What the world’s oldest org chart tells us about company hierarchy
A long-forgotten management graphic of a railroad company has been rescued from the US Library of Congress and reinterpreted by designer Rachel Botsman at the London Design Biennale
A creative reworking of what has been described as ‘the world oldest org chart’ has gone on show at the London Design Biennale, which runs until 29 June 2025 at Somerset House.
‘Roots of Trust’ by designer Rachel Botsman reinterprets an organisational chart for the New York and Erie Railroad Company that was first designed in 1855 by the railroad’s superintendent, Daniel McCallum. This landmark graphic diagram was forgotten for 170 years until it was rediscovered and carefully restored from the archives of the US Library of Congress.
The original chart that lay undiscovered in the archives of the US Library of Congress
As Rachel Botsman explains, what is so unusual about the organisational chart is that instead of a top-down pyramid with the bosses at the top of the chart, the railroad’s leadership are intentionally positioned at the base. Frontline workers then extend upwards and outwards along the branches.
Providing firm roots
Long before command-and-control hierarchies became entrenched in organisations, here was a company nurturing and supporting its employees with the most senior managers providing firm roots.
The nature-inspired beauty of the piece is presented by Botsman in the London Design Biennale on a floating transparent panel and softly illuminated. Its fluid, unboxed form invites us to compare this ground-breaking piece of management thinking with today’s rigid company structures where there is considerable distrust between leaders and frontline employees.
It’s a brilliant piece of work but before we get too nostalgic, remember this: the debt-ridden New York and Erie Railroad Company went into receivership just four years after the org chart was produced.
Designer Rachel Botsman reinterprets the world’s first known org chart in ‘Roots of Trust’. Courtesy of London Design Biennale © Taran Wilkhu
Read more about the London Design Biennale in Jeremy Myerson’s Design Round-up in our Innovation Zone, which provides premium content for WORKTECH Academy members and partners.
