Transportation - Overview
Americans have always been a people on the move—on rails, roads, and waterways (for travel through the air, visit the National Air and Space Museum). In the transportation collections, railroad objects range from tools, tracks, and many train models to the massive 1401, a 280-ton locomotive built in 1926. Road vehicles include coaches, buggies, wagons, trucks, motorcycles, bicycles, and automobiles—from the days before the Model T to modern race cars. The accessories of travel are part of the collections, too, from streetlights, gas pumps, and traffic signals to goggles and overcoats.
In the maritime collections, more than 7,000 design plans and scores of ship models show the evolution of sailing ships and other vessels. Other items range from scrimshaw, photographs, and marine paintings to life jackets from the Titanic.
"Transportation - Overview" showing 11 items.
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- No Image Available
Edwin Price Reminiscences, 1893
- Notes
- Edwin Price was a locomotive engineer for various railroad companies, ca. 1851-1886. He began his career on the Nashville & Chattanooga where he worked for five years. He was employed for eighteen years on the Little Miami Railroad. He describes the responsibility of his position, "One million one hundred and fourtee[n] thousand nine hundred and twenty three miles or equal to forty two time[s] around the world without crippling, wounding or killing a single soul rideing [sic] behind me."
- Summary
- One original journal and a typed transcript of the original
- Cite as
- Edwin Price Reminisences, 1893, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Miriam Price Taylor
- Date
- 1893
- 19th century
- author
- Price, Edwin (locomotive engineer) 1829-1901
- donor
- Taylor, Miriam Price
- collector
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Samuel Morse Felton Family Papers, 1841-1930
- Notes
- Felton (1), civil engineer, is best known as the president of the Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore RR (PWBRR,) which he rebuilt and restored; president of the Pennsylvania Steel Company; and in 1869 as a commissioner appointed by President Grant to inspect the Pacific railroads. In April 1857, Felton placed the engine "Daniel Webster" in service on the PWBRR--probably the first successful coal-burning passenger engine in regular service on any American railroad. He was born in Philadelphia, 1853; graduated from M.I.T. 1873. 1889: became president of the Chicago and Alton Railroad, later assumed the presidency of the Mexican Central Railroad, and became president of the Chicago Great Western Railroad in 1909. During World War I he was appointed Director General of Military Railways and had charge of the organization and dispatch to France of all American railway forces and supplies. As of 1928 he was Chairman of the Board of the Chicago Great Western Railroad; president, Western Railroad Association; and chairman, Western Association of Railway Executives, to name only a few of his positions. At his death he was an advisor and associate of the Central Trust Company of Illinois
- Summary
- Biographical material on both Feltons; correspondence, 1861-1927 to and from both Feltons; a report by Felton on the construction of the Norfolk Co. railroad, 1847-49; reports, 1917-19; and news clippings and articles, 185?-1930. The correspondence includes a 1926 letter regarding Conray Felton's article about an attempt to asssassinate Abraham Lincoln
- Cite as
- Samuel Morse Felton Family Papers, 1841-1930, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1841
- 1841-1930
- 1840-1930
- Civil War, 1861-1865
- 1840-1940
- author
- Felton, Samuel Morse (son) 1853-1930
- Felton, Samuel Morse (civil engineer) 1809-1889
- collector
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Fletcher, Andrew
- Atterbury, W.W
- Davis, Robert C
- McAdoo, W.G
- Ames, Oliver
- Smith, M.H
- Milliken, J
- Lomonossoff, G
- Cooke, Jay
- Scott, Thomas A
- Lincoln, Abraham 1809-1865
- Philadelphia RR
- Philadelphia, Wilmington, and Baltimore RR
- Louisville Southern Railway Co
- Southern Railway and Steamship Association
- American Locomotive Sales Corporation
- United States. War Department
- United States Army
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Wagon-maker's Account Book, 1834-1869
- Summary
- The ledger contains 82 handwritten pages detailing daily transactions. Many entries suffer from illegibility and poor spelling. Most items concern repair of various parts of wagons and sleighs, often with payment in the form of grain and other farm products
- Cite as
- Wagon-maker's Account Book, 1834-1869, Archives Center
- Date
- 1834
- 1834-1869
- 19th century
- author
- Ayres, F (wagon-maker)
- Sneden, James T (wagon-maker)
- collector
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Baldwin Locomotive Works Scrapbooks, 1867-1929
- Notes
- The Baldwin Locomotive Works was started as a sole proprietorship by Matthias W. Baldwin in 1831. The company was the largest railroad engineering plant of its kind in the world. It is now out of business
- Summary
- Four scrapbooks containing items relating to the Baldwin Locomotive Works, including: blueprints, photographs, examples of company letterhead and blank company forms, clippings and articles, business records such as contracts and specifications, trade literature, and miscellany
- Cite as
- Baldwin Locomotive Works Scrapbooks, 1867-1929, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1867
- 1867-1929
- 20th century
- 19th century
- 1860-1930
- author
- Baldwin Locomotive Works
- collector
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Baldwin, Matthias W. industrialist
- Local number
- 2009.3088 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Baldwin Locomotive Works Engine Registers and Order Books, 1822-1956
- Notes
- The Baldwin Locomotive Works was started as a sole proprietorship by Matthias W. Baldwin in 1831. The company was the largest plant of its kind in the world. It is now out of business
- Summary
- Records of engine orders, specifications, prices and delivery (some duplicating), purchaser (usually a railroad), date of trial, engine name, construction number, class, track gauge, number of wheels, size of cylinders, number of valves, and fuel type are given. For later years, prices are given
- Cite as
