For railroad bibliophiles and historians of technology, here's a bibliography that I compiled a few years ago (with Jack's help) of books and articles written by retired Smithsonian railroad transportation curator Jack White from 1957-2011--enjoy! ~K.R. Bell

John H. White, Jr. Bibliography
1957-2011

BOOKS

Cincinnati Locomotive Builders 1845-1868. (U.S. National Museum Bulletin 245), Washington: Government Printing Office, 1965, pp. ix + 167. Revised and Expanded edition in 2004, 200 pgs., by Cincinnati Museum Center.

American Locomotives, An Engineering History 1830-1880. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1968; 504 pp. (Reprinted in paper cover edition as A History of The American Locomotive, Its Development: 1830-1880. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1979); Revised and expanded hardcover edition by Johns Hopkins University Press, 1997.

Development of the Locomotive Engine by Angus Sinclair. Annotated and wrote new chapter, pp. 662-695. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press, 1970.

Early American Locomotives. New York: Dover Publications, Inc. 1972, pp. v + 147.

Horse Cars, Cable Cars and Omnibuses. New York: Dover Publications, Inc., 1974, pp. xxxiv + 107.

The American Railroad Passenger Car 1830-1970. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1978, 699 pp., 773 illustrations. (Reprinted in two volumes, paperback, 1985, by Johns Hopkins University Press.)

The John Bull: 150 Years a Locomotive. Washington: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1981, 140 pp., illus.

A Short History of American Locomotive Builders. Washington, D.C.: Bass Books, 1982, 112 pp. (Reprinted by R&LHS in Railroad History 197, pp. 8-101.)

The Great Yellow Fleet: A History of the American Refrigerator Car. San Marino, CA: Golden West Books, 1986, 186 pp. illus.

The American Railroad Freight Car: From the Wood Car Era to the Coming of Steel. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1993, pp. 665.

The Island Queen: Cincinnati’s Excursion Steamer. The University of Akron Press, 1995, 115 pp., illus.

Cincinnati, City of Seven Hills and Five Inclines. Cincinnati, OH: Cincinnati Railroad Club, 2001. Pp. 128.

On the Right Track: Some Historic Cincinnati Railroads. Cincinnati Railroad Club, 2003, 160 pp.

Encyclopedia of North American Railroads, William D. Middleton, ed., Indiana University Press, 2007. JHW wrote the Preface, 19th century technology, rack railways, inclined plane railways, and ten biographies of railroad men.

Wet Britches and Muddy Boots: A History of Travel in Victorian America. Indiana University Press, 2013. 514pp.

ARTICLES

“The Cincinnati and Westwood RR.,” in Bulletin of the Hist. and Philos. Soc. Of Ohio, April 1957, pp. 131-140.

“The Mt. Adams and Eden Park Inclined Railway,” in Bulletin of the Hist. and Philos. Soc. Of Ohio, October 1959, pp. 242-276.

“The College Hill Narrow Gauge,” in Bulletin of the Hist. and Philos. Soc. Of Ohio, October 1960, pp. 227-239.

“Grant’s Silver Locomotive,” in Bulletin 104 of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, April 1961, pp. 54-59.

“The Introduction of the Locomotive Safety Truck,” Paper 24 in Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology (U.S. National Museum Bulletin 228), 1961, pp. 118-131.

“Inclined Plane Railways of Cincinnati, Ohio,” in Bulletin of the Hist. and Philos. Soc. of Ohio, April 1961.

“Report on European Railway Museums 1961,” published serially in the Headway Recorder (A Washington, DC enthusiast publication), 1962-1963.

“The Cheviot Narrow Gauge,” in Bulletin of the Hist. and Philos. Soc. of Ohio, January 1963, pp. 22-29.

“The Centipede,” in Bulletin 109 of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, October 1963, pp. 11-15.

“The Janus,” in Journal of Transport History, University of Leicester, Leicester, England, May 1964, pp. 175-181.

“The ‘Pioneer’ Light Passenger Locomotive of 1851,” paper 42 in Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology (U.S. National Museum Bulletin 240), 1964, pp. 243-268.

