The University of Chicago Library > The Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center > Finding Aids > Guide to the Delos Franklin Wilcox Papers 1907-1928
© 2006 University of Chicago Library
| Title: | Wilcox. Delos Franklin. Papers |
|---|---|
| Dates: | 1907-1928 |
| Size: | 24 linear ft. (46 boxes) |
| Repository: |
Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center |
| Abstract: | Delos Franklin Wilcox (1873-1928), Franchise and public utility expert. Correspondence, reports, analyses, articles, pamphlets, graphs, tables, and notes. Material relates to public utility issues. |
No restrictions
When quoting material from this collection, the preferred citation is: Wilcox. Delos Franklin. Papers, [Box #, Folder #], Hanna Holborn Gray Special Collections Research Center, University of Chicago Library
Delos F. Wilcox (1873-1928) was a franchise and public utility expert. He was born on a farm near Ida, Michigan and was educated at both the University of Michigan, where John Dewey's work influenced him, and at Columbia University. He served as secretary of various civic organizations in Cleveland, Grand Rapids and Detroit. In 1907, he became Chief of the Bureau of Franchises of the Public Service Commission for the First District of New York (New York City). He resigned in 1913 to become Deputy Commissioner of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity of New York City, a position that he held until 1917. During this period he wrote three books, The American City (1904), Great Cities in America (1910) and Municipal Franchises in two volumes (1910-1911), in addition to numerous pamphlets and articles.
In 1917, Wilcox organized a staff of assistants and established himself as a consultant on utility problems-always on the side of the public. He was employed as an expert in special utility investigations, traction surveys, valuation and rate proceedings, arbitrations and franchise settlements. He lectured extensively and was active in many civic organizations, notably the National Municipal League.
The papers cover the years 1907 to 1928 and include analyses of utility problems prepared for the various municipalities which consulted Wilcox, reports and articles for periodicals, correspondence concerning the investigations, graphs, tables and handwritten notes, prepared by either Wilcox or his staff. The collection is arranged alphabetically by topic.
The following related resources are located in the Department of Special Collections:
http://www.lib.uchicago.edu/e/spcl/select.html
| Box 1 Folder 1-6 | Akron, Ohio, 1918-1925, Report on traction service and public relations of Northern Ohio Traction and Light Company. |
| Box 2 Folder 1-2 | Bluefield, West Virginia, 1922-1923, Investigations into proposed increase in water rates |
| Box 2 Folder 3 | Books by Delos F. Wilcox, Correspondence in re |
| Box 2 Folder 4-6 | Boston, Massachusetts, 1918, Street railway investigation |
| Box 3 Folder 1-2 | Bronxville, New York, 1917, Water rate case |
| Box 3 Folder 3-5 | Bureau of Standards, U.S. Department of Commerce, 1918, Special appointment of D.F. Wilcox |
| Box 3 Folder 6-7 | Business plans of D.F. Wilcox, 1920, Prospectus |
| Box 3 Folder 8 | Case lists of court trials, 1900-1920 |
| Box 4 Folder 1-5 | Chicago, Illinois, 1918-1920, 1925-1928, Mayor Thompson's Transportation Committee, traction ordinance investigation. |
| Box 5 Folder 1-2 | Cincinnati, Ohio, 1920-1921, 1924-1926, Analysis of proposed street railways |
| Box 5 Folder 3-6 | City planning and housing, 1900-1925, Articles, pamphlets, etc. |
| Box 6 Folder 1-6 | Cleveland, Ohio, 1912-1913, 1918-1922, 1926, Street railway problems |
| Box 6 Folder 7-9 | Committee to Inquire into the Status of Democracy, 1909-1910, Circular No. 1, "Privilege vs. Democracy" |
