PA State Archives - MG-393 - Series Titles

Manuscript Group 393
PULLMAN-STANDARD CAR MANUFACTURING COMPANY
OF BUTLER, PENNSYLVANIA
RECORDS
[ca. 1902-1982]
155 cu. ft.

The Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company was a manufacturing branch of Pullman Incorporated of Chicago, and was the result of the 1930 merger between the Pullman Car and Manufacturing Corporation and the Standard Steel Car Company. The Standard Steel Car Company had been incorporated in 1902 by former executives of the Pressed Steel Car Company. Standard Steel Car Company’s major production facilities were established in Butler, Pennsylvania. In 1912, Standard acquired the Middletown Car Company, which it held until 1930. In addition to the Butler and Middletown plants, production took place at a plant in Hammond, Indiana and, through the Middletown subsidiary, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. After the merger with Pullman, the Middletown and Rio holdings were divested. During World War Two, the Butler plant produced artillery and naval shells and aerial bombs. With the increase in air and highway travel after the war, use of railroads began to decline. Pullman-Standard was affected by the reduction in demand for their rail cars and in 1981 production ceased.

Records of the Butler branch of Pullman-Standard consist primarily of general arrangement volumes, tracings and mechanical drawings of railroad freight cars and components manufactured between 1902 and 1969. Other technical material consists of trade association manuals and standards. Also included are employee indexes from 1909 to 1937 and employee records from 1949 to 1982. Audio-visual materials, including photographs, motion picture films and audio tapes, are available. Unusual items include a volume of car drawings produced by the Rio de Janeiro plant; die drawings of all the components used in the manufacture of artillery and naval shells; and a volume from the Imperial Railways of North China which contains drawings of the parts of road beds, rolling stock and locomotives, as well as pages on the operation of the railroad, conduct of personnel, and precautions to be taken during the flood season.

This collection is a gift of Pullman-Standard Car Manufacturing Company, 1986 and South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society, 1992.

Related Records:

More Pullman-related records are available at the Newberry Library in Chicago, Illinois. (Questions about the Newberry Library materials should be directed to the Newberry Library Reference Department at (312) 255-3506 or reference@newberry.org.)

Drawings and specifications from the Pullman Car Works (Chicago and Hammond, Ill. plants), Standard Steel Car, Middletown Car, Haskell and Barker, and Osgood Bradley are held by the Illinois Railway Museum's Pullman Library. Although this facility is not open to for public visitation, reference requests are answered and copies made. Inquiries should be directed to: Pullman Library, Illinois Railway Museum, P,O. Box 427, Union, IL 60180, telephone (815) 923-2020 (10 am - 4:30 pm central time).

Additional Pullman Company negatives may be found at the California State Railroad Museum Library. A list of negatives is available and copies are generated for a fee. The Pullman Company builder's photograph collection numbers over 4,100 glass plate and film negatives. The majority of the images are exterior and interior views of passenger cars and date from the late 1880s to the early 1940s. There are also views of freight cars, trucks, windows and chairs, as well as a series documenting shop activities. A database provides access to images by railroad name, car name or number, lot or plan number, Pullman negative number, and date. The Library is assembling a master file of Pullman prints for review. This set includes images for which the Library does not have an original negative. Both the negative and print files are arranged in Pullman negative number order. A descriptive catalogue of their Pullman images may be accessed at their website. (Inquiries should be directed to: California State Railroad Museum Library, 111 "I" Street, Sacramento, CA 95814 916-323-8073 or rrmuseumlibrary@parks.ca.gov.)

A large collection of Pullman Photographs (approximately 13,000 images of freight, passenger, private and street railway/rapid transit cars), titled Pullman Palace Car Company Photographs (Archives Center collection 1175), is held by the Smithsonian Institution, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Until recently, this material resided in the SI's Division of Work & Industry, and was transferred to the NMAH Archives in January 2010. The negatives date between 1888 and 1932, with few negatives dating as late as the 1950s. Additional Pullman archival records and research materials in collection 181, the Pullman Palace Car Company Collection, 1867-1969, and collection 158, the Mr. and Mrs. Arthur D. Dubin Collection, 1875-1911, are also part of the holdings. For further information, contact the Archives Center, National Museum of American History, PO Box 37012, NMAH, MRC 601,Washington, DC 20013-7012, telephone 202-633-3270 or email archivescenter@si.edu. The Pullman collections are searchable through the SIRIS catalogue by looking in the “archives, manuscripts and photos” section to find all Pullman-related material.

Some Pullman-Standard employee records from their Chicago, Ill., plant, dating from approximately circa 1900-1949, may be found at the South Suburban Genealogical and Historical Society, 320 E. 161st Place, P.O. Box 96, South Holland, IL 60473. Additional material on the Pullman family and miscellaneous Pullman Company information and photographs reside at the Chicago Historical Society, 1601 North Clark Street, Chicago, IL 60614. Architectural drawings of the Pullman company housing and shop facilities reside at the Art Institute of Chicago, Burnham Library, South Michigan Avenue & E. Adams, Chicago, IL 60601. Some drawings, floor plans and post-1932 Pullman photos, general information on Pullman manufacturing at various locations, World War II plants, traction, trolleys, ship division, advertising, are in possession of Bombardier Corp., Expressway I-95 Business Center, 3684 Meadow Lane, Bensalem, PA 19020-5914;.