“Alexander Latta as a Locomotive Designer,” in Bulletin of the Cincinnati Historical Society, April 1965, pp. 27-36.

“American Single Express Locomotives,” in Bulletin 114 of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, April 1966, pp. 27-36.

“Locomotives on Stone,” in Smithsonian Journal of History, Vol. 1, No. 1, Spring 1966, pp. 49-60.

“James Millholland and Early Railroad Technology,” paper 69 in Contributions from the Museum of History and Technology (U.S. National Museum Bulletin 252), 1967, pp. 1-36, 29 figs.

“By Steam Car to Mt. Lookout: The Cincinnati and Columbia Street Railroad,” in Bulletin of the Cincinnati Hist. Soc., April 1967, pp. 93-107.

“Septimus Norris and the Origins of the Ten Wheel Locomotive,” in Technology and Culture, January 1968, pp. 55-62.

“Old Ironsides, Baldwin’s First Locomotive,” in Bulletin 118 of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, April 1968, pp. 85-87.

“The Cincinnati Inclined Plane Railway Company: The Mount Auburn Incline and Lookout House,” in Bulletin of the Cincinnati Hist. Soc., Vol. 27, No. 1, Spring 1969, pp. 7-23.

“Cuyahoga Steam Furnace Company,” in Smithsonian Journal of History, Vol. 3, 1968, pp. 59-76.

“Public Transport in Washington Before the Great Consolidation of 1902,” in Records of the Columbia Historical Society, 1969, pp. 216-230.

“Introduction,” to reprint of American Locomotive Engineering by G. Weissenborn, 1969, 3 printed pages, unnumbered.

“Introduction” to Train Wrecks by Robert C. Reed, 1969.

“Baltimore and Ohio Transportation Museum,” in Technology and Culture, Vol. 11, No. 1, January 1970, pp. 52-60.

“Chicago Locomotive Builders,” in Bulletin 122 of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, April 1970, pp. 52-60.

“Locomotives Built at Auburn [under the pseudonym of Steam Dome],” in Bulletin 123 of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, October 1970, pp. 78-80.

“The Lima Locomotive Works [with W.D. Edson], in Bulletin 123 of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, October 1970, pp. 81-102.

“The Steam Fire Engine: A Reappraisal of a Cincinnati ‘First’,” in Bulletin of the Cincinnati Hist. Soc., Vol. 28, No. 4, Winter 1970, pp. 317-335.

“Two Worlds of Railroad History,” in Trains Magazine, August 1971, p. 68.

“A History of the Railroad Hand Car,” in Railroad History 127, October 1972, pp. 65-95.

“The Railroad Reaches California: Men, Machines and Cultural Migration,” in California Historical Quarterly, Vol. LII, No. 2, Summer 1973, pp. 131-144.

“Introduction,” to reprint of Steaming Up by E.C. May, 1973.

“American Single Locomotives and the ‘Pioneer’,” in Smithsonian Studies in History and Technology, No. 25, Washington 1973, pp. iv. + 50.

“Richmond Locomotive Builders, “in Railroad History 130, Spring 1973, pp. 68-88.

“The Patton Motor Car [under pseudonym of Barney N. Smith], “in Railroad History 129, Autumn 1973, pp. 86-93.

“The Railway Museum: Past, Present and Future,” in Technology and Culture, October 1973, pp. 599-613.

“No Class,” in Trains Magazine, April 1974, p. 58.

“Masons, Machines and Make Believe,” in Trains Magazine, October 1974, pp. 22-25.

“The Steam Railroad Comes in Cincinnati,” in Bulletin of the Cincinnati Hist. Soc., Winter 1974, pp. 177-183.

“Wood to Burn: Locomotives Before the Coal Era,” in American Heritage, Vol. XXVI, No. 1, December 1974, p. 78.

“A Short History of Railway Brakes,” in National Railway Historical Society Bulletin, Vol. 40, No. 5, 1975, pp. 6-17.

Essays on railroads in 1876 Exhibition Catalog, pp. 54-55 and on fire engines, pp. 58-59, Smithsonian Institution Press, 1976.

“The Railroad Velocipede,” in Technology and Culture, July 1976, pp. 515-517.

