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. |
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Selected Objects |
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1955 Ford Country Squire Station Wagon
In the 1950s, the station wagon became a staple of America's new suburban landscape and a ubiquitous extension of the suburban home. This car reveals how one family adopted a ...
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Electric Streetcar, Capital Traction Co. # 303
The American Car Company of St. Louis, Missouri, built this 4-wheel, electric motor cars built for Capital Traction Company of Washington, D.C. The car was one of sixteen, and was ...
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Model of the Steamboat J. M. White
The Mississippi River sidewheel steamboat J.M. White was built at Jeffersonville, Ind., in 1878 for the Greenville and New Orleans Packet Company. Named after a famous riverboat captain (1823–1880), the ...
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New York Central Railroad Baggage Check
In the mid-18th century, large numbers of European emigrants crossed the Atlantic for a number of ports on the American East Coast. Railroads moved many emigrants from these ports to ...
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Painting of the American Clipper Ship Coeur de Lion
In the center, the American clipper ship Coeur de Lion sails from left to right in the standard pose of the classic portrait of a ship entering port. The main ...
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Postcard of Main Street
Postcards, once used as souvenirs, now help us reflect on what a small part of Main Street America used to look like. As highways spread across the nation, Main Street ...
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Railroad Track Signal
Railroad track signals are part of the control and management infrastructure of train movement. The railroad signal communicates to the operator of the train how to proceed to ensure safe ...
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Route 66 Pavement, 1932
The nation's first network of highways, built in the late 1920s and 1930s, created new opportunities for motorists and small business owners. It also created a perception that highways benefited ...
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Steam Locomotive, John Bull
Knowing the best locomotives were made in England, Robert Stevens ordered one from Robert Stevenson & Company of New Castle for the Camden and Amboy Railroad which ran across central ...
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Steam Locomotive, Southern Railway 1401
The 4-6-2 "Pacific" type steam locomotive for passenger trains was introduced late in the 19th century and perfected after 1910. It was among the most numerous type of steam locomotive ...
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Terminal Interchange from PANAMAC Airlines Reservation System
The PANAMAC, Pan American's first worldwide airline reservation management system, was installed in 1964, and used the IBM 7080 Data Processing System. PANAMAC linked hundreds of agent sets throughout the ...
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