| Box 7 Folder 1-4 | Committee to Inquire into the Status of Democracy, 1910-1911, Circular No. 2, "The Confusion of Property with Privilege" |
| Box 7 Folder 5 | Denver, Colorado, 1915, Special reports to counsel for City of Denver in water rate case |
| Box 7 Folder 6-7 | Denver, Colorado, 1919-1920, Denver Tramways Service-at-cost investigation |
| Box 8 Folder 1-3 | Denver, Colorado, 1919-1920, Denver Tramways Service-at-cost investigation |
| Box 8 Folder 4-7 | Depreciation study, n. d. |
| Box 9 Folder 1-6 | Detroit, Michigan, 1919-1922, Mayor Couzens' Street railway plan |
| Box 10 Folder 1-4 | Detroit, Michigan, 1923-1925, Street railway investigation |
| Box 10 Folder 5-6 | Elections of 1912-1914, National Progressive Party |
| Box 11 Folder 1 | Election of 1920, League of Nations Statement |
| Box 11 Folder 2-5 | Election of 1924, Progressive Party literature |
| Box 12 Folder 1-7 | Federal Electric Railways Commission, 1919-1921, Analysis of testimony submitted at public hearings and supplementary data in relation to condition of electric railway industry and solution of its problems, material in relation to the private publications of D.F. Wilcox's report |
| Box 13 Folder 1-3 | Federal Electric Railways Commission (continued) |
| Box 13 Folder 4-5 | John H. Gray pamphlets, 1900-1923 |
| Box 13 Folder 6-7 | Great Cities |
| Box 14 Folder 1-3 | Health and Social Hygiene, 1900-1920, Pamphlets and literature |
| Box 14 Folder 4-5 | Jacksonville, Florida, 1924-1925, Street railway investigation |
| Box 14 Folder 6-7 | Kalamazoo, Michigan, 1919-1924, Street railway investigation |
| Box 15 Folder 1-2 | Kansas City, Missouri, 1917-1918, Street railway investigation |
| Box 15 Folder 3-6 | Labor, 1916-1917, Documents and clippings |
| Box 16 Folder 1-2 | Michigan Constitutional Convention, 1907-1909. |
| Box 16 Folder 3 | Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1919-1920, Street railway investigation SEE ALSO Boxes 41-46 |
| Box 16 Folder 4-6 | Miscellaneous correspondence, 1906-1909 |
| Box 17 Folder 1 | Miscellaneous correspondence, 1906-1909 |
| Box 17 Folder 2-3 | Montreal, Canada, 1917-1921, Tramways investigation |
| Box 17 Folder 4-5 | Motor Bus Transportation, general information |
| Box 17 Folder 6-7 | Municipal Franchises by D.F. Wilcox, 1909-1911, Correspondence in re |
| Box 18 Folder 1-7 | National Municipal League, 1910-1913, Franchise Committee; 1911-1913, Advisory Editorial Committee, National Municipal Review; 1914-1916, Franchise Committee, Home Rule Charter; 1915-1917, Municipal Encyclopeadia, Wilcox article. |
| Box 19 Folder 1-6 | National Municipal League, 1915-1917, Municipal Encyclopeadia, Wilcox article; 1918-1919, National Municipal Review; 1918-1920, Public Utilities Committee, Street railways investigation |
| Box 20 Folder 1-2 | National Municipal League, 1918-1920, Public Utilities Committee, Street railways investigation |
| Box 20 Folder 3-8 | New Jersey, 1919-1921, Analysis of Public Service Railway valuation and preparation of evidence for the City of Newark and Associated Municipalities in Public Service Railway Zone Fare and Valuation Proceeding |
| Box 21 Folder 1-7 | New Jersey, 1919-1921, Public Service Railway Zone Fare and Valuation Proceeding (continued) |
| Box 22 Folder 1-6 | New York City, 1907-1913, Bureau of Franchises, D.F. Wilcox, Chief of |
| Box 23 Folder 1-3 | New York City, 1921-1922, Citizens Union, Charter Revisions Committee |
| Box 23 Folder 4-6 | New York City, 1919-1921, City Club, Public Service Committee, Municipal Ownership of transit lines |
| Box 24 Folder 1-2 | New York City, 1910-1913, Committee on Municipal Needs of the Fourth New York City Conference of Charities and Correction |