“Grice and Long: Steam-Car Builders,” in PROSPECTS, An Annual of American Cultural Studies, Vol.Two, 1976, pp. 25-39.

“Splendor and Gloom: The Decoration of Victorian Railroad Cars,” in Nineteenth Century, Vol. III, No. 1, Spring 1977, pp. 38-47.

“The Why in History,” in Trains Magazine, Vol. 37, 1977, p. 66.

“The Cover Design ‘A Perfect Light is a Luxury’: Pintsch Gas Car Lighting,” in Technology and Culture, Vol. 18, 1977, pp. 64-69.

“Tracks and Timber,” in IA The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology, Vol. 2, No. 1, West Virginia University, 1977, pp. 35-46.

“An End to Pot Boilers,” in Trains Magazine, February 1978, p. 66.

“The Pioneer” Chicago’s First Locomotive,” (Booklet) Chicago Historical Society, 1976, pp. 32.

“Winans invented the eight wheel car, True False, Pullman invented the sleeping car, True False, Westinghouse invented the air brake, True False,” in Trains Magazine, Vol. 38, 1978, pp. 44-48.

“Railroad Car Builders of the United States,” in Railroad History 138, Spring 1978, pp. 5-29.

“George P. Kimball: A Pacific Coast Car Builder,” in Railroad History 138, Spring 1978, pp. 74-84.

“Stone Rails Along the Potapsco [with Robert M. Vogel],” in IA The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology, Vol. 4, No. 1, 1978, pp. 15-25.

“Rails: from Old World to New,” in The Smithsonian Book of Invention, Smithsonian Exposition Books, 1978, pp. 94-97.

“The Mississippi: A Southern Foundling,” in Railroad History 140, Spring 1979, pp. 114-118.

“The Narrow Gauge Fallacy,” in Railroad History 141, Autumn 1979, pp. 77-97.

“Holmes Hinkley and the Boston Locomotive Works,” in Railroad History 142, Spring 1980, pp. 27-52.

“Industrial Locomotives: The Forgotten Servant,” in Technology and Culture, April 1980, pp. 209-216. (Reprinted in The Re:Porter, 4th Quarter 1980.)

“A Short History of the Railroad Passenger Car,” in Railway Mechanical Engineering—A Century of Progress, Car and Locomotive Design. New York: American Society of Mechanical Engineers, 1980, pp. 231-243.

“Resurrection: The John Bull Steams Again at 150 Years of Age,” in Railroad History 144, Spring 1981, pp. 55-60.

“Foreward,” to Steam Locomotives of the New Haven Railroad, National Railway Publication Co., 1981.

“Railroads: Wood to Burn,” in Material Culture of the Wooden Age, ed. Brooke Hindle, New York: Sleepy Hollow Press, New York, 1981, pp. 184-224.

“The Last of the Insiders Remains an Outsider,” in Shoreliner, Vol. 12, Issue 3, 1981, pp. 36-39.

“Safety with a Bang,” in Technology and Culture, April 1982, pp. 195-201.

“The Greenback Raid,” in Railroad History 146, Spring 1982, pp. 41-46.

“Three Orphans,” in Newsletter of the Society for Industrial Archeology, Winter 1982, p. 10.

“Col. John: Not Really a Great Inventor,” in The Stevens Indicator, Winter 1982, pp. 4-9.

“A Little Information Can Be A . . .,” in Trains Magazine, April 1983, p. 66.

“The California State Railroad Museum: A Louvre for Locomotives,” exhibit review in Technology and Culture, Vol. 24, No. 4, October 1983, pp. 644-654.

“American Locomotives in Russia,” in Railroad History 149, Autumn 1983, pp. 116-117.

“Once the Greatest of Builders, The Norris Locomotive Works,” in Railroad History 150, Spring 1984, pp. 17-56, 86.

“Yankee, Please Come Home!,” in Trains Magazine, Vol. 44, No. 11, September 1984, pp. 21-28.

“Who Was Ezra Miller?,” in Railroad History 150, Spring 1984, pp. 115-117.

“Another Early Snowplow,” in Railroad History 151, Autumn 1984, pp. 104-106.

