Thanks to our partners at the Railroad House Historical Association and Museum in Sanford, North Carolina, DigitalNC is proud to announce that a variety of records relating to our state’s railroad history are now available online! Ranging from as far back as 1894 (and as recently as 1984!), these materials encompass a variety of aspects relating to our state’s steam engines — from coal mining to passenger rail. They will join an already existing collection of materials from the Railroad House Museum uploaded earlier this year, deepening the digital presence of Lee County’s oldest building. Materials in this batch include annual reports, newspaper clippings, and ration books, as well as a collection of local high school yearbooks.
The front page of the Langdon-Henszey mortgage bill.
Ardent railroad fans will be pleased to know that DigitalNC now has a modest collection of Rail South, a bimonthly magazine written by and for locomotive aficionados. Each issue featured stories on train-spotting across the Southeastern United States, as well as updates on the construction and operation of major rail lines across North Carolina. Letters from conductors, union leaders, and trainspotters were also featured in each issue, granting the magazine a community-oriented and grassroots feel. Even if you’re not a train-head, these magazines are a fascinating glimpse into an industry, sub-culture, and even hobby that you may be unaware of. It’s somewhat amusing to flip through each issue and read perspectives on apparently longstanding and contentious topics, such as the disappearance of Chessie Coal Trains, or the relative rarity of color slides depicting “ICG SW14s.”
A personal highlight of this collection, however, is a mortgage deed dating from 1894. The deed was issued by the Langdon-Henszey Coal Mining Company for five hundred dollars, which was due in full twenty years after being issued. These deeds were given by the company to workers based out of then-Egypt, North Carolina (now known as Lumnock). It included stamps that were dated with each payment amount and due-date. The document is a wonderful piece of mining history, and demonstrates the centrality of coal corporations to its employees. On a logistical level, it’s wild to see how mortgage deeds worked before the advent of modern payment methods — before digital banking, one’s entire history resided in one collection of card-stock.
The front cover of this batch’s War Ration Book, given to Archie M Hubbard
Also included in this collection is a ration book from the second world war, which also charged its owner with maintaining a collection of stamps — to be cashed in exchange for household goods such as sugar, flour, and cloth. The book was created just fifty years after the Langdon-Henszey mortgage, and similarly grants us a glimpse into the everyday logistics of a pre-digital age. It’s interesting to note that neither the mortgage nor the ration book are exhausted of their stamps, suggesting that the recipient of the ration-book was perhaps more fiscally secure than the grantee of the mortgage.
Other items of note in this collection include dedication programs for railroad depots, timetables for passenger train rails to Asheville, and a written account of locomotive history within North Carolina. You can find the new rail memorabilia and yearbooks online now at DigitalNC. Interested in learning more about Lee County history? You can find our partners at the Railroad House Historical Association and Museum online at their partner page here, or search our collections by location here. Thanks again to our wonderful partners at the Railroad House Historical Association and Museum for making these records available.