NATIONAL ARCHIVES AND RECORDS ADMINISTRATION, WASHINGTON, D.C.
700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408

Entry #1

Author: Potomac Company.
Title: Proceedings of general meetings, 1785-1796.
Description: 1 linear in. (1 v.).
Summary: Minutes of meetings of stockholders, in a volume labeled “Letterbook A.” Some copies of reports of the president and directors to the stockholders are included.
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, (Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Park Service, PI 166), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV89-A46.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #2

Author: Potomac Company.
Title: Wastebook, 1785-1800.
Description: 3 linear in. (1 v.).
Summary: A daybook with a chronological record of transactions made at the time of the transactions. Many of the transactions are related to shares of stocks in the company.
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, (Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Park Service, PI 166), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV89-A38.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #3

Author: Potomac Company.
Title: Correspondence and reports, 1785-1828.
Description: 8 linear in.
Summary: Chiefly letters received, but includes copies of letters sent, reports of the president and directors to the stockholders, other reports, memoranda, lists, printed documents, and financial statements. Probably a small remnant of a large series.
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, (Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Park Service, PI 166), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV89-A43.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #4

Author: Potomac Company.
Title: Miscellaneous accounts, 1785-1828.
Description: 8 linear in.
Summary: Records include receipts, vouchers, payrolls, drafts (checks), statements of accounts, accounts of delivery of rations, inventories of tools and furniture, waybills (manifests of cargoes) for tolls, and lists of subscribers and shareholders.
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, (Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Park Service, PI 166), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV89-A37.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #5

Author: United States, National Park Service.
Title: Records of the Potomac Company and the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company.
Description: 116 linear ft.
Summary: Records of the Potomac Company include proceedings, 1785-96; minutes, correspondence, and reports, 1785-1828; letters sent, 1817-28; legal records, 1792-1828; records concerning transfer of shares of stock, 1791-1828; a stock ledger, 1787-1828; ledgers, 1796 and 1800-1807; a cashbook, 1823-28; letters sent and other records relating to the Potomac and Shenandoah Navigation Lottery, 1810-19; and miscellaneous accounts, 1785-1828.
Records of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company include proceedings of stockholders, 1828-89, with an index, 1828-83; proceedings of the president and directors, 1828-90, with indexes; subscription books, 1827-30; lists of shareholders, ca. 1829-37; letters received by the office of the president and directors, 1828-89, with registers, 1828-88; letters sent by the office of the president and directors, 1828-70 and 1879-81, with a register, 1828-70; letters sent by the office of the trustees, 1897-1938, and correspondence, 1913-38, with an index; letters received by the Commissioner of the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal, 1835-42, and letter books of the Commissioner, 1835-42; letters received by the chief engineer, 1834-52, with a register, 1835-40; letters sent by the chief engineer, 1838-52; and records of the resident and assistant engineers, 1828-42.
There are also records concerning legal matters and land, including legal records, 1828-1900, deeds and other records concerning land titles, 1828-78, and land surveys and descriptions of land, 1828-73; records concerning construction and maintenance, including drawings and calculations for the Paw Paw Tunnel, ca. 1836, and for sections of the canal, 1836-41, field notebooks, 1827-96, records relating to bids for construction work, 1836 and 1841, assessment books, 1828-33, and accounting records relating to construction and maintenance, 1828-82; records concerning traffic on the canal, including a record of boat registrations, 1851-74, a registrations, 1851-74, a register of boats employed on the canal, 1878, statements of articles transported, 1850-78, registers of tools collected at Georgetown, 1845-54, registers of ascending and descending boats, 1869-80, returns of manifests, 1851-77, returns of waybills, 1878-87, and ledgers for toll accounts, 1855-92; financial records, including journals, and ledgers, 1828-90, treasures' journals, 1853-70 and 1872, treasurers' ledgers, 1828-70 and 1881-89, abstracts of receipts and expenditures, 1828-80, records relating to bonds and coupons, 1838-84, payrolls, 1873-74 and 1884-85, record of payrolls, 1913-38, records relating to leases, 1870-1938, accounts, 1872-90, financial statements, 1893-98 and 1909-24, and miscellaneous accounting records, ca. 1828-89.
There are records relating to a proposed extension of the canal, 1874, memorandums concerning the coal trade, 1893, and printed materials, 1816-1907.
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV85-A671.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #6

