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 38 items.
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Ebony series (Bison Lines) [cellulose acetate photonegative]
- Summary
- Ink on negative: "2", "3", "4". Two negatives of passengers boarding a Bison Bus, "do not print" is written on the original file envelope. "KODAK SAFETY FILM" edge imprint
- Cite as
- Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1930
- 1960
- N.d
- photographers
- Scurlock Studio (Washington, D.C.)
- film manufacturer
- Eastman Kodak Co
- Subject
- Ebony Magazine
- Bison Bus Lines
- Local number
- Box 618.04.83
- AC0618.004.0000551.tif (AC Scan)
- No Scurlock number
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
1931 Ford Model A roadster
- Description
- In the late 1920s and early 1930s, the Ford Model A was one of the most publicized and best-selling cars in America. It was sporty, attractive, well-built, and smooth-running compared to the Model T, which it replaced in the 1928 model year. Thousands of people were eager to see for themselves that "Henry's made a lady out of Lizzie," and they stormed Ford showrooms when the Model A debuted on December 2, 1927. In less than two weeks there were 400,000 orders, and Henry Ford could not keep up with the demand for his latest "gift" to an increasingly mobile nation. Despite the onset of the Depression, Model A production remained strong at 1,261,053 cars in 1930 but fell to 626,579 cars in 1931, the last year that the Model A was produced. Donald E. Wolff donated this restored 1931 Ford to the Smithsonian in 1974.
- In the early 1920s, the plain, utilitarian Ford Model T far outsold other new cars and gave millions of working Americans the advantages of personal mobility. But by the mid-1920s, Ford's market share was shrinking because other automobile manufacturers offered stylish, sophisticated cars at low prices and enticements such as buying on credit. Henry Ford decided to replace the Model T with a new car that would attract as much attention as the "Tin Lizzie" once had. The much-anticipated 1928 Ford Model A was chic and sporty, and it had mechanical features that the Model T lacked: a three-speed, sliding-gear transmission, four-wheel brake system, and hydraulic shock absorbers. Sales were strong, but Ford never again dominated the new-car market as it had at the height of the Model T's popularity; Chevrolet, Plymouth, and other makes proved to be formidable rivals in the 1930s and beyond. In the 1932 model year, Ford replaced the Model A with a new line of cars featuring V-8 engines.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1931
- maker
- Ford Motor Company
- ID Number
- TR*335243
- catalog number
- 335243
- accession number
- 315444
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
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
[Ship, E. Madison Hall, starboard (right) side : acetate film photonegative,] Sept. 18, 1932
- Notes
- No labeled temporary storage box
- Condition: Good, slight warping of base, slight acetate odor; black tape masking
- Summary
- Figures on top deck are wearing white baptismal garments. Ink on negative: "Scurlock Photo Sept 18, 1932". No manufacturer's mark on film edge
- Cite as
- Scurlock Studio Records, ca. 1905-1994, Archives Center, National Museum of American History
- Date
- 1932
- Sept 18, 1932
- 1930-1940
- photographer
- Scurlock, Addison N. 1883-1964
- Subject
- E. Madison Hall (Ship)
- Local number
- 618ns0177440sc.tif (AC Scan)
- Freezer box 08, Envelope 1
- Data Source
- Archives Center - NMAH
1934 Trav-L-Coach house trailer
- Description
- The Cate family of Lakeport, New Hampshire purchased this trailer in 1936 to serve as their vacation home. Cars and highways had created vast new recreational opportunities, and during the Depression many families who were financially stable still enjoyed driving to remote scenic areas. The Cates, like other trailer owners, thought of touring as an extension of home life, and they could afford the security, comfort, and intimacy of a manufactured cottage on wheels.
- Eben Cate was a rural mail carrier on a route through several villages near Lake Winnipesaukee. He earned two weeks of vacation time per year. In 1936 he saw this trailer in a showroom in Laconia, a few miles from his home, and purchased it for pleasure trips. Eben and Vernie and their children, Rudolph and Virginia, made one trip to Florida in their new trailer in 1937, staying one night in many different locations. Every summer during the 1940s, they spent a week at Decatur Motor Camp at York Beach on the southern coast of Maine. They kept house in the trailer, went for walks, and swam in the Atlantic Ocean. Vernie did the housekeeping — not much of a vacation for her, but a change of scenery nonetheless. The Cates also visited Vernie's relatives in East Corinth, Vermont and parked the trailer "out near the barn" with an electrical hookup. The wooden trailer came equipped with a bedroom, sofa beds, table, kitchen, closets, and cupboards.
- House trailers were so appealing that thousands of itinerant people lived in them full-time in the 1930s. But early residential trailer camps had poor sanitary conditions and no landscaping. Some observers believed that traditional communities were threatened by the existence of these ad hoc, transient communities. Trailers created contradictory feelings of pride and disapproval —a far cry from the euphoric autocamping outings of the 1920s.
- Date made
- 1934
- user
- Cate, Eben
- Cate, Vernie
- maker
- Trav-L-Coach
- ID Number
- 1981.0524.01
- accession number
- 1981.0524
- catalog number
- 1981.0524.01
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Moby Dick, or The Whale
- Description
- In early 1841 at the age of 21, Herman Melville shipped out on a voyage to the Pacific Ocean aboard the Massachusetts whaler Acushnet, which he deserted in the Marquesa Islands after only 18 months. He then served briefly on the Australian whaler Lucy Ann; the Nantucket whaler Charles & Henry, and in the US Navy. His whaleship experience supplied the background for his sixth and most famous novel, Moby-Dick, or the Whale, published in 1851. The first American edition of Moby-Dick of 2,915 copies did not sell well at $1.50 and only netted Melville lifetime earnings of $556.37.
