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Community / Occupation

Railroad Police Sergeant Badge

Office Worker Mannequin

1995

About 20 percent of the nation’s railroad workers in the steam era were office workers. They worked in railroad stations, freight houses, yards, terminals, and company offices employed as clerks, cashiers, stenographers, messenger boys, and other positions. They created bills, kept accounts and payroll, filed reports, created timetables, assisted with correspondence, and ordered thousands of supplies.

National Park Service photograph