Author: Potomac Company.
Title: Stock ledger, 1787-1828.
Description: 2 linear in. (1 v.)
Summary: A record of transactions concerning the purchase and transfer of shares of stocks in the company.
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, (Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Park Service, PI 166), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV89-A40.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #7

Author: Potomac Company.
Title: Proceedings and resolutions, 1788-1806.
Description: .75 linear in.
Summary: Drafts of minutes of meetings of the president and directors, meetings of stockholders, and resolutions passed by them.
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, (Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Park Service, PI 166), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV89-A45.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #8

Author: Potomac Company.
Title: Proceedings, 1788-1828.
Description: 9 linear in. (3 v.).
Summary: Minutes of meetings of the president and directors and meetings of stockholders. Copies of reports and correspondence are included. During the years 1785-96 most proceedings of stockholders’ meetings were kept in a separate volume comprising the series entitled, “Proceedings of General Meetings” (DCNV89-A46).
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, (Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Park Service, PI 166), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV89-A44.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #9

Author: Potomac Company.
Title: Records concerning transfer of shares of stock, 1791-1828.
Description: 5 linear in. (2 v.).
Summary: These volumes are labeled “Deed Records” and contain handwritten copies of indentures and other legal documents prepared in order to transfer title to shares of stocks, usually by sale or inheritance. A few documents are dated 1832. Original documents concerning transfers of stocks are among those described in the series titled “Legal Records” (DCNV89-A42).
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, (Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Park Service, PI 166), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV89-A41.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #10

Author: Potomac Company.
Title: Legal records, 1792-1828.
Description: 2 linear in.
Summary: Included are indentures (chiefly deeds for assignments of shares of stocks), contracts, resolutions, legal opinions, court judgments, notes for loans, lottery tickets, copies of legislative bills, and other records relating to the operations of the company and the ownership of shares. The conveyance, assignment, and surrender of the charter to the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company are among the records.
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, (Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Park Service, PI 166), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV89-A42.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #11

Author: Potomac Company.
Title: Ledger, 1796.
Description: 1 linear ft. (1 v.)
Summary: A record of accounts with individuals and accounts of some classes of expenditures, particularly payments to carpenters, masons, and other groups of workers.
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, (Preliminary Inventory of the Records of the National Park Service, PI 166), 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV89-A39.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.

Entry #12

Author: U.S. House of Representatives. Committee on Railways and Canals. (04/09/1869 - 1927) (Most recent).
Title: Committee Papers, 1815-1909. Series from Record Group 233: Records of the U.S. House of Representatives, 1789-2004.
Description: Textual records, 10 linear ft., 5 linear in.
Summary: More than half of the petitions and memorials from the 20th through 25th Congress called for the surveying, construction and/or Government purchase of specific canals and roads, including the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal.
The committee papers, primarily correspondence and committee reports, are most numerous for the 19th, 20th, and 23d Congresses (1825-29 and 1833-35). Two of the subjects with greatest documentation are the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal and a proposed stone bridge across the Potomac at Washington, D.C.; the files include plans, estimates of costs, reports and correspondence.
Location: Center for Legislative Archives (NWL), National Archives Building, Room 8E, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Source: www.archives.gov.

MAPS

Entry #13

Author: United States, National Park Service.
Title: Cartographic Records.
Description: 8,861 items.
Summary: Included are maps and plans prepared by the Chesapeake and Ohio Canal Company and its predecessor, the Potomac Company, 1791-1937; the “numbered map file” prepared by the National Capital Parks and its predecessors, the Office of Public Buildings and Grounds and the Office of Public Buildings and Public Parks of the National Capital, consisting of maps relating to public lands, buildings, and monuments in the National Capital area, 1797-1958; master and progress plans for Washington, D.C., compiled in the Branch of Plans and Design of the National Park Service 1936-37; maps and plans of the District of Columbia recreation system, 1930-41, prepared as part of the D.C. Work Projects Administration; maps, diagrams, and tables relating to Rock Creek pollution studies in Washington, D.C., prepared for the Eastern Division, Branch of Engineering, National Park Service, 1935; maps and plans prepared by the Arlington Memorial Bridge Commission, 1923-42; and large-scale aerial photographic prints of northwest Washington, 1937.
Location: National Archives and Records Administration, 700 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20408.
Control No.: DCNV85-A673.
Source: NUCMC/RLG.