- Baldwin Locomotive Works Engine Registers and Order Books, 1822-1956, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1822
- 1822-1956
- Creator
- Baldwin Locomotive Works
- collector
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Baldwin, Matthias W. industrialist
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Interstate Commerce Commission Locomotive Inspection Reports, 1931-1964
- Notes
- Records and photographs of the ICC for the years 1931-1964. Most photographs are of accidents or failures of equipment
- Summary
- Records compiled by the Bureau of Rail Safety of the Federal Railroad Administration. Data include names of locomotive builders and railroads operating them. Photographs are dated and railroads identified. Accident times and circumstances are noted
- Cite as
- Interstate Commerce Commission Locomotive Inspection Reports, 1931-1964, Archives Center, National Museum of American History. Gift of Martha Yungmeyer
- Date
- 1931
- 1931-1964
- 20th century
- creator
- Interstate Commerce Commission
- donor
- Yungmeyer, Martha
- collector
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
James Rumsey Promissory Note, 01/28/1788
- Notes
- See Rumsey's article, "A Short Treatise on the Application of Steam, whereby is clearly shewn, from actual experiments, that steam may be applied to propel boats or vessels of any burthen against rapid currents with great velocity. The same Principles are also introduced with Effect, by a Machine of a simple and cheap Construction, for the Purpose of rasing Water sufficient for the working of Grist-mills, Saw-mills, &c. and for watering meadows and other purposes of agriculture" (Philadelphia, 1888), 26 pp., in Dibner Library, NMAH (copies in Archives Center collection control file)
- American machinist and inventor who developed an early steamboat which he successfully demonstrated on the Potomac (1788) and on the Thames (1792) before his death in England on December 23, 1792
- Summary
- A promissory note of January 28, 1788 to Robert Stubbe for the sum of eighteen shillings and six pence, Pennsylvania currency
- Cite as
- James Rumsey Promissory Note, 1788, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1788
- 01/28/1788
- 18th century
- author
- Rumsey, James 1743-1792 (machinist, inventor)
- collector
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Subject
- Stubbe, Robert
- Rumseyan Society
- Local number
- Research pending (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Clayton M. Hall Railroad Photonegatives, 1936-1965
- Notes
- Photographer
- Summary
- Photographic negatives of steam locomotives, mostly taken in rail stations and rail yards. Geographically they cover most of the United States
- Cite as
- Clayton M. Hall Railroad Photonegatives, 1936-1965, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1936
- 1936-1965
- 20th century
- photographer
- Hall, Clayton M
- collector
- History of Technology, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Local number
- 299049 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Baldwin Locomotive Works Drawings, 1870-1890
- Notes
- The Baldwin Locomotive Works was the largest and most successful locomotive building firm in the world. It was begun as a machine shop owned and operated by Matthias W. Baldwin in 1831. Baldwin turned out its first locomotive engine from its shop in Philadelphia in 1832; within a few years the company was producing two a month and employed 240 men. By 1852, 500 engines had been produced; by 1861, 1,000; and by 1868, 2,000. At that point, the company employed between 1,600-1,700 men, and was one of the very largest machine works in the nation. In 1906 Baldwin began construction of a large auxiliary plant in Philadelphia suburb of Eddystone. In 1928 the Broad Street plant was closed and all work transferred to the Eddystone Plant. Baldwin had been forced by hard financial times to take on a series of partners between 1839 and 1846, and the firm's name changed repeatedly as a result. It was known as Baldwin, Vail & Hufty (1839-1842); Baldwin & Whitney (1842-1845); M.W. Baldwin (1846-1853); and M.W. Baldwin & Co. (1854-1866). After Baldwin's death in 1866 the firm was known as M. Baird & Co. (1867-1873); Burnham, Parry, Williams & Co. (1873-1890); Burnham, Williams & Co. (1891-1909); it was finally incorporated as the Baldwin Locomotive Works in 1909. The company's phenomenal growth ended with in the mid-1920s as the U.S. railroad industry began its long decline. Despite various mergers and acquisitions--and an increased attention to the development of diesel engines--a slow but sure decline set in. Baldwin declared bankruptcy in 1935. World War Two brought a temporary respite, but after the war the steam locomotive was obsolete and orders rapidly diminished. The Westinghouse Corporation bought Baldwin in 1948 but was unable to turn the company around. In 1950 the Lima-Hamilton Corporation and Baldwin merged but in 1956 the last of some 70,541 locomotives was produced
- Summary
- 202 assembly drawings of locomotives and tenders, prepared to check the clearances and major component parts of the locomotive. When work was slow, draftsmen hand-colored the drawings. They were not used in the shop but were retained for engineering reference
- Cite as
- Baldwin Locomotive Works Drawings, 1870-1890, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1870
- 1890
- 1870-1890
- author
- Baldwin Locomotive Works
- collector
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
- No Image Available
Harry A. McBride Railroad Photographs, ca. 1940s-1950s
- Notes
- McBride was a foreign service officer and museum official. He was also a railroad enthusiast
- Summary
- Approxiamtely 3,000 views of railroads, railroad equipment, stations, yards and employees. The emphasis is on American railroads, but the collection includes a few views of railroad subjects in Africa, Asia, Central and South America, Europe, Scandinavia, and several island nations
- Cite as
- Harry A. McBride Railroad Photographs, 1940s-1950s, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1940
- 1960
- ca 1940s-1950s
- 20th century
- 1940-1970
- photographer
- McBride, Harry A
- collector
- Transportation, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Work and Industry, Division of, NMAH, SI
- Local number
- 228816 (NMAH Acc.)
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
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