“George Emerson and Railroad History,” in Railroad History 151, Autumn 1984, p. 106.

“The Lion and the Dragon: The First Railway in China,” in National Railway Bulletin, Vol. 50, No. 1, 1985, pp. 34-41.

“More on Matthew,” in American Heritage, Feb./Mar. 1985, pp. 108-109.

“Profile: Why Write History,” in Railroad History 152, Spring 1985, pp. 6-12.

“The Steam Engine in Prints and Photographs,” in Railroad History 152, Spring 1985, pp. 29-41.

“Almost on the Right Track: The Densmore Tank Car,” in Pennsylvania Heritage, Summer 1985, pp. 12-17.

“On Railroad History and the Railway and Locomotive Historical Society,” in The Railroad History Index 1921-1984, 1985, pp. 7-10.

“Containers: An Idea Whose Time Came Centuries Ago,” in Intermodal Age International, October 1985, pp. 42-44.

“An Early Chapter in Freight Handling, Cincinnati and the Container,” in Queen City Heritage, Vol. 43, No. 3, Fall 1985, pp. 25-34.

“The Cover Design ‘Steam in the Streets: The Grice and Long Dummy’,” in Technology and Culture, Vol. 27, No. 1, January 1986, pp. 106-109.

“America’s Most Noteworthy Railroaders,” in Railroad History 154, Spring 1986, pp. 9-15.

“More Car Builders [under the pseudonym Barney N. Smith],” in Railroad History 154, Spring 1986, pp. 128-131.

“More Than an Idea Whose Time Has Come: the Beginnings of Steel Freight Cars,” in History of Technology, Eleventh Annual Volume, 1986, ed. by Norman Smith (Mansell Publishing Limited), Imperial College, London, pp. 181-207.

“The Real Thing,” in Timber Transfer, Vol. 4, No. 1, Spring 1987, pp. 6-9.

“More Noteworthy Railroaders,” in Railroad History 156, Spring 1987, pp. 86-87.

“Unit Trains,” in Railroads in the Age of Regulation, 1900-1980, Vol. I, Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography, ed. by Keith L. Bryant, Jr. , 1987, pp. 448-449.

“A Few Words About This Picture, An 1865 photograph of a Massachusetts enginehouse
provides a window on the world of nineteenth-century railroading,” in American Heritage of Invention and Technology, Fall 1987, pp. 8-13.

“The Magic Box: Genesis of the Container,” in Railroad History 158, Spring 1988, pp. 73-93.

“William d’Alton Mann,” in The Encyclopedia of America Business History and Biography: Railroads in the Nineteenth Century, 1988, pp. 335-339.

“George Mortimer Pullman,” in The Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography: Railroads in the Nineteenth Century, 1988, pp. 335-339.

“Webster Wagner,” in The Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography: Railroads in the Nineteenth Century, 1988, pp. 423-424.

“George Westinghouse,” in The Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography: Railroads in the Nineteenth Century, 1988, pp. 430-436.

“Theodore Tuttle Woodruff,” in The Encyclopedia of American Business History and Biography: Railroads in the Nineteenth Century, 1988, pp.438-439.

“Facadism: Is This Really Preservation,” in Locomotive & Railway Preservation, July/August 1988, pp. 33-40.

“Introduction” to Volume I of A Century of Pullman Cars by Ralph Barger, Greenberg Publishing Co., 1988.

“Home to Roost: The Story of Poultry Transit by Rail,” in Agricultural History, summer 1989, pp. 81-94.

“Party-Time Trolleys,” in Timeline, Vol. 6/No. 6, December 1989-January 1990, pp. 44-53.

“Spunky Little Devils: Locomotives of the New York Elevated,” in Railroad History 162, Spring 1990, pp. 20-58.

“Riding in Style: Palace Cars for the Cattle Trade,” Technology and Culture, April 1990, pp. 265-270.

“Changing Trains,” Spring/Summer 1991, Invention and Technology, pp. 34-41.

“Are We Collecting Too Much?,” Locomotive and Railway Preservation, September/October 1991, pp. 2-3.

