Western Union Telegraph Company Records
name: label: Creator
content: United Telegraph Workers.
label: Creator
content: Western Union Telegraph Company
topic: label: Topic
content: Communications equipment
label: Topic
content: Communication -- International cooperation
label: Topic
content: Electric engineering
label: Topic
content: Electric engineers
label: Topic
content: Electrical equipment
label: Topic
content: Electrical science and technology
label: Topic
content: Telegraphers
label: Topic
content: Telegraph
acqinfo: label: Provenance
content: The collection was donated by Western Union in September of 1971.
creator: label: Creator
content: United Telegraph Workers.
label: Creator
content: Western Union Telegraph Company
setName: label: See more items in
content: Western Union Telegraph Company Records
abstract: label: Summary
content: The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.
accruals: label: Accruals
content: Additional materials documenting the company's activities were donated through Warren Bechtel, a former Western Union employee. Materials were donated and transferred to the Archives Center in 1986; November 1993 (Bechtel); 1996 (Bechtel); 2002 (Silva); 2003 (Gravlee); 2003 (Mulcahy); 2005 (Mulcahy); 2005 (Silva); 2006 (Bechtel); 2007 (Blumenthal); 2007 (Van Orden); 2008 (Buckendorf); 2009 (Minor); 2009 (Van Orden); 2010 (Van Orden); 2001 (Durkin); 2011 (Seagall); 2012 (Seymour); 2016 (Bechtel); Division of Work and Industry (2017); and Futronics, Inc., through Mike Gruss (2017).
bioghist: label: Biographical / Historical
content: In 1832 Samuel F. B. Morse, assisted by Alfred Vail, conceived of the idea for an electromechanical telegraph, which he called the "Recording Telegraph." This commercial application of electricity was made tangible by their construction of a crude working model in 1835-36. This instrument probably was never used outside of Professor Morse's rooms where it was, however, operated in a number of demonstrations. This original telegraph instrument was in the hands of the Western Union Telegraph Company and had been kept carefully over the years in a glass case. It was moved several times in New York as the Western Union headquarters building changed location over the years. The company presented it to the Smithsonian Institution in 1950. 

The telegraph was further refined by Morse, Vail, and a colleague, Leonard Gale, into working mechanical form in 1837. In this year Morse filed a caveat for it at the U.S. Patent Office. Electricity, provided by Joseph Henry's 1836 "intensity batteries", was sent over a wire. The flow of electricity through the wire was interrupted for shorter or longer periods by holding down the key of the device. The resulting dots or dashes were recorded on a printer or could be interpreted orally. In 1838 Morse perfected his sending and receiving code and organized a corporation, making Vail and Gale his partners. 

In 1843 Morse received funds from Congress to set-up a demonstration line between Washington and Baltimore. Unfortunately, Morse was not an astute businessman and had no practical plan for constructing a line. After an unsuccessful attempt at laying underground cables with Ezra Cornell, the inventor of a trench digger, Morse switched to the erection of telegraph poles and was more successful. On May 24, 1844, Morse, in the U.S. Supreme Court Chambers in Washington, sent by telegraph the oft-quoted message to his colleague Vail in Baltimore, "What hath God wrought!" 

In 1845 Morse hired Andrew Jackson's former postmaster general, Amos Kendall, as his agent in locating potential buyers of the telegraph. Kendall realized the value of the device, and had little trouble convincing others of its potential for profit. By the spring he had attracted a small group of investors. They subscribed $15,000 and formed the Magnetic Telegraph Company. Many new telegraph companies were formed as Morse sold licenses wherever he could. 

The first commercial telegraph line was completed between Washington, D.C., and New York City in the spring of 1846 by the Magnetic Telegraph Company. Shortly thereafter, F. O. J. Smith, one of the patent owners, built a line between New York City and Boston. Most of these early companies were licensed by owners of Samuel Morse patents. The Morse messages were sent and received in a code of dots and dashes. 