- Although he continued to write poetry and fiction, Melville supported himself as a New York City customs inspector for 19 years before dying in 1891 at the age of 72. It was not until the 1920s that Melville achieved recognition as one of the icons of American literature. This 1930 edition of Moby Dick, published by Random House and illustrated by Rockwell Kent, introduced Melville to thousands of Americans.
- Date made
- 1930
- author
- Melville, Herman
- illustrator
- Kent, Rockwell
- publisher
- Random House, Inc.
- ID Number
- 2007.0071.1
- catalog number
- 2007.0071.1
- accession number
- 2007.0071
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Model of the 1825 Steam Locomotive, Dewitt Clinton
- Description
- This 1/2" scale model of the De Witt Clinton represents an early American built four-wheel connected locomotive. Peyton L. Morgan, the maker, based the model on drawings supplied by Popular Mechanics Magazine between 1931 to 1933. The model consists of the engine with horizontal boiler, steam dome, stack and a four wheel tender.
- The De Witt Clinton was the Mohawk and Hudson Railroad's first locomotive. It is named for the governor of New York who promoted the construction of the Erie Canal. Designed by John B. Jervis, the locomotive was the third engine produced by the West Point Foundry Association of New York City. Completed in 1831, it was found to be too light to haul trains of sufficient size and its wheel arrangement too rigid to negotiate sharp curves without incident. It was dismantled piecemeal between 1833 and 1836.
- The Erie Canal, completed through the state of New York in 1825, became an artery of trade and travel. Between Albany and Schenectady, the canal travelled forty miles through twenty-seven locks. Over land, however, the distance between the two towns was only sixteen miles. The Mohawk and Hudson Railroad, chartered in 1826, linked the Mohawk River at Schenectady with the Hudson at Albany. The New York Legislature intended that the railroad complement, not compete with, the canal, as it allowed traffic to bypass the roundabout section of waterway between the two towns.
- date made
- 1931
- De Witt Clinton locomotive built
- 1831
- maker
- Morgan, Peyton L.
- ID Number
- 1992.0036.01
- catalog number
- 1992.0036.01A
- accession number
- 1992.0036
- catalog number
- 1992.0036.01B
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
Route 66 Pavement, 1932
- Description
- 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 ordinary Americans, enhancing their personal lives and giving them more freedom. These advantages contrasted with railroads, which benefited corporations and allowed them to control people's movements and the cost of their travels. In 2000, Oklahoma truckers moved 50 feet of concrete pavement from U.S. 66 to the collections of the National Museum of American History to mark the significance of U.S. numbered highways, and Route 66 as a prime example.
- In 1926, almost 60 years after the first transcontinental railroad was completed, U. S. 66 was conceived as a public thoroughfare linking the Midwest, Southwest, and southern California. Its all-season route soon brought heavy traffic. Motorists and business owners adapted Route 66 for their needs and oriented their lives around it. Some earned a living by driving a truck or operating a roadside business, while others enjoyed leisure trips, advertised products, or moved to new homes. Clusters of roadside buildings made Route 66 the main street of a new community—one that was of, by, and for people on the move.
- Route 66 also served as a conduit for mass migrations of workers, farmers, and their families who saw the highway as a path to a better life. During the Depression, Midwesterners saw it as a way out of hard times and failed farms, and they followed it to seek jobs in the Southwest and California. G.I.s traveled to defense camps during World War II, and after the war they settled in new homes nearby. Hordes of vacationers followed the advice of songwriters Bobby and Cynthia Troup: "Get your kicks on Route 66." Americans relied on Route 66 to change their circumstances for the better, and the highway earned a special place in American culture. Today, historians commemorate its importance.
- Date made
- 1932
- ID Number
- 2000.3074.01
- catalog number
- 2000.3074.01
- nonaccession number
- 2000.3074
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
The Rebel
- Description (Brief)
- Flat, rectangular plastic card in white with red and blue print. On the front is an image of the Rebel, a red, silver, and blue train, and a calendar for 1935. On the reverse is a map of Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad's routes. Traffic offices include: Birmingham; Chicago; Detroit; Jackson, Mississippi; Jackson, Tennessee; Kansas City; Memphis; Meridian; Mobile; New Orleans; New York; Pittsburgh; and St. Louis.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1935
- advertiser
- Gulf, Mobile & Northern Railroad
- maker
- Whitehead & Hoag Company
- ID Number
- 2006.0098.0616
- accession number
- 2006.0098
- catalog number
- 2006.0098.0616
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
1935 Simplex Servi-Cycle Motorbike
- Description
- Beginning in 1935, the Simplex Manufacturing Corporation of New Orleans made motorbikes, which were smaller and lighter than motorcycles. Their simple designs made personal transportation accessible to young people and adults. Owners found many uses for Servi-Cycles, including errands, pleasure rides, and package delivery using a three-wheeled model. Top speed was 40 miles per hour, and average cruising speed was 30 miles per hour. Postwar sales were strong, but Servi-Cycle sales declined in the 1950s because of the growing popularity of imported motor scooters. Simplex ended motorbike production in 1960 but made motor scooters until 1972, when the company went out of business.
- Location
- Currently not on view
- date made
- 1935
- maker
- Simplex Manufacturing Company
- ID Number
- TR*317365
- accession number
- 230387
- catalog number
- 317365
- Data Source
- National Museum of American History, Kenneth E. Behring Center
