Pennsylvania Railroad Pension Records, 1900-1920
Principal Investigator(s): View help for Principal Investigator(s) Samuel H. Williamson, Miami University and MeasuringWorth
Version: View help for Version V2
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Project Citation:
Williamson, Samuel H. Pennsylvania Railroad Pension Records, 1900-1920. Ann Arbor, MI: Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research [distributor], 2024-09-02. https://doi.org/10.3886/E208785V2
Project Description
Summary:
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In 1900, the Pennsylvania Railroad, the largest
non-government employer of at the time, introduced an new pension system of
mandatory retirement for all employees over 70 from vice presidents to crossing
guards. Workers in ill health could
retire after age 65 with the approval of their supervisors. The rules were that
the amount of a worker’s pension was one percent of their average earnings in
the previous ten years times the length of their service. The Pennsylvania Railroad pension became a
model for other railroads and large companies.
These data describe the first twenty years of the pension. Information about almost ten thousand
retirees was collected from the reports of the Pennsylvania Railroad Board for
the Eastern Lines from 1900 to 1920. The
data include names, occupations, average earnings, pension allowances, type of
retirement (mandatory at age 70 or by request of the retiree or his
supervisor), ages, years of service, and dates of retirement and death. The retirees are almost all male and white. The Pension Board intentionally excluded
dining car workers, who were predominantly Black.
During the first six years of the pension, average earnings
were computed by assuming full time employment, but the Pension Board began
using actual earnings in 1906. To study
the effect of this change, the Pension Board’s reports included both actual and
full-time earnings for employees who retired from 1906 to 1908.
Scope of Project
Subject Terms:
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pensions;
railroads;
retirement
Geographic Coverage:
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Middle Atlantic states, U.S.
Time Period(s):
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1900 – 1920
Methodology
Data Source:
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Pennsylvania Railroad. (1900-1920). Annual Reports. Pension Board. Pennsylvania Railroad Records, (Series 9: Pension Department, 1899-1958). Urban Archives Center. Temple University Libraries, Philadelphia PA.
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