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Reading Rooms + Newsstands

Samuel E. Busser, The Santa Fe Reading-Room System (Chicago (?) : Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (?), ca. 1915), 15

Fred Harvey: This picture and those on the following pages show some of the company's principle activities in serving American travelers. (Fred Harvey, ca. 1947), 20. Northern Arizona University. Cline Library. https://cdm16748.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/cpa/id/117541

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Emily, “Another Building from Grand Central’s Architects – the NY Railroad Branch YMCA,” I Ride the Harlem Line, (Dec. 20, 2013; updated Jan 27, 2016), https://www.iridetheharlemline.com/2013/12/20/one-more-building-from-grand-centrals-architects-the-ny-railroad-branch-ymca/

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Typical scenes at YMCAs of the era.

(Emily, “Another Building from Grand Central’s Architects – the NY Railroad Branch YMCA,” I Ride the Harlem Line, (Dec. 20, 2013; updated Jan 27, 2016), https://www.iridetheharlemline.com/2013/12/20/one-more-building-from-grand-centrals-architects-the-ny-railroad-branch-ymca/)

Facilities included a library of 6,400 volumes (with the “morally improving” books on the lower shelves and fiction up in the gallery), a reading room with easy chairs and 100 daily, weekly and monthly newspapers; the social room where members could play chess, checkers and other acceptable games; classrooms for evening classes, lectures, and workshops,; a lunchroom, kitchen and pantry, and ten sleeping rooms, as well as baths, a barbershop, a bowling alley, and a first aid station. In order to appeal to a wider range of railroad employees, activities gradually expanded to include social as well as religious and educational offerings, including billiards, bowling, and dances. Classes in practical skills (telegraphy) were offered, as well as social activities, including billiards and dances. Concerts and other events were held in the meeting hall, which included an organ.

�This would serve as a model for the AT&SF reading rooms later.

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1877 Railroad strike
1886 Railroad strike
1887 Railroad strike
1888 Railroad strike
1890 Railroad strike
1892 Railroad strike
1893 Railroad strike
1894 Railroad strike (“Debs strike”)

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Samuel E. Busser, The Santa Fe Reading-Room System (Chicago (?) : Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (?), ca. 1915), 2

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The Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway and connecting lines. Oct. 10, 1904. David Rumsey Historical Map Collection.

https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:The_Atchison,_Topeka_%26_Santa_Fe_Railway_and_connecting_lines._Oct._10,_1904.jpg

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Reasons Reading Rooms Were Needed

Food, lodging & entertainment unavailable in isolated sw towns

High turnover
Higher wages not enough

Available entertainment less than ideal

Gambling
Prostitution
Alcohol : Rule G “The use of intoxicants by employees while on duty is prohibited

Growing gap between labor and management leading to strikes

“How we may close the chasm between the employer and the employed” (Samuel E. Busser, “Santa Fe Reading Rooms,” Out West Magazine, vol. 25, no. 2 (August 1906), 131)

Lack of food, lodging, & acceptable entertainment led to constant turnover among the permanent staff -- station agents, machinists, etc. – especially those who had families. Even increased wages were not enough to attract or keep them. They did not want to bring their wives and children to these “open towns” even if their wives would have agreed. The result was that the only employees who work in these isolated stations were the ones who weren't acceptable elsewhere, yet the area, with its steep grades and other geographical challenges, called for the most qualified.

The presence of large numbers of men with money in their pockets and time on their hands attracted "the brothel, the saloon, and the gambling den."

Gambling : company had to bail out employees; wages would be garnished to pay the company back

Prostitution : repelled wives, family men

Drunkenness : led to industrial accidents, train wrecks, and damage to freight.

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1900 AT&SF plans reading-room clubhouses following the model of the Railroad YMCA

Entertainment Circuit initiated.

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Samuel E. Busser, The Santa Fe Reading-Room System (Chicago (?) : Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (?), ca. 1915), p. 19.

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Samuel E. Busser, The Santa Fe Reading-Room System (Chicago (?) : Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (?), ca. 1915), p. 9

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Why not the Railroad YMCA?

Proselytization of Evangelical Christianity

For the AT&SF, the reading rooms were first and foremost a business proposition

“Recognizing that we all have shades of religious beliefs on a great railroad system, consisting of Protestants, Roman Catholics, Jews, agnostics and infidels, ... we did not wish to coerce anyone on these matters and we deem it unwise to repel any employes from the privileges of this buildings.” (Samuel E. Busser, The Santa Fe Reading-Room System (Chicago (?) : Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (?), ca. 1915), 9).

