Historic sledgehammer sought

[NKP guy]

Here's an anecdote for those interested in the Erie and one of its predecessors, the Atlantic & Great Western Railway.

It also raises two questions for me. First, what happens or has happened to the corporate archives of railroad companies when they merge?

Second, we know about golden and silver spikes. In this anecdote, the sledgehammer and spikes seem to have been very ordinary, not special. Did any other railroads in the East have similar last spike ceremonies? Did the P.Ft.W.&C.? The C&O?, Southern?, Boston & Albany? Etc.

How does a local historical society track down such an item? How would you start?

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The following was sent to me by a friend today:

 

Here is a passage from a memoir published by Dudley Weaver. I scanned the diary years ago and was reading it when I came across the last entry. I call your attention to the last sentence. Is there a possibility this hammer exists? 

 

100 YEARS AGO! DAYTON, OHIO, JUNE 21, 1964

The last rail was laid and the last spike driven today which connects the city of Dayton, Ohio, with New York, by the Atlantic and Great Western Railway.

Today, this railroad is a part of the Erie Lackawanna system.

Back a century ago, a man who's name is still remembered in Portage County, Marvin Kent, drove the last spike home.

Mr. Kent, the President of the Atlantic and Great Western Railway at that time, offered a toast to the occasion. He called attention to the fact that the first ground in the construction of this road was broken on the 4th of July 1853. On that date in the village of Franklin, (Kent) Portage County, Ohio, he had the pleasure of turning the first spade full of earth. Now he stated, it is a great source of satisfaction to me, to have the pleasure of driving with my own hands, the very last spike. Mr. Kent then took the sledge and drove the last spike home in four solid blows.

Tho sledge with his name engraved upon it, is deposited in the archives of the company as a memento to this great event.