Does any Society member own (or know where is located) annual reports of the Florida Railway & Navigation Company, or its successor the Florida Central and Peninsular Railroad? At century turn the FC & P was sold to the Seaboard Air Line Railway syndicate. The reports are needed for a forthcoming book. Xerox copies are needed or I'll purchase same. Thanks!

-- Gregg Turner (GreggTurner@msn.com), October 27, 2004

Answers

Another possible source is the Interstate Commerce Commission collection, now at the National Archives II building in suburban Maryland just outside Washington. These files usually do not have the printed stockholders reports, however they contain the ICC version of an annual report, a standard booklet form filled in with the usual statistics on finances, equipment inventories, and so on. I am not clear if these reports go back as far as the 1880s-1890s. In researching other railroads I have found that state public service commissions also often had their own versions of these reports.

The contact for the National Archives ICC collection is David Pfeiffer, (301) 837-2052.

-- Larry Goolsby (lgoolsby@aphsa.org), November 01, 2004.

I did say I might be proven wrong. Publicly traded companies were not required by law to have annual reports until the Securities and Exchange Act of 1933. Some companies, in fact, did issue reports prior to being required by federal law.

On the other hand, since states chartered railroads, states may have required an "annual report" to be filed with the Secretary of State's office. This would explain why universities and/or state libraries end up with these documents (they tend to serve as the archives for the state). This is just speculation on my part, but sounds like a logical explanation.

I would contact the Secretary of State's office in Tallahassee and ask them where the documents might be found. Their website is - www.dos.state.fl.us. The phone number is - 850-245-6500.

-- Bill Parks (bparks_43@yahoo.com), November 01, 2004.

Bill -

Sorry to have to refute your answer, BUT, I have seen railroad annual reports from New England companies from 1840's-1850's, and from railroads in the southeast states from almost the same era. Any company who had stockholders issued annual reports. There are collections of these early reports in various state and university libraries, as well as at the Library of Congress. Virginia Tech has some pre-1860 railroad annual reports from Southern Ry predecessors. It's all a matter of finding out where these items are being held. I'd be willing to bet that the FC&P reports exist somewhere. But, where is still the question, eh Gregg?

-- Tom Underwood (tlu1650@attglobal.net), November 01, 2004.

Gregg -

I seriously doubt that any annual reports exist (although I may be proven wrong). Given that they weren't required until 1933, and then only for publicly traded companies, I would be suprised if railroads in the late 1800's (especially given their shakey financial conditions) would have wanted the public to know what was really happening.

Anyway - good luck with the book.

-- Bill Parks (bparks_43@yahoo.com), October 31, 2004.