The Railway mortgage certificates (1880-1937; 0.3 cubic feet) consist of two bound sets of railway mortgage documents. One set comprises a stack of $1000 mortgage certificate sheets for the Alabama Central Railroad, payable 1918. The second set comprises a stack of $1000 mortgage certificate sheets for the Oxford and Clarksville Railroad Company, payable November 1937. The latter includes agreements by the Richmond and Danville Railroad Company to pay the mortgage if Oxford and Clarksville defaults.
The Oxford and Clarksville Railroad Company built the now-defunct rail line connecting Clarksville, Virginia and Oxford, North Carolina. That line became part of the Southern Railway upon the latter's creation.
The Alabama Central Railroad was built and added to over the course of the late 19th century.
Source: Encyclopediaofalabama.org, Virginiaplaces.org, Carolana.com, Wikipedia.
MSS 16408, Railway mortgage certificates, Albert and Shirley Small Special Collections Library, University of Virginia.
Collection is open for research use.
Documents are bound by a "Bushnell's Perfection Binding Strap" (Alvah Bushnell Co. Makers, Philadelphia, PA). Molly Schwartzburg, curator, has requested that the documents remain within the straps. If the patron wishes to examine the documents, Schwartzburg will have to be called to the reading room to evaulaute the removal of the straps.