This folder contains correspondence and other documents relating to the technical and commercial development of the telegraph. Some of the documents deal with the business of the Consolidated Railway Telegraph Co. and the Consolidated International Railway Telegraph Co. Other items pertain to the role of the Nicholson quadruplex patents in competition between Western Union and the Postal Telegraph-Cable Co.

Approximately 60 percent of the documents have been selected. The following categories of documents have not been selected: meeting announcements for the boards of trustees of the Consolidated Railway Telegraph Co. and the Consolidated International Railway Telegraph Co.; duplicate copies of selected documents.