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Because the source and center of authority rested in the Company itself, and not in any “foreign institution”

All decisions would be made on the basis of their benefit to the Company
Employees would give credit to the Company
“To unify and promote the family idea among Santa Fe employes”
“To make every member of this family an active partner in the success of the corporation”

Samuel E. Busser, “Santa Fe Reading Rooms,” Out West Magazine, vol. 25, no. 2 (August 1906), 131

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Motto of the Reading Rooms

Give a man a bath, a book and an entertainment that appeals to his mind and hopes by music and knowledge, and you have enlarged, extended and adorned his life; and, as he becomes more faithful to himself, he is more valuable to the Company.

S.E. Busser (The Santa Fe Reading-Room System, Chicago (?) : Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (?), ca. 1915), 4.)

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The Reading Room Libraries

Collections included books, magazines and newspapers

About 60% non-fiction

40% scientific and technical, 20% biography, history and travel

The remaining 40% novels.

Carl R. Graves and Kathryn A. Graves, “A Bath, a Book, and an Entertainment”: The Santa Fe Railway and Its Reading Rooms,” Railroad History no. 169 (Autumn 1993), 8.

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Fred Harvey Newsstands

1896 AT&SF VP Paul Morton proposes improving newsstand offerings (James David Henderson, Meals by Fred Harvey : A Phenomenon of the American West (Palmdale, CA : Omni Publications, 1969), 33)

December 31 Fred Harvey takes over from Railroad News Company (C. E. Betts, “Brief History of Santa Fe-Fred Harvey Relations 1875 to Date : In Four Sections,” 1 August 1942, Box 1 Folder 31 “Publications, Essays, and Chapters, 1858-1990,” Fred Harvey Papers, Fray Angélico Chávez History Library, Santa Fe, NM)
Station newsstands, Harvey House hotels, trains themselves

1902 Fred Harvey takes over publishing from AT&SF
1912 Santa Fe De Luxe debuts (“The Santa Fe De Luxe Makes Good,” Santa Fe Employes’ Magazine, vol. 6, no. 2 (Jan. 1912), p. 35-37)

Club car (for men) included a “library of western fiction, magazines, periodicals, etc.”
Observation car (for women) included “a library of the latest fiction, newspapers, weeklies and magazines”

At the same time that they were providing good literature to their employees and their families, the railroad decided to burnish its image further by providing good literature for those who traveled its line and turned to Fred Harvey to provide that standard of excellence for which it was renowned. Railroad News Company sold magazines, newspapers, books (dime novels), fruit, cigars, candy on passenger trains and at depots. Fred Harvey Co. added Harvey House hotels to the roster. One of the first things that Frank Clough, head of the division, did was to order 250 copies of Edward Noyes Westcott’s 1898 novel, David Harum. Contrary to the expectations of his superiors, they sold 1000 copies. In 1915, 17,500 copies of Gene (Geneva) Stratton-Porter’s novel Michael O’Halloran, were sold.

Club cars, as well as dining cars, were under Harvey management who provided the libraries. As far as I can tell, California Limited also included a library.

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“The Santa Fe De Luxe Makes Good,” Santa Fe Employes’ Magazine, vol. 6, no. 2 (Jan. 1912), p. 35.

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“The Santa Fe De Luxe Makes Good,” Santa Fe Employes’ Magazine, vol. 6, no. 2 (Jan. 1912), p. 35.

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“Newest Santa Fe Dining Car Meets Growing Need for Improvement,” Santa Fe Magazine, v. 19 no. 10 (Sep. 1925), p. 57

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“All the emphasis is placed on the traveling book reader and buyer. Many of the station shops or stands, however, are situated in very small communities where there are no bookstores. In such cases, naturally, the Harvey stands quite involuntarily play the dual role of catering to the traveler and of serving community needs.” (Dorothy H. Knight, “Getting Books Before the Traveling Public,” Publisher’s Weekly v. 108 (11 April 1925), p. 1308)��Of the 41 stations with Reading Rooms, 30 also had newsstands. 8 of the 30 did not have a Harvey House or a hotel. 7 of the 11 stations without a newsstand were in Kansas and 3 in California. 14 of the 41 had a Harvey House.

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Entertainment Circuit

“Ladies’ Band of Wellington, Kan.,” Santa Fe Magazine, vol. 7, no. 3 (February 1913), 36

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Did the Program Work?

“Garnishment for gambling debts is a thing of the past”
“The reading-rooms constitute the best prohibitory system of temperance in the world.”
Santa Fe employees never cursed the railroad officials, and scandals were practically unknown
“wrecks from carelessness or the violation of rules have been practically eliminated,” property damage minimized, and industrial accidents greatly reduced

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“the men [were] willing to live and work anywhere, and [did] not ache all the time for a change.”
The Santa Fe reputation for courteous treatment of passengers was due “to the entertainments given on the line, to the presence of woman in the reading-rooms, and to the high ideals set by bringing employes [sic] in touch with eminent literary and musical people from all parts of the world.”
Passengers said that they felt secure in traveling with a railroad staffed by “employes who read books and hear good music.”