At this time other telegraph systems based on rival technologies were being built. Some companies used the printing telegraph, a device invented by a Vermonter, Royal E. House, whose messages were printed on paper or tape in Roman letters. In 1848 a Scotch scientist, Alexander Bain, received his patents on a telegraph. These were but two of many competing and incompatible technologies that had developed. The result was confusion, inefficiency, and a rash of suits and counter suits. 

By 1851 there were over fifty separate telegraph companies operating in the United States. This corporate cornucopia developed because the owners of the telegraph patents had been unsuccessful in convincing the United States and other governments of the invention's potential usefulness. In the private sector, the owners had difficulty convincing capitalists of the commercial value of the invention. This led to the owners' willingness to sell licenses to many purchasers who organized separate companies and then built independent telegraph lines in various sections of the country. 

Hiram Sibley moved to Rochester, New York, in 1838 to pursue banking and real estate. Later he was elected sheriff of Monroe County. In Rochester he was introduced to Judge Samuel L. Selden who held the House Telegraph patent rights. In 1849 Selden and Sibley organized the New York State Printing Telegraph Company, but they found it hard to compete with the existing New York, Albany, and Buffalo Telegraph Company. 

After this experience Selden suggested that instead of creating a new line, the two should try to acquire all the companies west of Buffalo and unite them into a single unified system. Selden secured an agency for the extension throughout the United States of the House system. In an effort to expand this line west, Judge Selden called on friends and the people in Rochester. This led, in April 1851, to the organization of a company and the filing in Albany of the Articles of Association for the "New York and Mississippi Valley Printing Telegraph Company" (NYMVPTC), a company which later evolved into the Western Union Telegraph Company. 

In 1854 there were two rival systems of the NYMVPTC in the West. These two systems consisted of thirteen separate companies. All the companies were using Morse patents in the five states north of the Ohio River. This created a struggle between three separate entities, leading to an unreliable and inefficient telegraph service. The owners of these rival companies eventually decided to invest their money elsewhere and arrangements were made for the NYMVPTC to purchase their interests. 

Hiram Sibley recapitalized the company in 1854 under the same name and began a program of construction and acquisition. The most important takeover was carried out by Sibley when he negotiated the purchase of the Morse patent rights for the Midwest for $50,000 from Jeptha H. Wade and John J. Speed, without the knowledge of Ezra Cornell, their partner in the Erie and Michigan Telegraph Company (EMTC). With this acquisition Sibley proceeded to switch to the superior Morse system. He also hired Wade, a very capable manager, who became his protege and later his successor. After a bitter struggle Morse and Wade obtained the EMTC from Cornell in 1855, thus assuring dominance by the NYMVPTC in the Midwest. In 1856 the company name was changed to the "Western Union Telegraph Company," indicating the union of the Western lines into one compact system. In December, 1857, the Company paid stockholders their first dividend. 

Between 1857 and 1861 similar consolidations of telegraph companies took place in other areas of the country so that most of the telegraph interests of the United States had merged into six systems. These were the American Telegraph Company (covering the Atlantic and some Gulf states), The Western Union Telegraph Company (covering states North of the Ohio River and parts of Iowa, Kansas, Missouri, and Minnesota), the New York Albany and Buffalo Electro-Magnetic Telegraph Company (covering New York State), the Atlantic and Ohio Telegraph Company (covering Pennsylvania), the Illinois & Mississippi Telegraph Company (covering sections of Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois), and the New Orleans & Ohio Telegraph Company (covering the southern Mississippi Valley and the Southwest). All these companies worked together in a mutually friendly alliance, and other small companies cooperated with the six systems, particularly some on the West Coast. 

By the time of the Civil War, there was a strong commercial incentive to construct a telegraph line across the western plains to link the two coasts of America. Many companies, however, believed the line would be impossible to build and maintain. 

