Series 9: Legal Records, 1867-1968, 1971

This series contains a wide variety of legal agreements-- contracts, deeds, leases, and licenses and property/real estate--which document the company's legal activities from approximately 1867 to 1960. The materials are richest in 19th century files created before the company's legal department instituted standard procedures and paper formats. There are ten subseries:

1. Agreements (alpha-numeric arrangement), circa 1880-1930

2. Agreements (alphabetical arrangement), circa 1880-1930

3. Facility Licenses, 1914-1916

4. Pole Licenses, 1913-1916

5. Property Leases, 1872-1963

6. Real Estate Materials, 1867-1960

7. Telephone Contracts, 1851-1921, undated

8. Correspondence about leased wires and rental fees, 1889-1917

9. Cable Divestment Materials, 1874-1960s

10. Miscellaneous, 1770-1953, 1971(not inclusive)

The bulk of the agreements are from the 1880s to the 1920s. The agreements primarily pertain to patents and the ownership (lease and sale), establishment, and maintenance of telegraph wires, poles, and land. The correspondence found with the agreements addresses terms and payments. Broad geographic regions of the United States are represented by the agreements which cover the east, west, northwest (including Alaska), south, and midwest. There are some foreign contracts between Western Union and British and Canadian companies. All foreign agreements include English translations.

The majority of agreements are trifolded and arranged by an alpha-numeric sequence. Each file corresponds to one company, individual, city or government agency and can include multiple agreements or drafts of the same. Most alphabetical letters in the sequence include documents that are organized chronologically; other letters are organized alphabetically by company name. Still other letters may begin with a chronological organization scheme and shift to an alphabetical arrangement midway. Documents within the alpha-numeric sequence are not organized sequentially; where P contracts end, Q contracts do not begin. The alpha-numeric system may have been two systems at one time; two files labeled N122, for example, one trifolded and one flat, do not correspond to the same company. This phenomenon occurs within N, O, and P sequences, in which trifolded files have been boxed separately from flat files.

Property Leases and Real Estate Materials contain documentation on properties owned by Western Union in New York City and one real estate volume that contains records of deeds, and mortgages that relate to Western Union property. Typical information includes the date the indenture was made and recorded, the parties, the sum agreed upon, a description of the land, names of witnesses, and any special terms of agreement. The Federal Valuation of Land Lines Property of Western Union, 1913-1932 consists of 6 volumes (volumes 1-5 and 7) that describe briefly the history of the Federal Valuation of Land Lines Property of Western Union by the Interstate Commerce Commission. The information includes presidential correspondence of Theo N. Vail, memoranda, clippings, photostats, schedules of properties used by Western Union, organizational charts, copies of important instructions and orders, inventories of the company's properties and statements showing expenses and investments. This is a very comprehensive work.

archivescenter@si.edu
Revised: February 5, 2013