These collections were created to support those researching employees

who worked at the Standard Steel Car Company, a Butler manufacturer of

railroad cars in the early part of the twentieth century. The company

merged with Pullman in the 1930s and became Pullman-Standard Car

manufacturing Company.

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The collections include:

 

- Standard Steel Car Company Employee Records: This collection consists

of approximately 35 linear feet and is estimated to contain over 12,000 5 X 7 employee record cards. The cards are alphabetized by employee surname. Volunteers are needed to complete an index of this collection.

 

- Standard Steel Car Company Employee Records: Franko Collection - This collection consists of approximately 6 linear feet and is estimated to contain over 6400 5 X 7 employee record cards for those employees who were members of St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church. The cards are organized in the order they were received, making an index critical to navigating the collection.

 

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- Standard Steel Car Company Employee Records on Microfilm: Microfilmed copy of employee record collection, estimated to contain over 8,000 5 X 7 employee record cards. The cards are alphabetized by employee surname. Reels 7, 8, 19, 20, 21, 22 contain cards not alphabetized in main set of films.

 

These records provide a wealth of genealogical information as they note the place and date of birth for employees. In some cases, family data is provided. Migration can also be discerned from information about previous employment. While the fields of data are standardized, the depth of response by the employees varies considerably.

 

Information relating to the employee may include: name variation; place and date of birth; marital status; race; age; address; check/badge number; date of employment; occupation; pay rate; if previously employed by Standard Steel Car, reason for leaving; wife's or parents' address; names, ages, and addresses of dependents; education; citizenship; and land ownership.

 

Not all employee record cards are contained in the collection. Some may have been lost at the time of salvage, and others were given to family members or kept as souvenirs. It is not known when this employee record keeping system was initiated or discontinued.

 

Several organizations and individuals are responsible for the conservation and preservation of this collection, including the Frank Franko family, St. John the Baptist Byzantine Catholic Church and the Butler County Historical Society. A great deal of gratitude goes to Joyce Salak for her work to promote access to the collection and maintain its integrity and provenance.