Skip to main content

Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen Records

 Collection
Identifier: 5148

Abstract

These records represent the small surviving fraction of the union's total record production, the largest part of which was periodically disposed of throughout the history of the union.

Dates

  • 1910-1986

Language of Materials

Collection material in English

Conditions Governing Access

Access to the collections in the Kheel Center is restricted. Please contact a reference archivist for access to these materials.

Conditions Governing Use

This collection must be used in keeping with the Kheel Center Information Sheet and Procedures for Document Use.

Biographical / Historical

The Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen (ORC & B) was founded in 1868 as an order of railroad conductors and later expanded to include brakemen.

The Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen was founded by T.J. "Tommie" Wright in 1868 in Amboy, Ill. as the Conductors Union. The name was changed to Order of Railway Conductors of America (ORC) in 1878. In 1942, the Order of Sleeping Car Conductors merged with ORC. The union's name was changed in 1954 to the Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen. In 1969, the Order merged with the Brotherhood of Locomotive Firemen and Enginemen, Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen, and Switchmen's Union of North America to form the United Transportation Union.

The ORC & B International Headquarters, Grand Division, was located in Cedar Rapids, Iowa with subordinate divisions in the United States, Canada, and the Panama Canal Zone. The principal officers included the president, senior vice-president, general secretary-treasurer, executive vice-president, vice-president/Washington legislative representative, vice-president/National Railroad Adjustment Board, four regional vice-presidents, Board of Trustees (3 members), and the ORC & B Board of Directors (comprised of the above 13 officers.) General Adjustment Committees on each property (Class 1 railroads) were responsible for execution of the contract, with each chairman, as principal officer, exercising a high degree of autonomy. Legislative matters on the state level were the responsibility of the State Legislative Committee and its chairman.

Extent

22.44 cubic feet

Additional Description

Related Materials

Related Collections: 5148 MB: Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen Memorabilia 5148 P: Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen Photographs 5754: Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen and Seaboard Airline Railroad Company General Committee of Adjustment Files 6289: Order of Railway Conductors Division 642 Records

Quantity:

22.4 linear ft.

Forms of Material:

Memorabilia, photographs.

General

Contact Information:
Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives 227 Ives Hall Tower Road Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3183 kheelref@cornell.edu https://catherwood.library.cornell.edu/kheel/
Compiled by:
Kheel Staff, July 21, 2014
EAD encoding:
Kheel Staff, March 07, 2019

Subjects

Finding Aid & Administrative Information

Title
Order of Railway Conductors and Brakemen Records
Status
Completed
Author
Compiled by Kheel Staff
Date
March 07, 2019
Language of description
Undetermined
Script of description
Code for undetermined script

Revision Statements

  • 02/23/2024: This resource was modified by the ArchivesSpace Preprocessor developed by the Harvard Library (https://github.com/harvard-library/archivesspace-preprocessor)

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives Repository

https://catherwood.library.cornell.edu/kheel/
Contact:
227 Ives Hall Tower Road
Ithaca NY 14853
607-255-3183

Staff Interface | Visit ArchivesSpace.org | v3.3.1 | Send Feedback or Report a Problem