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ERRETT M. GRAHAM : 1910 UNIQUE ORIGINAL MANUSCRIPT DIARY HANDWRITTEN BY A YOUNG AMBITIOUS RAILROAD ENGINEER AND HIS WIFE WHO SHARES HIS DEVOTION TO RAILROADING AND ADVANCEMENT

16mo - over 5¾" - 6¾" tall. On offer is the simply sensational original 1910 manuscript diary and superb relic of early 20th century railroad Americana based out of Tunnelton West Virginia. Uniquely this diary is written by Railroad Engineer Errett M. Graham [b. June 8, 1877 - d. 1974] and his wife 'Lena'. From a Women's and or Gender Studies perspective this diary is impressive: Lena, a native of Irvington Indiana, is an equal and impressive partner in many ways: Errett writes of his specific railroad work, the politics, the concerns on a technical and political level and when his wife writes we get more of the same she never fails to use her husband's diary as he would detail his duties of the day, the effect of the politics on her husband and the railroad company. Of course she shares her life too but all with the backdrop of the railroad. Readers will begin to understand that the railroad is a blood and bone deep vocation and not just a job when we learn the Errett's brother Ernie is also a railroad man and he is tragically killed in Grafton West Virginia. This is truly a one of a kind journal with a one of a kind relationship in a husband and wife. Research and a more than casual reading find our 33 year old author, who was a graduate of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Boston, is ambitious and refuses to be pigeon-holed loading and repairing trains. He refers to his Johnson City based boss as 'His Lordship' and Graham's relief at his new job with more responsibilities is palpable. This diary is very full and sometimes they write upside down or crosshatch. Collectors and historians of railroad ephemera will be hard pressed to find a pair of writers so connected and involved in the middle management of railroads. Included are a number of pieces of ephemera littering the diary: 1901 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Employee Boarding Pass (1-Year Pass); 1902 Baltimore & Ohio Royal Blue Line Boarding Pass (1 trip); 1907 South and Western Railroad Boarding Pass (1-Year Pass); 1908 South and Western Railroad Boarding Pass (1-Year Pass); 1910 Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Employee Boarding Pass Position: Resident Engineer and Force (1-Year Pass); 1910 The Pullman Company Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Boarding Pass (1-Year Pass); 1905 Alumni Association of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology certificate of lifetime membership along with receipt of membership fee; a letter regarding employment dated 1909, typewritten and signed by the second vice president of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company; signature of someone with the last name "Graham" (could be E. M.) on a plain note card; a newspaper clipping featuring a picture of E. M. Graham. The text block is detached from the cover but otherwise VG.. Manuscript. Book Condition: Very Good

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