A wonderfully pointed piece of Civil War era railroad history, issued by the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad’s Committee of Finance in the midst of a public fight over the company’s policies and its obligations to the City of Baltimore.

The report answers charges made by Baltimore’s mayor in his January 1865 annual message and mounts a detailed defense of the B&O’s management, finances, rates, traffic, expansion, debt, and broader corporate policy. Rather than a routine annual report, this is essentially the railroad answering its critics in print at a moment when the B&O was one of the most strategically and economically important transportation systems in the country.

The Johns Hopkins connection is particularly interesting. Hopkins was a longtime director of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad and was serving as chairman of its powerful Finance Committee when this report was issued. The pamphlet therefore belongs directly to the corporate world in which Hopkins spent a substantial portion of his business career before establishing the institutions that would bear his name.

An appealing piece for collectors of early American railroads, Baltimore history, Civil War era commerce, corporate history, or Johns Hopkins material. This report is scarce in the marketplace and does not appear with any regularity in the trade.

Edition Details

Author: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, Committee of Finance
Title: Report of the Committee of Finance of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company, Being a Review and Vindication of the Policy of the Company from the Charges Made in the Annual Message of the Mayor of Baltimore, Dated January 3, 1865
Place: Baltimore
Publisher: Kelly & Piet, Printers
Date: 1865
Edition/Issue: Finance Committee report issued in response to charges made by the Mayor of Baltimore concerning the policy and management of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad
Format: Pamphlet
Binding: Disbound; previously bound and removed
Pagination: 45 pp., followed by unpaginated errata leaf
Subject: Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, Johns Hopkins, railroad finance, Baltimore civic affairs, Civil War era transportation, corporate policy

Condition

Disbound, with the spine exposed and remnants of the original sewing still present. General age toning with scattered light spotting, handling wear, and minor edge wear consistent with an ephemeral pamphlet of this age. The errata leaf is present.

Please see photographs for the best description of condition.