Cream 80-column punch card printed for Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company , with square corners and a card cut on the top left-hand corner. The card stock has a semi-circle notch out of the top left side of the card. Produced as an employee payroll stub, the card carries a bold header in the print area reading “LOUISVILLE AND NASHVILLE RAILROAD COMPANY — MANAGER-GENERAL & DISBURSEMENTS ACCOUNTING — LOUISVILLE, KY.” and a red “L&N” block logo appears at the upper left.
The advisories “KEEP THIS STUB” and “IT SHOWS YOUR GROSS EARNINGS, TAX AND OTHER DEDUCTIONS MADE THEREFROM, AND AMOUNT OF YOUR PAY DRAFT.” are printed in the upper-right. Unlike a normal punch card the punch area of this card carries a table of printed fields detailing the employee’s payroll information; Across the top a row of fields labelled “IDENTIFICATION NUMBER,” “GROSS EARNINGS,” and “DEDUCTIONS FROM YOUR PAY” with sub-fields “R. R. TAX,” “FEDERAL TAX,” and “MISC.,” followed by “AMOUNT OF DRAFT,” “YEAR,” “MO.,” and “PER.”
Beneath this is a additional row of fields headed “DETAIL BY CODE NUMBERS OF MISCELLANEOUS DEDUCTIONS MADE FROM YOUR PAY” with repeated paired columns “CODE” and “AMOUNT” for itemized entries. The left side of the punch area prints an “INTERPRETATION OF MISCELLANEOUS DEDUCTION CODES” legend enumerating deduction codes that include insurance carriers, federal and state withholding taxes, numerous city taxes, union dues, uniforms, credit union, and related items, with codes extending into the 100-series. No column numbers or row labels are printed.
The card’s form numbers are identified by text in the left margin; IBM B54803 in black and IBM G90530 in red. The reverse side is blank.
Two specimens of this card exist in the archive. Both are punched and printed and bear the same identification number, “44335”. Other cards in the collection from the Louisville and Nashville Railroad Company also bear the same identification number. .
The first card, Dated June 1969, shows gross earnings of $397.27, with deductions for R.R. tax ($24.13), federal tax ($63.35), and a miscellaneous deduction of Travelers Insurance Company ($2.00) for a total draft amount of $307.79. The card is punched with the code 2790419 across columns 1 to 7.
The second card, Dated February 1970, shows gross earnings of $390.64, with deductions for R.R. tax ($23.00), federal tax ($57.52), and a miscellaneous deduction of Travelers Insurance Company ($2.00) for a total draft amount of $308.12. The card is punched with the code 2077892 across columns 1 to 7.