In 1860 Congress passed, and President James Buchanan signed, the Pacific Telegraph Act, which authorized the Secretary of the Treasury to seek bids for a project to construct a transcontinental line. When two bidders dropped out, Hiram Sibley, representing Western Union, was the only bidder left. By default Sibley won the contract. The Pacific Telegraph Company was organized for the purpose of building the eastern section of the line. Sibley sent Wade to California, where he consolidated the small local companies into the California State Telegraph Company. This entity then organized the Overland Telegraph Company, which handled construction eastward from Carson City, Nevada, joining the existing California lines, to Salt Lake City, Utah. Sibley's Pacific Telegraph Company built westward from Omaha, Nebraska. Sibley put most of his resources into the venture. The line was completed in October, 1861. Both companies were soon merged into Western Union. This accomplishment made Hiram Sibley leader of the telegraph industry. 

Further consolidations took place over the next several years. Many companies merged into the American Telegraph Company. With the expiration of the Morse patents, several organizations were combined in 1864 under the name of "The U.S. Telegraph Company." In 1866 the final consolidation took place, with Western Union exchanging stock for the stock of the other two organizations. The general office of Western Union moved at this time from Rochester to 145 Broadway, New York City. In 1875 the main office moved to 195 Broadway, where it remained until 1930 when it relocated to 60 Hudson Street. 

In 1873 Western Union purchased a majority of shares in the International Ocean Telegraph Company. This was an important move because it marked Western Union's entry into the foreign telegraph market. Having previously worked with foreign companies, Western Union now began competing for overseas business. 

In the late 1870s Western Union, led by William H. Vanderbilt, attempted to wrest control of the major telephone patents, and the new telephone industry, away from the Bell Telephone Company. But due to new Bell leadership and a subsequent hostile takeover attempt of Western Union by Jay Gould, Western Union discontinued its fight and Bell Telephone prevailed. 

Despite these corporate calisthenics, Western Union remained in the public eye. The sight of a uniformed Western Union messenger boy was familiar in small towns and big cities all over the country for many years. Some of Western Union's top officials in fact began their careers as messenger boys. 

Throughout the remainder of the nineteenth century the telegraph became one of the most important factors in the development of social and commercial life of America. In spite of improvements to the telegraph, however, two new inventions--the telephone (nineteenth century) and the radio (twentieth century)--eventually replaced the telegraph as the leaders of the communication revolution for most Americans. 

At the turn of the century, Bell abandoned its struggles to maintain a monopoly through patent suits, and entered into direct competition with the many independent telephone companies. Around this time, the company adopted its new name, the American Telephone and Telegraph Company (AT&T). 

In 1908 AT&T gained control of Western Union. This proved beneficial to Western Union, because the companies were able to share lines when needed, and it became possible to order telegrams by telephone. However, it was only possible to order Western Union telegrams, and this hurt the business of Western Union's main competitor, the Postal Telegraph Company. In 1913, however, as part of a move to prevent the government from invoking antitrust laws, AT&T completely separated itself from Western Union. 

Western Union continued to prosper and it received commendations from the U.S. armed forces for service during both world wars. In 1945 Western Union finally merged with its longtime rival, the Postal Telegraph Company. As part of that merger, Western Union agreed to separate domestic and foreign business. In 1963 Western Union International Incorporated, a private company completely separate from the Western Union Telegraph Company, was formed and an agreement with the Postal Telegraph Company was completed. In 1994, Western Union Financial Services, Inc. was acquired by First Financial Management Corporation. In 1995, First Financial Management Corporation merged with First Data Corporation making Western Union a First Data subsidiary. 

Many technological advancements followed the telegraph's development. The following are among the more important: 

The first advancement of the telegraph occurred around 1850 when operators realized that the clicks of the recording instrument portrayed a sound pattern, understandable by the operators as dots and dashes. This allowed the operator to hear the message by ear and simultaneously write it down. This ability transformed the telegraph into a versatile and speedy system. 

Duplex Telegraphy, 1871-72, was invented by the president of the Franklin Telegraph Company. Unable to sell his invention to his own company, he found a willing buyer in Western Union. Utilizing this invention, two messages were sent over the wire simultaneously, one in each direction. 

