[Annual railroad pass] [until] 1870 December 31 [for] W.L.M. Phelps / Asa Packer.

The railroad pass is a form filled out by Packer for complimentary travel; on the verso there is a statement of policy by the company. For more information on the Packer family and their involvement with the Lehigh Valley Railroad and Lehigh University, see also the Asa Packer Mansion Museum (http://asapackermansionmuseum.homestead.com/). See also additional railroad passes, checks, and letters in the collection from Packer.

The pass is filled out for W.L.M. Phelps, secretary of the Albany and Susquehanna Railroad; it is an annual 1870 pass valid until the end of that year. Asa Packer was a captain of industry who built the Lehigh Valley Railroad and controlled a coal-mining empire in the mountains of eastern Pennsylvania. He also founded Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA in 1865. Born from humble beginnings, Packer became the third-wealthiest man in the United States, beginning his career in the canal industry and then branching out to railroads. He was a member of the Pennsylvania State legislature and a served two terms in Congress; he vied unsuccessfully for the Democratic nomination for the Presidency as well as for the governorship of Pennsylvania. He died in 1879 after a fall in his Philadelphia office.