“Horse Power,” Invention and Technology, Summer 1992, pp. 40-51.

“Railway Replicas, Past and Future,” September/October 1992, Locomotive and Railway Preservation, pp. 44-59.

“Thatcher Perkins: Master of Machinery,” Autumn 1993, Railroad History, pp. 54-68.

“Old Debts and New Visions: The Interchange of Ideas in Railway Engineering,” in Common Roots – Separate Branches, London: Science Museum, 1994, pp. 65-87.

“From Top to Bottom: Cincinnati’s Inclines and Hilltop Houses,” Time Line, January/February 1995, pp. 26-39.

“William Crooks: The Prairie Prince,” May/June 1995, Locomotive and Railway Preservation, pp. 20-26.

“Save This Railroad,” in Invention and Technology, Summer 1995, pp. 40-47.

“Look Mom-No Flanges! Blind Tires Were Once Commonplace,” Railroad History 172, Spring 1995, pp. 63-68.

“Cruise on the Island Queen,” Timeline, March/April 1996, pp. 38-49.

“The Power of Live Steam,” American Heritage, April 1996, pp. 124-135.

“Moving and Losing Locomotives,” Inland Seas, Spring 1996, pp. 56-62 + 69.

“Underwater Recovery of Locomotives,” Inland Seas, Fall 1996, pp. 234-236.

“Walking the Track,” Vintage Rails, March/April 1998, pp. 85-92.

“Dummy Tech,” Invention and Technology, Spring 1998, pp. 34-37.

“Box of Gold-Rule of Iron,” Timeline, November/December 1998, pp. 32-39.

Encyclopedia of Urban America, 2 vol., ABC-CLIO, 1998, articles on Horse Cars, Omnibus, Steam Dummies, and Suburban Railways.

“Harbingers of Steam Locomotion in America,” Queen City Heritage, Spring 1999, pp. 21-25.

“Push Car Railroading,” National Railway Bulletin, Vol. 64, No. 4, 1999, pp. 22-27.

“U.S. Mail Line,” Queen City Heritage, Summer/Fall 1999, pp. 50-68.

“A Bunch of Dummies,” Railroad History 181, Autumn 1999, pp. 61-78.

“East is West and West is East,” (Cog Railways) Invention and Technology, Summer 2000, pp. 22-26.

“The Railroad Pass: Perk or Plunder?” Railroad History 182, Spring 2000, pp. 58-71.

“Ice Bound,” (New York Elevated Locomotives in Alaska) Railroad History 183, Autumn 2000, pp. 102-108.

“Making Tracks: Jack Casement’s Triumph,” Timeline, March/April 2001, pp. 2-17.

“Burton Hazen, An Early Cincinnati Steamboat Builder,” S&D Reflector, March 2001, pp. 12-13.

“The 1832 Packet Homer,” S&D Reflector, March 2001, pp. 14-15.

“Robert Fulton’s Dream,” Invention and Technology, Summer 2002, pp. 39-46.

“Steamboats on The Inland Rivers,” September 2002, exhibition booklet of 22 pages Miami University Libraries, Oxford, Ohio.

“It All Started in New Jersey,” Invention and Technology, Winter 2003, p. 63.

“Everyday Life of the Train Captain,” Railroad History 187, Fall/Winter 2002, pp. 14-39.

“Steam in Silhouette,” Invention and Technology, Summer 2003, pp. 44-45.

“Roughing It: A History of the American Stagecoach,” September 2003, exhibition booklet of 24 pages, Miami University Libraries, Oxford, Ohio.

“Oh, to Be a Locomotive Engineer,” Part 1, Railroad History 189, Fall/Winter 2003, pp. 13-33.

“Train Boys,” Nineteenth Century (Victorian Society), Fall 2003, pp. 28-34.

“Oh, to be a Locomotive Engineer,” Part 2, Railroad History 190, Spring 2004, pp. 56-77.

“The Evolution of Street Car Track,” Trolley Talk, No. 273, July/August 2004, pp. 1-13.

“Some Notes on Early Railway Lubrication,” Newcomen Society (British) Vol. 74, 2004, pp. 293-307.

