Mar 01, 2012 - Sale 2271

Sale 2271 - Lot 523

Price Realized: $ 20,400
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,500 - $ 2,500
(UNIONS.) BROTHERHOOD OF SLEEPING CAR PORTERS. An historic collection of Pullman Porter material, from the turn of the 20th century through the 1950s. Includes: an original Pullman Railroad Platform step stool, a vintage Pullman Porter's cap with brass buttons, with the metal Pullman Porter tag attached to the front, a Pullman Company towel, the original booklet with the terms of agreement between the Pullman Company and their Porters, Attendants, Maids et al, another booklet, "Instructions to Porters, Attendants, and Busboys," two Real Photo Post Cards of early Pullman Porters, two original Pullman Company photo identification tags for Omer Ester and T.R. Joseph, a group of seven promotional photographs of train travel with images of Pullman Porters, and a special book, "Go Pullman," issued by the Pullman Company. With other Pullman ephemera. should be seen. Vp, 1910-50s

Additional Details

a scarce representative collection of pullman porter memorabilia. The original Pullman Palace Car Company was organized on February 22, 1867. On January 1, 1900, after buying numerous associated and competitive companies, it was reorganized as The Pullman Co., characterized by its trademark phrase, "Travel and Sleep in Safety and Comfort." African-Americans were not immediately used as porters, but after George Pullman's death in 1897, Robert Todd Lincoln, son of Abraham Lincoln, became company president, and African-Americans more and more were the choice to serve first class white travelers. Treated as menial labor, and abused with long hours and harsh working conditions, the porters were finally organized as the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters with A. Philip Randolph, the Union's leader.