Daily: 10 A.M.–5 P.M.
Closed on Tuesdays
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108
Image not available
Rare Books
This collection consists of railroad photographs, ephemera and publications, 1829-2010, with the bulk of material from the early- to mid-20th century. The focus is chiefly locomotives and trains (steam and diesel) of major railroads and interurban electric railways of the United States and Canada. Also represented in the collection are smaller shortline and narrow-gauge railroads; other foreign railroads; streetcars (or trolleys); and burgeoning light rail and subway systems. Most of the ephemera is printed material produced by railroad companies for promotional and business purposes, such as annual reports, brochures, route maps and guides, timetables, tickets, dining menus, stationery, stock certificates, bond coupons and other items. There are also many city and state tourist guidebooks describing sights along rail routes or promoting land available for farming, mining or home-building across the United States. Also included are items produced for or by railroad employees, such as instruction and safety manuals, train orders, freight bills and in-house newsletters. Railroad industry publications, statistics and reports can be found in the American Association of Railroads files, which are part of Donald Duke's subject files on railroad-related topics. Throughout the ephemera files are newspaper and journal clippings, often from scarce small press and trade publications such as The Railway and Engineering Review, The Railroad Gazette, The Santa Fe Magazine, The Western Railroader, Railway Age and others. In addition to railroad history, other topics of social and cultural historical interest in the ephemera are: Depictions of African Americans and Native Americans in mass-marketed train travel brochures. There are many examples that reflect American cultural and class stereotypes in the early- to mid-20th century. Selected files are noted in the container list. Occupational safety and health: See railroad worker safety manuals and accident prevention literature in ephemera files. History of food and drink: See numerous dining and beverage menus throughout Railroads and Foreign Railroads ephemera files (not always noted in container list). History of graphic design and typography: See examples of early- and mid- 20th century popular styles in printed ephemera throughout collection. Photographs and negatives: The photographs depict locomotives, freight and passenger trains, logging railroads, electric interurbans and streetcars across the United States. This was primarily a publishers file of ready-for-press photographs, which are almost all 8 x 10-inch black-and-white prints, made approximately 1950s-1980s. The photographs were made chiefly by various amateur train photographers, including Donald Duke, but most are uncredited. There are some copy prints (photographs of other photographs), and a few original photographs from the late 19th-early 20th century. Some photographs have locations and dates written on the back, but many are unidentified other than the name of the railroad. There are a few files on Ward Kimball (1914-2002), one of the original animators for Walt Disney Studios and an avid rail enthusiast. There are some photographs, biographical materials, and a file on his personal backyard narrow-gauge steam railroad, Grizzly Flats Railroad, in San Gabriel, California.
645950
Image not available
Manuscripts
The "California Gold Rush Fleet Encyclopedia of Vessels Sailing from the East Coast of the United States and Canada for San Francisco, December 7, 1848-December 31, 1849" comprises individual histories of 762 ships as well as various subject files, arranged in alphabetical order. Goodman records a broad spectrum of information derived from a variety of sources about the multitude of Gold Rush vessels. The bulk of the manuscripts are photocopies and some are heavily annotated in the author's hand. Some histories include hand colored illustrations of maps and ships. They were written and edited between 1970-1991.
mssGoodman
Image not available
Manuscripts
This collection consists of material created by and related to The Planetary Society since its beginning in 1980 and up to 2016. It contains Board of Directors correspondence, memorandums, and meeting minutes; material related to public relations, events, fundraising and membership; copies of The Planetary Report (not a complete set); NASA photo files; material related to the Solar Sail and the Mars Rover program; NASA and space exploration in general; Apollo reports; the Hubble Telescope; and US and Russian cooperation in space (including Planetary Society staff's trips to Russia). The collection also contains photographs and negatives; video cassette tapes and film; clippings; T-shirts, posters, badges, stickers, memorabilia; artwork; and miscellaneous material. There is material both about and by: Carl Sagan (including his 265-page curriculum vitae), Bruce Murray, Louis Friedman, Bill Nye, Neil deGrasse Tyson and Buzz Aldrin. There is artwork by space artists Ron Miller, Michael W. Carroll and Mark Paternostro among others.
mssPlanetary
Image not available
Rare Books
21621