Matthew Usher

July 25, 2005

History 4000

 

The How and Why of Development of the Southern Railway

 

My topic for the annotated bibliography is: How and why did Southerners participate in the transportation revolution? I will be showing the sources of my research to show how the Southerners got the information, the labor, the engineering, the financing, and even the political support of getting the railroad in the South. I will also be looking into what fired the revolution in the South. I will also look into how some people were against the building of railroads.    

 

Secondary Sources  

 

1) Calhoun, Daniel Hovey. Professional Lives in America: Structure and aspiration, 1750-1850. Cambridge : Harvard University Press, 1965.

            - The basic idea of the book will look more into the lives of professionals that developed and build the railroads. This book will also look into the lives of the men that marketed the railroads as a way of moving items and people around the United States. The information might be a little dated but I believe it is a firm explain of the professionals that took railroads serious. The book can be used in my paper as a way to show who the people were that built the railroads of Georgia and the reasons why they built the railroad.

 

2) Dixon, Max. “Building the Central Railroad of Georgia.” Georgia Historical Quarterly, 1961, 1-21

            - This article will examine the details of numerous problems, such as engineering, labor, right-of-way, and finance that went into the construction of the Central Railroad of Georgia. This article can be used in my research to show all the politics, investing, and changed needed to go into the construction.

 

3) Majewski, John D., A House Dividing: economic development in Pennsylvania and Virginia before the Civil War. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2000.

            - This book is about the differences between two big cities, one of the cities being from the North and the other from the South. The book also shows how the North the economics of how the North prospered and how the South took forever to get their own railroad off the ground and rolling. This book could be used in my research as a way to show how the South differed from the North, economically and structurally. It can also shed light onto the setback the South was having in completing their railroad, and reasons why they did not need one as bad.

 

4) Stapleton, Darwin H., “The Origin of American Railroad Technology, 1825-1840.” Railroad History, 1978, 65-77.

            - This article focuses on the technology of railroads taken from England so it could be used in the beginning of railroad construction here in the States. There might be a lot of information on how the engineers took the information from England, but never the less; the information taken would help in my research with how they got the ideas for starting railroads and how they would use the railroads.

 

5) Ward, James A., “A New Look at Antebellum Southern Railroad Development.” Journal of Southern History, 39 (1973): 409-420. Jstor, Database on-line. America: History and Life, GALILEO; accessed June 29, 2005.

            - This article analyzes the explanations and discussions of southern railroad development in the antebellum period. The two explanations for southern railroad rule is the economic development of the South did not need a more complex system, and the South lacked capital to improve its lines up to the Northern level. The article shows that the South did not lack the capability and finances to improve its rail system and shows the weakness to the slow recovery from the depression of the late 1830’s, and a small number of trained civil engineers, and the disruption of overseas markets due to the Crimean War. I could uses this article to show how the South was not equal to the North but still got its railroads up to par.

 

6) Ward, James Arthur. Railroads and the Character of America, 1820-1887. Knoxville : University of Tennessee Press, 1986.

            - This article shows the historical overview of railroads in American from the 1820’s to the 1990’s that explains the rise and fall of the industry. This article will also look into the social conditions that were around during the making of the railroads. For this article, I will only being looking at the time frame from 1820’s to the 1850’s of course. The article will also tell me how the Southerners got interested into the railroads and why they built them.

 

7) Ward, James A.. “Railroads in the American Context.” Railrad History, 1994, 5-22.

            - This book is contains topical essays that plumb the rhetoric of railroad men for insight into the 19th-century American character. This book deals with the information about railroad men that were not normally seen. I believe this book will help me in my research by almost getting into the minds of the builders, and the sacrifices they went through to get the Southern railroads built.

 

8) Wisely, William H., The American Civil Engineer 1852-2002: the history, traditions, and development of the American Society of Civil Engineers. Reston, VA : American Society of Civil Engineers, 2002.

            - This book will tell the history and traditions of the American civil engineer. Insight into how the railroads were built and constructed. This book shows how the South and the rest of the American built their railroads.

 

Primary Sources

 

1) 1) Camak Family. 1817-1947, In ArchivesUSA [database online]. NUCMC Number: MS 84-2232. 5000 items. Available from the University of Georgia, Libraries, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Athens, GA

- These papers describes the lives of the Camak Family from 1817 to 1947. This family lived in Athens, Georgia and are the descendants of James A. Camak who just happens to be the founder and first president of Georgia Railroad. I believe that towards the end of the years, 1860 to 1947, probably will not help my much in my research, but from 1817 to 1860, I think these papers will show a little about what is going on inside James A. Camak’s head. I also believe these papers will show the work that goes into creating a railroad company running and even the work put into getting everything ok’ed before building anything. You can find these papers at the University of Georgia Library and yes you can look at them.

 

2) Georgia Railroad and Banking Company. 1825-1899. In ArchivesUSA [database online]. NUCMC Number: MS 84-2282. 245 items. Available from the University of Georgia, Libraries, Hargrett Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Athens Ga. 

- These are the records from the Georgia Railroad and Banking Company. I believe these records will show me how much money was put into the building of railroads, where they were build, how many people made up the entire company, how many people they paid to build the railroad, and how much flack they received for building the railroad. I could use these papers to see how the railroads were built and ran. These papers are available in the University of Georgia’s Hargrett Rare Books and Manuscript Library and can be found at the Georgia Perimeter College Library. These papers are very possible to get a hold of and viewed.

 

 

3) Harris, Robert Lewis,. 1860-1880. In ArchivesUSA [database online]. LC Reference: 00510516. 10 items. Available from the Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth NH.

- These family papers were from Robert Harris to his wife, Lucy Kimball Harris. He was a civil engineer and was employed by many different railroads. I believe there papers will help me determine the differences from the north’s railway to the south’s railways. It will also give a little bit of light to the fights and battles of building a railway. These papers are located in Portsmouth Athenaeum, Portsmouth NH. I believe that someone can contact them and get them to send the information to them for a small fee. But it would probably be to expensive to fly or drive to the location just to view a few papers.

 

4) Anti-railroad Propaganda Poster – The Growth of Regionalism, 1800-1860. In The National Archives and Records Administration. ARC Identifier: 513347. Available from the Records of The Bureau of Public Roads. Washington D.C..

- This poster will show how some people did not like the railways and banded against them. They felt they were extremely too dangerous and did not do any good for the people. I could use this poster to show another side of the railroad fight all around the country, because I believe that if the North through a fit about the railroads, I’m sure there were some people that did the same. The poster can be seen at the National Archives and Records Administration. I will be including a copy of the poster in the adjacent page.