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Southeastern Express Company Labor Arbitration Collection

An inventory of the collection at Syracuse University


Finding aid created by: MRC
Date: 19 Jun 2018



Biographical History

The American Railway Express Company, later known as the Railway Express Agency, was a national package delivery service that operated in the United States from 1918 to 1975. It controlled almost all domestic U.S. express business until 1921, when the Southeastern Express Company was formed out of the Southern Railway Company and the Mobile & Ohio Railroad Company, and began operating over some 10,000 miles of track in the southeastern part of the country.

The Brotherhood of Railway, Airline, and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express, and Station Employees was founded in 1899 as the Order of Railroad Clerks of America and exists today as the Transportation Communications International Union. Its purpose is to represent and advocate for employees of a wide range of transportation companies.


Scope and Contents of the Collection

The Southeastern Express Company Labor Arbitration Collection consists of documents, handwritten notes and court exhibits pertaining to a labor dispute in the mid-1930s between the company and its employees' union, the Brotherhood of Railway, Airline, and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express, and Station Employees.

Documents consists of typed court documents including decisions, dockets, court filings, notifications, and so on. Many of these have handwritten annotations.

Exhibits consist of various documents, published items, and statements that were offered as evidence in the case. The exhibits, which are numbered, are annotated as "Carriers' exhibit" (presumably offered by the Southeastern Express Company) or "Employee exhibit" (presumably offered by the union). There are a few items marked as "Board exhibit" and "Agency exhibit." Many have handwritten annotations.

Notes, either background of or preparation for the case, are handwritten, most on the letterhead of the Prince George Hotel in New York City. They appear to be all in the same hand. One is stapled to a typed carbon copy of an agreement regarding the establishment of a Board of Adjustment.


Arrangement of the Collection

Documents are arranged chronologically. Exhibits are arranged by number. Notes are in no particular order.


Restrictions

Access Restrictions:

The majority of our archival and manuscript collections are housed offsite and require advanced notice for retrieval. Researchers are encouraged to contact us in advance concerning the collection material they wish to access for their research.

Use Restrictions:

Written permission must be obtained from SCRC and all relevant rights holders before publishing quotations, excerpts or images from any materials in this collection.


Subject Headings

Corporate Bodies

Brotherhood of Railway, Airline, and Steamship Clerks, Freight Handlers, Express, and Station Employees.
Southeastern Express Company.

Subjects

Arbitration, Industrial.
Labor disputes -- United States -- 20th century.
Labor unions -- United States.
Railroads -- Employees.
Railroads -- United States.

Genres and Forms

Agreements.
Case files.
Decisions (judicial records)
Dockets.
Legal files.
Notes (documents)

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation

Preferred citation for this material is as follows:

Southeastern Express Company Labor Arbitration Collection,
Special Collections Research Center,
Syracuse University Libraries

Acquisition Information

Unknown.


Table of Contents

Arbitration paperwork


Inventory