Scope and Contents
The collection consists of correspondence, financial and legal papers, clippings, and other documents relating to the Nicaragua Canal Company. Included are original charters and agreements with the Nicaraguan government to build a canal, as well as financial statements, partnership agreements between American investors, and lists of stockholders in the Nicaragua Canal Construction Company, such as former United States Vice President Levi P. Morton and a number of senators. In addition, the collection contains correspondence and documents concerning the failure of the project, shareholder lawsuits, allegations the Nicaragua Canal Construction Company mismanaged funds, and disputes between shareholder factions over a plan to reorganize the company.
Dates
- circa 1860s-1902
Language of Materials
In English, with a small amount of material in Spanish.
Conditions Governing Access
This collection is open for research
Conditions Governing Use
The Nicaragua Canal Company Records is the physical property of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the appropriate curator.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Purchased from Waiting for Godot Books on the Walter Jennings Memorial Fund, 2012.
Arrangement
Materials maintain order found at time of acquisition.
Extent
0.96 Linear Feet (3 boxes)
Catalog Record
A record for this collection is available in Orbis, the Yale University Library catalog
Persistent URL
Overview
The collection consists of correspondence, financial and legal papers, clippings, and other documents relating to the Nicaragua Canal Company. Included are original charters and agreements with the Nicaraguan government to build a canal, as well as financial statements, partnership agreements between American investors, and lists of stockholders in the Nicaragua Canal Construction Company, such as former United States Vice President Levi P. Morton and a number of senators. In addition, the collection contains correspondence and documents concerning the failure of the project, shareholder lawsuits, allegations the Nicaragua Canal Construction Company mismanaged funds, and disputes between shareholder factions over a plan to reorganize the company.
Nicaragua Canal Company
The Nicaragua Canal Company, also known as the Maritime Canal Company of Nicaragua, was chartered by the United States Congress in 1889 to build a transisthmian canal across Nicaragua. The company assumed control from the Nicaragua Canal Association, which had been assigned to the project in 1887. The Nicaragua Canal Construction Company, organized by an act of Congress incorporating the Maritime Canal Company, was tasked with developing local infrastructure for the project and building the canal. Construction began in 1890, and by 1892 the company had completed the final surveys and maps and built a project headquarters at the proposed canal entry at Greytown, Nicaragua, including barracks, a hospital, and warehouses and machine shops. The company also laid down eleven miles of railway tracks, dredged one mile of canal, and cleared 5,000 acres of forest. Amid financing issues and allegations by stockholders that the Nicaragua Canal Construction Company mismanaged funds, the project was suspended in 1893.
Processing Information
Collections are processed to a variety of levels, depending on the work necessary to make them usable, their perceived research value, the availability of staff, competing priorities, and whether or not further accruals are expected. The library attempts to provide a basic level of preservation and access for all collections, and does more extensive processing of higher priority collections as time and resources permit.
This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and minimal organization.
Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
This collection received a basic level of processing, including rehousing and minimal organization.
Information included in the Description of Papers note and Collection Contents section is drawn from information supplied with the collection and from an initial survey of the contents. Folder titles appearing in the contents list below are often based on those provided by the creator or previous custodian. Titles have not been verified against the contents of the folders in all cases. Otherwise, folder titles are supplied by staff during initial processing.
This finding aid may be updated periodically to account for new acquisitions to the collection and/or revisions in arrangement and description.
- Canals -- Nicaragua
- Canals, Interoceanic
- Charters
- Legal instruments
- Nicaragua -- Charters, grants, privileges
- Nicaragua -- Foreign relations -- United States
- Nicaragua Canal (Nicaragua)
- Nicaragua Canal Construction Company
- Nicaragua Maritime Canal Company
- United States -- Foreign relations -- Nicaragua
- Title
- Guide to the Nicaragua Canal Company Records
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- by Brooke McManus
- Date
- December 2021
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Part of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library Repository
Location
121 Wall Street
New Haven, CT 06511
Opening Hours
Access Information
The Beinecke Library is open to all Yale University students and faculty, and visiting researchers whose work requires use of its special collections. You will need to bring appropriate photo ID the first time you register. Beinecke is a non-circulating, closed stack library. Paging is done by library staff during business hours. You can request collection material online at least two business days in advance of your visit, using the request links in Archives at Yale. For more information, please see Planning Your Research Visit and consult the Reading Room Policies prior to visiting the library.