[Check] 1885 August 12, Mauch Chunk / Lehigh Valley Railroad Company.

The check bears a portrait of Packer. 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 checks in the collection as well as letters from Packer.

The check reads "On sight pay to the order of William C. Morris Jr Cashier/ $360.47/ To EA Packer..." 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.