ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

I am profoundly grateful to everyone who assisted me in bringing Albert Benton Pullman to the printed page, beginning with many archivists and librarians. At the marvelous Chicago History Museum Abakanowicz Research Center, Ellen Keith and Lesley Martin located and supplied materials and answered my many questions. At the irreplaceable Newberry Library, Jo Ellen McKillop Dickie proved a vital resource while Martha Briggs helped me navigate the uncatalogued Pullman Car Works collection. In Kansas, I benefitted particularly from the help of Kevin M. Bailey, Dwight D. Eisenhower Presidential Library; Twila Jackson and Andrew Pankratz, Dickinson County Historical Society; Jill Freeman, Register of Deeds for Dickinson County; and Bonnie Lynn-Sherow, Chapman Center for Rural Studies, Kansas State University.

Among many others on whose expertise I depended were: Nick Fry, endowed curator of the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library, University of Missouri–St. Louis; Julie Ann Lambert, Bodleian Library, University of Oxford; Heather Edwards and Will Miner, Grand Rapids Public Library; Matthew Ellis, City of Grand Rapids Community Archives and Research Center; Gina Bivins, Grand Rapids Public Museum; Michael Kruzich, Kendall College of Art and Design; and Hannah Elder, Katherine H. Griffin, and LJ Woolcock of the Massachusetts Historical Society.

Colleagues at Iowa State University (ISU) unstintingly shared their expertise. In particular, I want to thank Colton Adkisson, Amy Bix, Julie Courtwright, Wayne Duerkes, John Monroe, and Pamela Riney-Kehrberg for helping me work through various ideas and challenges associated with understanding Albert Pullman. In the ISU Economics Department, conversations with Joshua Rosenbloom and Betsy Hoffman proved particularly valuable in the early stages of this project, as did advice from Price Fishback of the University of Arizona.

In the world of railroad history several friends offered tremendously useful advice and ideas. In particular, Al Churella and the greatly missed Roger Grant helped guide me in multiple useful directions. Don Hofsommer and Greg Schneider offered suggestions at crucial moments. Beyond railroads, Michael Patrick Cullinane proved an excellent sounding board, as did audiences at sessions of the Newberry Library's Labor History Seminar, the Business History Conference, the Midwestern History Conference, and the Lexington Group in Transportation History.

At Cornell University Press, Sarah Grossman has been a supplier of sound advice and a conduit to publication. I am also very grateful to two anonymous reviewers who read the manuscript and helped strengthen the finished product.

Most important, this book would not have seen the light of day without the love and support of my family. Gareth Cordery helped with the research, while Stacy Cordery made everything possible, including finishing the manuscript on time. To both of you, words are not enough. Finally, and frankly at last, I dedicate this book to my parents, Ned and Mary Cordery, who have done so much over the years to help me see the importance of family and of keeping all things in perspective.