Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen Records
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Scope and Contents
Consists largely of internally circulated BRT publications and documents and those produced by other railroad labor organizations or by railroads.
Dates
- 1883-1973
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 Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen was founded in 1883 in Oneonta, N.Y. as a protective and insurance organization. By the time of its merger with three other railroad labor unions to form the United Transportation Union in 1969, it had the greatest membership of any of the operating railroad brotherhoods.
The Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen (BRT) was established to represent members' interests in obtaining a satisfactory contract with management. The first Canadian lodge was established in Moncton, New Brunswick in 1885, and the first Ladies' Auxiliary was organized in Fort Gratiot, Mich. In 1889. These records reflect the union's political and fraternal activities as well as its actions in the areas of collective bargaining, grievances, and railroad and labor legislation. As the largest of the unions which merged to form the United Transportation Union in 1969, the bulk of its then current files formed the basis for the files now held in the merged union's headquarters.
The rail service members of the BRT included conductors and their assistants, dining car stewards, ticket collectors, train baggagemen, brakemen, and train flagmen. The yard service members of the BRT included yardmasters, yard conductors, switchtenders, foremen, flagmen, brakemen, switchmen, car tenders, operators, hump riders, and car operators. In 1933, the BRT organized interstate bus operators, and included them under BRT contracts held with U.S. bus companies.
BRT officers were elected at the Grand Lodge Convention of the Brotherhood, held every 4 years. The principal officers included a president, an assistant to the president, a general secretary-treasurer, Canadian and national legislative representatives, a senior vice-president, BRT representative, and National Railroad Board of Adjustment representative. The BRT had four governing boards: the Board of Directors, Board of Trustees and Insurance, Board of Appeals, and Executive Board.
Extent
153.56 cubic feet
Abstract
These records deal chiefly with the union during the presidential terms of office of A.F. Whitney (1928-1949), W.P. Kennedy (1949-1963), and Charles Luna (1963-1968).
Quantity:
153 linear ft.
Forms of Material:
Records (documents) .
General
- Contact Information:
- Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation and Archives Martin P. Catherwood Library 227 Ives Hall Cornell University Ithaca, NY 14853 (607) 255-3183 kheel_center@cornell.edu http://www.ilr.cornell.edu/library/kheel-center
- Compiled by:
- Kheel Staff, August 28, 2013
- EAD encoding:
- Kheel Staff, March 07, 2019
- African American railroad employees
- Arbitration, Industrial -- Railroads -- Canada
- Arbitration, Industrial -- Railroads -- United States
- Bargaining unit -- Mediation and conciliation, Industrial -- Canada
- Bargaining unit -- Mediation and conciliation, Industrial -- United States
- Civil rights -- Law and legislation -- United States
- Coal mining industry -- United States -- Safety measures
- Collective bargaining -- Railroads -- Canada
- Collective bargaining -- Railroads -- United States
- Collective labor agreements -- Railroads -- United States
- Consumer protection -- Law and legislation -- United States
- Delaware, Lackawanna and Western Railroad Company
- Dining car attendants -- United States
- Employee fringe benefits -- Railroads -- Canada
- Employee fringe benefits -- Railroads -- United States
- Grievance procedures -- Railroads -- Indiana -- Indianapolis
- Grievance procedures -- Railroads -- New York (State) -- Syracuse
- Grievance procedures -- Railroads -- United States
- Health insurance -- Law and legislation -- United States
- Hours of labor -- Arbitration, Industrial -- United States
- Hump riders -- United States
- Job security -- Railroads -- United States
- Labor disputes -- Railroads -- United States
- Labor union insurance -- United States
- Labor unions -- Mergers -- United States
- Labor unions -- Pennsylvania -- Women's auxiliaries
- Labor unions -- United States -- Elections of officials
- Labor unions -- United States -- Local unions
- Labor unions -- United States -- Membership
- Labor unions -- United States -- Political activity
- Labor unions -- United States -- Women's auxiliaries
- Labor unions, Black -- Membership -- United States
- Layoffs -- Railroads -- United States
- Lehigh Valley Railroad Company
- Mediation and conciliation, Industrial -- Railroads -- United States
- New York Central Railroad Company
- New York, Ontario, and Western Railway Co.
- Open and closed shop -- Law and legislation -- United States
- Open and closed shop -- Railroads -- United States
- Pensions -- Railroads -- United States
- Promotions -- Railroads -- United States
- Public welfare -- Law and legislation -- United States
- Railroad baggagemen -- United States
- Railroad brakemen -- United States
- Railroad car retarder operators -- United States
- Railroad car tenders -- United States
- Railroad conductors -- United States
- Railroad flagmen -- United States
- Railroad law -- United States
- Railroad ticket collectors -- United States
- Railroad trainmen -- United States
- Railroad yard operators -- United States
- Railroad yardmasters -- United States
- Railroads -- Accidents -- United States -- Statistics
- Railroads -- Canada -- State supervision
- Railroads -- Employees -- Dismissal of -- United States
- Railroads -- Employees -- Labor unions -- Canada
- Railroads -- Employees -- Labor unions -- Canada -- Jurisdictional disputes
- Railroads -- Employees -- Labor unions -- Pennsylvania
- Railroads -- Employees -- Labor unions -- United States
- Railroads -- Employees -- Labor unions -- United States -- Jurisdictional disputes
- Railroads -- Employees -- Labor unions -- United States -- Labor union locals
- Railroads -- Employees -- Labor unions -- United States -- Labor union locals -- Membership
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Alabama
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Arizona
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- California
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- California
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Canada
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Colorado
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Connecticut
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Idaho
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Illinois
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Indiana
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Louisiana
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Massachusetts
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Minnesota
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Missouri
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Nevada
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- New Jersey
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- New Mexico
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- New York (State)
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- North Dakota
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Ohio
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Pennsylvania
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Rhode Island
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Tennessee
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Texas
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- United States
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- West Virginia
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Wisconsin
- Railroads -- Full crew rules -- Wyoming
- Railroads -- Safety appliances -- United States
- Railroads -- Safety regulations -- Pennsylvania
- Railroads -- Safety regulations -- United States
- Railroads -- State supervision -- Pennsylvania
- Railroads -- Technological innovations -- United States
- Railroads -- Train discontinuance -- United States
- Railroads -- United States -- State supervision
- Retirement -- Motor bus lines -- United States
- Retirement -- Railroads -- United States
- Seniority, Employee -- Railroads -- United States
- Strikes and lockouts -- Railroads -- United States
- Switchmen -- United States
- Trade-union rituals.
- Trucking industry -- United States
- Unemployment insurance -- Law and legislation -- Pennsylvania
- Unemployment insurance -- Law and legislation -- United States
- Unemployment insurance -- United States
- Union dues -- Canada
- Wages -- Railraods -- United States
- Wages -- Railroads -- Canada
- Wages -- Railroads -- Pennsylvania -- State supervision
- Wages -- Railroads -- United States
- Wages -- Railroads -- United States -- State supervision
- Washington Job Protection Agreement.
- Work assignment -- Railroads -- United States
- Work rules -- Railroads -- United States
- Workers' compensation -- Railroads -- United States
- Working conditions -- Railroads -- United States
- Title
- Brotherhood of Railroad Trainmen 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
Part of the Kheel Center for Labor-Management Documentation & Archives Repository
227 Ives Hall
Ithaca NY 14853