company, which does not appear in the bound material, is involved in much of the earlier, loose material, and of particular interest are the business papers of the various railroad lines which consolidated to form this line. They consist of agreements and correspondence in particular, which presents a rather complete picture of the growth of railroads late in the nineteenth century. A railroad in Guatemala also illustrates an interesting aspect of the company's activity.
Background
The Pacific Improvement Company was a large holding company in California, formed during the days of C.P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Mark Hopkins, and Charles Crocker. These men were the early controlling stockholders and directors of the company, although in this collection there is no precise indication as to the exact date of its incorporation. Two cash books, contained in the first box of the collection, are dated as early as 1869, but this is the single instance of a date this early. The greatest bulk of the collection is dated between 1883 and 1927, with scattered exceptions in the 1870's and as late as 1931.
Extent
180.0 Linear feet
Restrictions
Property rights reside with the repository. Literary rights reside with the creators of the documents or their heirs. To obtain permission to publish or reproduce, please contact the Public Services Librarian of the Dept. of Special Collections.
Availability
None.