As business blossomed and demand surged, new devices appeared. Thomas Edison's Quadruplex allowed four messages to be sent over the same wire simultaneously, two in one direction and two in the other. 

An English automatic signaling arrangement, Wheatstone's Automatic Telegraph, 1883, allowed larger numbers of words to be transmitted over a wire at once. It could only be used advantageously, however, on circuits where there was a heavy volume of business. 

Buckingham's Machine Telegraph was an improvement on the House system. It printed received messages in plain Roman letters quickly and legibly on a message blank, ready for delivery. 

Vibroplex, c. 1890, a semi-automatic key sometimes called a "bug key," made the dots automatically. This relieved the operator of much physical strain.
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 452 Cubic feet (871 boxes and 23 map folders)
unitdate: label: Date
content: circa 1820-1995
custodhist: label: Custodial History
content: This collection originated as a portion of the Western Union Telegraph Museum begun in 1912 by H.W. Drake, an electrical engineer of the Western Union Company. He collected old telegraph instruments and other apparatus for their historic value and for their use in commercial and advertising displays or exhibits. Later these collected devices were instrumental in settling patent litigation for the company. He also collected the ancillary archival materials that comprise this collection. In 1930, when Western Union's general headquarters moved from 195 Broadway to 60 Hudson Street, a small room was set aside to house the growing collection of artifacts and papers.

In 1933 Western Union was represented in an exhibit at the Century of Progress exposition in Chicago. Many instruments from the collection of the Western Union Museum were included in the exposition. To fully detail the history of the telegraph, many original instruments were borrowed from the Smithsonian Institution and replicated. These reproductions helped improve Western Union's collection. When the fair ended, the objects were returned to the renamed Western Union Engineering Museum. In the early 1930s internal memoranda were sent to Western Union divisional plant superintendents urging them to save old telegraph instruments. Soon thereafter old instruments arrived from Western Union's divisions around the country. Engineering Department laboratories in particular sent many objects. By 1936 over five hundred artifacts had been collected. The museum was maintained by J. Schmid and volunteers from the Engineering Division. 

In 1969, Western Union officials decided to close the Museum and to use its space for offices. The objects and archival material were to be stored in a warehouse in Allentown, Pennsylvania. At that time Smithsonian curators suggested to Western Union that certain material be transferred to the Smithsonian rather than to storage. It was hoped that this would ensure the preservation and availability of at least some items. At this time J.E. Stebner, the Western Union Museum curator, donated many items to the Smithsonian, believing that they would be permanently preserved and used in relating the story of communication. 

In January, 1971, Western Union officials proposed a transfer of the Western Union Museum to the National Museum of History and Technology (now the National Museum of American History) under an indefinite loan agreement in the hopes of making the materials more readily available for exhibition purposes and for use by historians. In September, 1971, the collection was received by the Museum as a gift and was deposited in the Division of Electricity (now part of the Division of Information Technology and Society).
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Archives Center, National Museum of American History
identifier: label: Identifier
content: NMAH.AC.0205
objectType: label: Type
content: Collection descriptions
label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Administrative records
label: Type
content: Articles
label: Type
content: Books
label: Type
content: Clippings
label: Type
content: Contracts
label: Type
content: Drawings
label: Type
content: Photographs
label: Type
content: Patents
label: Type
content: Newsletters
label: Type
content: Photograph albums
label: Type
content: Scrapbooks
label: Type
content: Specifications
label: Type
content: Technical documents
arrangement: label: Arrangement
content: The collection is divided into twenty-seven series.

