University of Connecticut | New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Archives
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The Comptroller was an elected officer of the New Haven Railroad in charge of the Accounting Department. The Comptroller's Department supervised and directed all accounts relating to receipts and disbursements. The Comptroller had custody of the general books and accounts, vouchers, drafts, payrolls, invoices, interest coupons, bonds, and other evidence of payment; he also maintained the bonds, interest coupons and other evidence of cancelled debt. The office was responsible for preparing annual reports, which evaluated the financial situation of the company, and submitting the reports to the Interstate Commerce Commission (ICC), various state utility regulatory agencies and the stockholders. For ease of access, the ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT records and ANNUAL REPORTS are maintained as distinct record groups.
The records of the COMPTROLLER provide the researcher with a better look at company administration and policy-making than the related ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT records. Few of these records contain routine finance and operation details.
This record group is divided into three series:
| I COMPTROLLER |
| II DEPUTY COMPTROLLER |
| III ASSISTANT COMPTROLLER |
Each series is arranged numerically by a number assigned by the company; no topical index to the numbers was found in the records. The box lists that follow are sample topics included in the files rather than a list of each folder in the box.
Series I, COMPTROLLER, 1905-68 [1944-64], documents the activities of the Comptroller. The series shows employee relations in some detail. There are files on employee agreements, payroll and benefits, working conditions and strikes. The series also contains extensive information on passenger fares and relations, including claims. Located here are financial statistics, revenue forecasts, revenue reports, costs studies and audit reports. Apparently, the Comptroller acted as one of the major information distributors in the New Haven Railroad. Information was sent to publications and associations, such as the Association of American Railroads (AAR). The department maintained files on meetings, membership associations, and charities. There is also a substantial amount of information on government relations and tax issues.
Series II, DEPUTY COMPTROLLER, 1915-69 [1953-67], contains the records of this office which acted as a direct assistant to the Comptroller; most of the files in this series are associated with Deputy Comptroller A. J. Beauton. The DEPUTY COMPTROLLER files do not differ greatly from those of the Comptroller; they include information on subsidiary companies, audits, insurance, expenditures, and agreements. The records in Series I more completely document employee relations and passenger service and relations than does Series II. This series has been combined with Series I for the web presentation of the finding aid.
Series III, ASSISTANT COMPTROLLER , 1921-65 [1945-55], overlaps in content with Series I and II. More than the previous two series, this series contains records similar to those found in the ACCOUNTING DEPARTMENT record group. This series also includes an important subseries of Abandonment Files, which document the last years of operation of branches. These are arranged by rail line within each state. There is also a significant amount of material on the subsidiary companies, including the New York Connecting Railroad, the Connecticut Company and New England Transportation Company. Information on hotel properties, the Grand Central Terminal building, and freight operations is available in this series.