| Box 24 Folder 3-4 | New York City, 1919-1920, Fowler Municipal Transit Ownership Bill |
| Box 24 Folder 5-6 | New York City, circa 1910. Papers on city government, lectures |
| Box 25 Folder 1-7 | New York City, 1919-1922, Street railway problems, Special Public Transit Committee. |
| Box 26 Folder 1-4 | New York City, 1919-1920, "The Transit Problems of New York City," pamphlet by D.F. Wilcox |
| Box 26 Folder 5-8 | New York City, 1913-1917, Department of Water Supply, Gas and Electricity, D.F.Wilcox, Deputy Commissioner |
| Box 27 Folder 1-6 | New York City, Department of Water, etc. (continued) |
| Box 28 Folder 1-6 | New York City, Department of Water, etc. (continued) |
| Box 29 Folder 1-6 | New York City, Department of Water, etc. (continued) |
| Box 30 Folder 1-2 | New York State, 1919-1921, Conference of Mayors, Traction problems |
| Box 30 Folder 3 | Niagara Falls, New York, 1917-1918, Gas rate case |
| Box 30 Folder 4 | "One-Man Car" data, 1920-1921 |
| Box 30 Folder 5-6 | Outremont, Quebec, Canada, 1918-1921, Analysis of actual cost of Montrea; Water and Power Company, testimony before Board of Arbitration, and report upon reproduction cost estimates submitted by company |
| Box 31 Folder 1 | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, Street railway investigation |
| Box 31 Folder 2-3 | The Plumb Plan, 1919, "Public Ownership and Democracy in the Operation of the Railroads" |
| Box 31 Folder 4-6 | Providence, Rhode Island, 1910-1912, Franchise Problem |
| Box 32 Folder 1-3 | Public Ownership League of America, 1918-1920, D.F. Wilcox, Executive Committee |
| Box 32 Folder 4-5 | The Railroad Problem, 1918-1919, reports |
| Box 33 Folder 1-3 | St. Louis, Missouri, 1917-1918, 1921, Analysis of proposed street railway resettlement franchise, transit investigation |
| Box 33 Folder 4-5 | San Francisco-Oakland, California, 1913-1919, Street railway investigations |
| Box 33 Folder 6-7 | Schenectady, New York, 1918, Railway rate case |
| Box 34 Folder 1-3 | Scranton, Pennsylvania, 1918-1920, Analysis of actual cost of Scranton Ry. Co. and testimony in fare case |
| Box 34 Folder 4-5 | Seattle, Washington, 1913-1919, 1919-1921, 1924-1927, Public Utilities investigations |
| Box 35 Folder 1-6 | Seattle, Washington, Public Utilities investigation |
| Box 35 Folder 7 | Service-at-Cost data, 1919-1922 |
| Box 36 Folder 1 | Service-at-Cost data |
| Box 36 Folder 2-6 | Speeches and Papers, 1910-1921, D. F. Wilcox's and others |
| Box 37 Folder 1-5 | Springfield, Illinois, 1921, Gas and Electric rate arbitration |
| Box 37 Folder 6-7 | Sturgis, Michigan, 1918-1920, Gas rate investigation |
| Box 38 Folder 1-4 | Sturgis, Michigan, 1918-1920, Gas rate investigation |
| Box 38 Folder 5-6 | Taxes, 1907-1913, papers and literature |
| Box 39 Folder 1-2 | Taxes, 1907-1913, papers and literature |
| Box 39 Folder 3-5 | Toledo, Ohio, 1919-1920, Street railway investigation |
| Box 39 Folder 6 | Valuation memoranda |
| Box 40 | Valuation memoranda (5 folders). |
| Box 40 | "Working Capital in Street Railway Valuations," 1920-1921, pamphlet by D.F. Wilcox (1 folder). |
| Box 41 Folder 1-7 | Minneapolis, Minnesota, 1921-1922. Testimony in Emergency Fare Case and and valuation of Minneapolis Street Railway property, examination of its relations with Twin City Rapid Transit Company, in preparation of City's case in permanent fare proceedings. |
| Box 42 Folder 1-7 | Minneapolis, Minnesota, (continued) |
| Box 43 Folder 1-8 | Minneapolis, Minnesota, (continued) |
| Box 44 Folder 1-7 | Minneapolis, Minnesota, (continued) |
| Box 45 Folder 1-7 | Minneapolis, Minnesota, (continued) |
| Box 46 Folder 1-7 | Minneapolis, Minnesota, (continued) |
| Box 46 Folder 8 | Grand Island, Nebraska. City Charter |