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Samuel E. Busser, The Santa Fe Reading-Room System (Chicago (?) : Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (?), ca. 1915), p. 10

The Reading Room became the social center of the town. In addition to the entertainments and dances, which Busser justified as opportunities to socialize and to enjoy “the best music” at Company expense, wives of the employees formed literary clubs “for which the Company buys the literature” (Busser, “Santa Fe Reading Rooms,” 130).

In Waynoka, Ok, they formed a weekly current topics study club, which they named “The S.E.B. Club” in honor of Busser (Busser, The Santa Fe Reading-Room System, 14) and in 1932, the SEB club would found the city’s first public library.

Women requested “special teachers in every department of study” in this “quasi-university” (Busser, “Santa Fe Reading Rooms,” 130).

Busser went so far as to claim that the Railroad should be a member of the General Federation of Women's Clubs, "for it has one of the best club systems in the country" and was "doing more for the elevation and development of woman...than any hundred leading organizations in the land” (Busser, “Santa Fe Reading Rooms,” 130).

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Samuel E. Busser, The Santa Fe Reading-Room System (Chicago (?) : Atchison, Topeka & Santa Fe Railway (?), ca. 1915), p. 18

They didn’t only engage in what we might consider “womanly activities.” In Topeka, they formed a trap shooting club, in Winslow a golf club, and in Needles, a bowling league. In Barstow, they learned hammered brass work and in La Junta in 1917, telegraphy and Morse code, to replace men joining the military (“Among Ourselves,” Santa Fe Employes’ Magazine, vol. 4, no. 6 (May 1910), 79; “Among Ourselves,” Santa Fe Magazine, vol. 11, no. 9 (August 1917), 83).

The Entertainment Bureau paid for women to visit employees’ wives in their homes “teaching them how to adorn the home, the best sanitary laws and methods, and to give them the purest ideal of domestic and social life” (Busser, “Santa Fe Reading Rooms,” 130-131).

The Division Superintendent at Needles, California, “invited all the children of the town to the Reading Room and gave them a good time with ice-cream, cakes, and games of all kinds” (Busser, “Santa Fe Reading Rooms,” 131.)

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Tamed “Wide Open Towns”

“I have letters from Gallup ... which say that the reading-room...has changed the social and moral tone of the town and that the entertainments have exerted a decided influence for a quiet and refined life” (Busser, The Santa Fe Reading-Room System, 15)
A “leading banker” also wrote that the citizens of Gallup were “taking more pride in themselves and in the town ... the Santa Fe has put Gallup on the map” (Busser, The Santa Fe Reading-Room System, 17,

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Demise of the Reading Rooms

1925 35 reading rooms and club houses + 6 RRYMCAs
1926 Busser dies
1929 Great Depression begins
1938 Entertainment circuit eliminated
1940 Heyday of Reading Rooms is over

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Meanwhile, the Fred Harvey Co. Newsstands and Bookstores

Fred Harvey Collection, University of Arizona Special Collections http://harvey.library.arizona.edu/

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Fred Harvey Collection, University of Arizona Special Collections http://harvey.library.arizona.edu/

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La Fonda on the Plaza Archives

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Fred Harvey Collection, University of Arizona Special Collections http://harvey.library.arizona.edu/

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They were also publishing marketing and advertising brochures, pamphlets, and booklets for the AT&SF, along with reprinting George A. Dorsey’s anthropological Indians of the Southwest, J.F. Huckel’s American Indians : First Families of the Southwest, and They Know New Mexico: Intimate Sketches by Western Writers. They also published numerous original photographic works such as N.H. Darnton’s Story of the Grand Canyon of Arizona: A Popular Illustrated Account of Its Rock and Origin, The Great Southwest Along the Santa Fe, and Old Santa Fe and Roundabout. And, of course, various guides related to the Indian Detours. One work of particular note : The Sandpaintings of the Navajo: The Meaning and Purpose of the Sacred Art of the Medicine Man as Exemplified by Authentic Reproductions on the Wall of El Navajo Santa Fe Hotel, May 25, 1923 (Kathleen L. Howard and Marta Weigle, “Santa Fe Railway and Fred Harvey Publications, 1892-1920: A Selected Checklist” in The Great Southwest of the Fred Harvey Company and the Santa Fe Railway (Heard Museum, Univ. of Arizona Press, 1996), 219-26). It goes without saying that they sold these books in their bookstores and newsstands.

They became so well-known for their works on the Southwest that, from 1937 at least 1941(?) they issued a sales catalog, “Books of the Southwest,” which included their publications as well as works published by others.

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