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 752 items.
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1932 Packard phaeton
- Description
- This 1932 Packard phaeton is one of several luxury cars in the Smithsonian collection. It was first registered to Layton R. Colburn, sales manager at a Packard dealership in Washington, D.C. In 1933, Colburn sold it to Franklin Q. Brown, Jr., a Harvard-educated business administrator who had moved to Washington to take a job with the Public Works Administration. Brown later was employed as a railroad examiner for the Reconstruction Finance Corporation and as an economist with a New York investment banking firm. In the early 1960s, after the Packard no longer served as Brown's primary transportation, he drove it at his summer home on Martha's Vineyard. Brown donated the car to the Smithsonian in 1978.
- The 1932 Packard Model 902 phaeton is a long, low, open car with a folding top. The body is black and has four doors. The car is rather massive at 4,300 pounds. The straight eight-cylinder engine developed 110 horsepower. Accessories include dual horns and a windshield wiper.
- In the early years of the Depression, the market for luxury automobiles shrank. By the early 1930s, Packard's annual production was only a fraction of its output at the height of the expansive, extravagant 1920s. But the company held onto a small, elite market, including the rich and famous as well as less affluent motorists who appreciated Packard's engineering advances and refinements. In 1932 Packard tried to broaden its market by introducing a moderately priced Light Eight in addition to the Standard Eight (shown here). This attempt to enter the mid-priced automobile market was unsuccessful because of high production costs. A loyal following of repeat customers enabled the company to survive the Depression and compete successfully with rivals Cadillac and Lincoln. Production by several other competitors in the luxury class-Cord, Duesenberg, Franklin, Marmon, Peerless, and Pierce-Arrow-ceased during the 1930s because of diminishing sales and financial difficulties.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1932
- maker
- Packard Motor Car Company
- ID Number
- TR*336637
- accession number
- 1978.0587
- catalog number
- 336637
- serial number
- 50160
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1914 Chevrolet roadster
- Description
- The 1914 Chevrolet Royal Mail roadster represents the early years of a make that a decade later would become the low-priced, mass-market leader in General Motors Corporation's varied array of cars. In 1914, Chevrolet cars were redesigned to compete with Ford and other makes vying for the low-priced market, which comprised working class and middle-class Americans. The Royal Mail and its larger companion, the Baby Grand touring car, were the first Chevrolet cars priced under $1,000. The Royal Mail body was considered streamlined and attractive. Its four-cylinder engine featured an overhead valve design, a Buick innovation that increased power; the OHV design reappeared on other GM cars during the next several decades. Alton M. Costley, a businessman who owned a Chevrolet dealership near Atlanta, donated this car to the Smithsonian in 1978.
- The 1914 Chevrolet Series H roadster, marketed as the Chevrolet Royal Mail, is an open car with a folding top and folding windshield. Like many "streamlined" cars of the day, its styling is smooth and uninterrupted and flows from front to back without projecting hardware or accessories. The gasoline tank is external, but it has a pleasing elliptical shape that complements the body. The hand-cranked engine has four cylinders and an overhead valve design.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- maker
- Chevrolet Motor Car Company
- ID Number
- TR*336719
- catalog number
- 336719
- accession number
- 1978.1027
- serial number
- 11505
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
[Elephant transportation in India.] 1471 photonegative 1905
- Notes
- Company catalog card included
- Currently stored in box 2.1.11 [79]
- Date
- 1905
- 1900-1910
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- photographer
- Johnson
- publisher
- American Stereoscopic Co
- Local number
- RSN 9970
- Video number 09242
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Elephant transportation in India.] 1471 photonegative 1905
- Notes
- Company catalog card included
- Currently stored in box 2.1.11 [79]
- Date
- 1905
- 1900-1910
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- photographer
- Johnson
- publisher
- American Stereoscopic Co
- Local number
- RSN 9971
- Video number 09243
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Elephant transportation in India.] 1471 photonegative 1905
- Notes
- Company catalog card included
- Currently stored in box 2.1.11 [79]
- Date
- 1905
- 1900-1910
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- photographer
- Johnson
- publisher
- American Stereoscopic Co
- Local number
- RSN 9972
- Video number 09244
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Dog-cart and milk woman, Antwerp. 1479 Photonegative
- Notes
- Company catalog card included
- Similar to RSN 12755 and 20157
- Currently stored in box 3.1.14 [167]
- Date
- 1900-1910
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- Local number
- RSN 12756
- Video number 12026
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
Minister Conger leaving Legation in his official chair--always used on official calls--Peking. 4206 Photonegative
- Notes
- Frames in separate envelopes
- Currently stored in box 3.1.28 [115]
- Date
- 1900-1910
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- Local number
- RSN 14073
- Video number 13347
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Transportation in India.] 8742 Photonegative 1906
- Notes
- Company catalog card included
- Similar to RSN 22886; frames in separate envelopes
- Currently stored in box 3.1.32 [56]
- Date
- 1906
- 1900-1910
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- photographer
- Gridwood
- Local number
- RSN 14378
- Video number 13748
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
[Roadway.] 9950 Interpositive
- Notes
- Currently stored in box 3.2.32 [150]
- Date
- 1900-1910
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- Local number
- RSN 23629
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
From Stamboul (N.) over bridge across Golden Horn to Galata. 11178 Interpositive
- Notes
- Currently stored in box 3.2.58 [91]
- Date
- 1890-1920
- 1900-1910
- publisher
- Underwood & Underwood
- Local number
- RSN 27781
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