Series 1: Historical and Background Information, 1851-1994

Series 2: Subsidiaries of Western Union, 1844-1986

Series 3: Executive Records, 1848-1987

Series 4: Presidential Letterbooks and Writings, 1865-1911 

Series 5: Correspondence, 1837-1985

Series 6: Cyrus W. Field Papers, 1840-1892 

Series 7: Secretary's Files, 1844-1987

Series 8: Financial Records, 1859-1995 

Series 9: Legal Records, 1867-1968

Series 10: Railroad Records, 1854-1945

Series 11: Law Department Records, 1868-1979

Series 12: Patent Materials, 1840-1970 

Series 13: Operating Records, 1868-1970s

Series 14: Westar VI-S, 1974, 1983-1986

Series 15: Engineering Department Records, 1874-1970

Series 16: Plant Department Records, 1867-1937, 1963

Series 17: Superintendent of Supplies Records, 1888-1948

Series 18: Employee/Personnel Records 1852-1985

Series 19: Public Relations Department Records, 1858-1980 

Series 20: Western Union Museum, 1913-1971 

Series 21: Maps, 1820-1964

Series 22: Telegrams, 1852-1960s 

Series 23: Photographs, circa 1870-1980

Series 24: Scrapbooks, 1835-1956 

Series 25: Notebooks, 1880-1942

Series 26: Audiovisual Materials, 1925-1994

Series 27: Addenda (Series Level)

Series 28: Addenda 2024 (Telegrams)
processinfo: label: Processing Information
content: Processed by Robert Harding, archivist, 1986 and Alison Oswald, archivist, 1995-ongoing.

Employee wage cards in Series 18, Boxes 576 and 577 digitized by Noah Stewart, digitization technician, 2025.
genre_format: label: Genre/Form
content: Administrative records
label: Genre/Form
content: Articles
label: Genre/Form
content: Books
label: Genre/Form
content: Clippings
label: Genre/Form
content: Contracts
label: Genre/Form
content: Drawings
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 19th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Patents
label: Genre/Form
content: Photographs -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Newsletters
label: Genre/Form
content: Photograph albums
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks -- 19th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Scrapbooks -- 20th century
label: Genre/Form
content: Specifications
label: Genre/Form
content: Technical documents
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: The collection is divided into twenty-eight (28) series and consists of approximately 400 cubic feet. The collection documents in photographs, scrapbooks, notebooks, correspondence, stock ledgers, annual reports, and financial records, the evolution of the telegraph, the development of the Western Union Telegraph Company, and the beginning of the communications revolution. The collection materials describe both the history of the company and of the telegraph industry in general, particularly its importance to the development of the technology in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The collection is useful for researchers interested in the development of technology, economic history, and the impact of technology on American social and cultural life.
relatedmaterial: label: Related Materials
content: Materials in the Archives Center

Additional moving image about Western Union Telegraph Company can be found in the Industry on Parade Collection (AC0507). This includes Cable to Cuba! by Bell Laboratory, AT & T, featuring the cable ship, the C.S. Lord Kelvin, and Communications Centennial! by the Western Union Company.

Materials at Other Organizations

Hagley Museum and Library, Wilmington, Delaware. 

Western Union records (Western Union Right of Way and Other Agreements, 1848-1990, bulk: 1910-1989 and the Western Union Locality Files, 1892-1995, bulk: 1910-1989) form part of the MCI Communications Corporation Records, 1849-1999. See accession 2225.  

First Data Corporation, Greenwood Village, Colorado.

Records of First Data Corporation and its predecessors, including Western Union, First Financial Management Corporation (Atlanta) and First Data Resources (Omaha). Western Union collection supports research of telegraphy and related technologies, and includes company records, annual reports, photographs, print and broadcast advertising, telegraph equipment, and messenger uniforms.

Smithsonian Institution Archives

Western Union Telegraph Expedition, 1865-1867

This collection includes correspondence, mostly to Spencer F. Baird, from members of the Scientific Corps of the Western Union Telegraph Expedition, including Kennicott, Dall, Bannister, and Elliott; copies of reports submitted to divisional chiefs from expedition staff members; newspaper clippings concerning the expedition; copies of notes on natural history taken by Robert Kennicott; and a journal containing meteorological data recorded by Henry M. Bannister from March to August, 1866.
separatedmaterial: label: Separated Materials
content: Artifacts (apparatus and equipment) were donated to the Division of Information Technology and Society, now known as the Division of Work & Industry, National Museum of American History.