What can a 100-year-old dyed-blue blanket tell us? Plenty, if we have the right interpreter.
At the Journey through Hallowed Ground Conference in Gettysburg in late May (2013), John P. Hankey, author, historian, and former museum curator for the Baltimore & Ohio Railroad Museum told his audience a story about a Pullman blanket.
“A museum was assembling a collection of artifacts related to the railroad that went through their town,” says Hankey. They showed him a tattered Pullman blanket that had been dyed blue.
“Clearly they were disappointed in the donation,” says Hankey. “Pullman blankets used in the 20th century were salmon-colored.”
But Hankey went on to explain—what they had was a blanket serves as a compelling reminder. In the South there were statutes that specified segregation between blacks and whites, and though Pullman trains traveled northern routes as well, they adopted a rule that black porters should never use blankets intended for passengers, an all-white clientele. “The railroad needed a way to keep blankets for porters separate.
“Travelers were always given the salmon blankets. When those blankets became worn, they were dyed blue and were used by the staff,” continues Hankey. Generally, there were too few blue blankets—one per train car at best. Most porters had nothing at all.
“Our heritage requires willing and honest interpreters,” says Hankey. “With a clear understanding, a very simple artifact may serve as a portal for many different people to many different pasts.”
Kate, I hand copied out the following from a circular dated 11/1/1923, found at the Newberry Library in 05/01/03 box 2, folder 19. (Highlighted in yellow)
High Grade Blankets – latest pattern, good condition, minimum 62” x 82”, minimum weight 4 pounds – standard steel cars
Second Grade Blankets – between 62” x 82” and 50” x 78”, minimum weight 3 ½ pounds – steel underframe and wood cars.
Lower Grade – under standard, “tourist” stitched on one end.
Khaki, tourist – steel underframe cars in Mexican service – 67” x 81”, 5 pounds – 9” to 10” wider than brown “tourist” blankets.
Blankets which are too thin, too narrow or too badly worn to be continued in service are pieced out, dyed blue, and converted to porter use.
Note: at the time this was written steel underframe and wood cars were a minimum of 13 years old, as Pullman switched from building wood cars to steel in 1910. Many of the wood cars built in the 1890s and 1900s were retrofitted with steel underframes and vestibules (SUV) which made them somewhat more resistant to “telescoping” in accidents; obviously this did nothing to mitigate the risk of fire initiated by their coal burning Baker heaters and Pintsch gas lighting systems. New York City banned the use of wood or SUV cars in tunnels within the city about 1912, which essentially banned their use as the only two railroad stations in the city, Grand Central and Penn Station, are reached by tunnels. From that time until their complete retirement in the late 1930s, wood and SUV cars were relegated to runs in New England, the west and the south which did not have such regulations. Some were converted to “tourist” service, particularly during World War I when needed for troop movements.
6 thoughts on “A Pullman Blanket Tells a Story”
Lisa Pigg
I found my Pullman blanket as the backing to a feed sack fabric blanket. I one day I noticed that there was a name on the wool side of the sawtooth designed blanket Pullman with a 3
Who would have known. It keeps you awful warm!
Kate Kelly
Thank you so much for posting. That’s amazing that it was used as backing. And how wonderful to have a name associated with it. Those finds are so special. Thank you for sharing it.
Kate
Steve Culbert
The blue blankets were used by porters and kept separate from passengers’ courtesy blankets because the blankets were often stolen by passengers. The porters knew their company blankets by color, blue, eand so collected them where seen and kept for porters’ personal use. . . In used to take the train from Birmingham AL to central Wisconsin and really loved those blankets. I do not believe the blankets were dyed blue just so only black porters would use them.
Kate Kelly
Thank you for posting this. I picked up this information at a lecture by a railroad historian about 15 years ago. He even displayed a blanket. It could be folklore, and I should look into it. Thank you!
Dave B
The story about blue-dyed Pullman blankets is absolutely true. I collect Pullman blankets and have 2 Blue ones – they are vrey hard to find.
For those interested – here is some additional info:
Date Key: Old/Hatch Pattern> add # to 1906; New/Cedar> add # to 1935
Old Pattern ran from 1907 thru 1935 (#’s 1-29) unclear if any produced in early 1936
New Pattern ran from 1936 to ???
Old Pattern “Property Of” started in 1927 (#21) – “Property Of” added to deter theft
Old Pattern “S” designates Private Car Service
Old Pattern “O” – unknown designator
Old Pattern Blue – RARE designates only to be used by blacks/porters not for passengers
New/Cedar “RFC” designates Reconstruction Finance Corp
New/Cedar “D” designates Defense Plant Corp
“TOURIST” tag: indicates a blanket that was typically a bit worn and was therefore only to be used in Pullman’s economy tourist berth cars.
Kate Kelly
Thank you so much! One or two people have questioned this article, so I am thrilled to hear from you and to have you verify it. Many thanks!
I found my Pullman blanket as the backing to a feed sack fabric blanket. I one day I noticed that there was a name on the wool side of the sawtooth designed blanket Pullman with a 3
Who would have known. It keeps you awful warm!
Thank you so much for posting. That’s amazing that it was used as backing. And how wonderful to have a name associated with it. Those finds are so special. Thank you for sharing it.
Kate
The blue blankets were used by porters and kept separate from passengers’ courtesy blankets because the blankets were often stolen by passengers. The porters knew their company blankets by color, blue, eand so collected them where seen and kept for porters’ personal use. . . In used to take the train from Birmingham AL to central Wisconsin and really loved those blankets. I do not believe the blankets were dyed blue just so only black porters would use them.
Thank you for posting this. I picked up this information at a lecture by a railroad historian about 15 years ago. He even displayed a blanket. It could be folklore, and I should look into it. Thank you!
The story about blue-dyed Pullman blankets is absolutely true. I collect Pullman blankets and have 2 Blue ones – they are vrey hard to find.
For those interested – here is some additional info:
Date Key: Old/Hatch Pattern> add # to 1906; New/Cedar> add # to 1935
Old Pattern ran from 1907 thru 1935 (#’s 1-29) unclear if any produced in early 1936
New Pattern ran from 1936 to ???
Old Pattern “Property Of” started in 1927 (#21) – “Property Of” added to deter theft
Old Pattern “S” designates Private Car Service
Old Pattern “O” – unknown designator
Old Pattern Blue – RARE designates only to be used by blacks/porters not for passengers
New/Cedar “RFC” designates Reconstruction Finance Corp
New/Cedar “D” designates Defense Plant Corp
“TOURIST” tag: indicates a blanket that was typically a bit worn and was therefore only to be used in Pullman’s economy tourist berth cars.
Thank you so much! One or two people have questioned this article, so I am thrilled to hear from you and to have you verify it. Many thanks!
Enjoy Thanksgiving!