Hard Work

     I am almost finished organizing the Lehigh Bridge Collection that David Zboray had initially worked on before he left the Archives. Once David left, more boxes were discovered to which I was assigned to catalog.
     A lot of the documents I have come across relate to the dissolution of the company. The Lehigh Bridge Company officially closed and liquidated its assets in 1920. I have identified numerous letters that the secretary of the company sent to shareholders notifying them of the dissolution and requesting the stock certificate. The secretary, however, was not always able to get in touch with the shareholder. At times, the shareholder may have passed away, which meant the secretary had to track down the executor of the estate.  While not always successful, more often than not he was able to reach the shareholder. When the certificate could not be discovered, a bond of indemnity covering the lost or missing certificate of stock was issued. Even though the Lehigh Bridge Company closed its doors in 1920, the secretary of the company was still contacting shareholders years later!

Sample letter from Lehigh Bridge Company secretary

Response from executor of shareholder's estate

     Compared to today, communication was not as simple or easy during the early 20th century. Without the ease of Google, email, or other networking tools, finding information took time and hard work!

                                                                                               -Alli Kowalski