“War of the Wires: A Curious Chapter in Street Railway History,” Technology and Culture, April 2005, Vol. 46, pp. 374-384 (reprinted in Trolley Talk, March/April 2008, issue No. 291).

“The Strongest Handshake in the World,” (car couplers) Invention and Technology, Winter 2006, pp. 51-54.

“Let Us Cross Over the River: Cincinnati’s Ferryboats,” Timeline, January-March 2006, pp. 44-57.

“Horse Cars: City Transit Before the Electrical Age,” August 2006 exhibition booklet of 22 pages, Miami University Libraries, Oxford, Ohio.

“Slaves of the Rails: Street Railway Conductors,” Nineteenth Century [Victorian Society], Spring 2006, pp. 31-36.

“Famous Long Ago: Writers of the Rails,” Railroad History, Spring-Summer 2006, pp. 22-36.

“Fast Boats to Snag Boats: The River Career of Edward M. Schield,” S&D Reflector, June 2006, pp. 6-16.

“Captain Hercules Carrel and the Cincinnati Marine Railway,” S&D Reflector, Summer 2008, pp.10-19.

“The Locomotive Tea Set: A Gift From France,” White House History 24, Fall 2008, pp. 57-60.

“On Being Number Two,” Railroad History 200, Spring-Summer 2009, pp. 22-23.

“Hunting Buffalo From the Train,” Railroad History 201, Fall-Winter 2009, pp. 42-49.

“A Portrait of the 1826 Steamboat Tecumseh,” Ohio Valley History, Fall 2009, pp. 59-66.

“Elisha Talbott and the Railway Age,” Chicago History, Winter 2010, pp. 37-51.

“George Dunn’s Dream: Building the Lawrenceburg & Upper Mississippi Railroad,” Railroad History 202, Spring-Summer 2010, pp. 48-59.

ARTICLES ABOUT JOHN H. WHITE, JR.

John H. White, Jr. “Profile: John Hoxland White, Jr.” Railroad History 152, p. 8.

Freeman Hubbard, “Interesting Railfans No. 93: John H. White, Jr., Railroad Magazine 87:5 (September 1970), pp 26-29.

Robert C. Post, “A Life With Trains: An Interview with John H. White, Jr.,” Invention & Technology (Fall 1990), pp.34-40.

B. Ann Diehl, “Dean of Preservation: John Hoxland White, Jr. Locomotive & Railway Preservation, issue 45 (January-February 1994), pp. 22-27.

John P. Hankey, “Behind the Scenes Hero,” Trains 70 (7) (July 2010), pp. 60-61.

Kurt R. Bell, “On the Shoulders of a Giant: John Hoxland White, Jr.,” Railroad History 204 (Spring-Summer 2011), pp. 6-23.

Kurt, thank you.

I have another one to add:

"Preserving a National Symbol: The Steam Locomotive" in IA, The Journal of the Society for Industrial Archeology, Vol. 7, No. 1, 1981.

Address being used for the SIA at that time was an room within the NMAH of the Smithsonian.

Thanks, Brian--this article entry must have fallen off the radar and was absent from Jack's own listing. The SIA's old NMAH address was that of Bob Vogel, SI's curator of civil and mechanical engineering who was a founder of the SIA in the late 1960s/early 1970s. He and Jack remain close friends, and Bob even collected railroad archival material during his SI tenure. Vogel is married to Helena Wright, who remains active as an NMAH curator.

~K.R. Bell

I would add the following to the list:

“Exploring the Past with Steamdome,” [a previously used pseudonym] consisting of four items: “The Railroad Station Water Column,” “The Union Pacific Omaha Bridge – 1872,” “The Great Omaha Bridge,” and “Baggage Abuse,” Railway & Locomotive Historical Society Quarterly, Fall 2008 – Winter 2009, pp. 6-9.

"Full Steam Ahead! Hudson River Steamboats," Invention & Technology, Winter 2011, pp. 30-39.

I think the last one was on an earlier edition of the list.

Hi All

Mr. White wrote several impassionate letters about EP&SW #1 to a fellow Southwest Chapter of the R&LHS member. The letters match his writings that I have read on preservation. Those letters had a great influence on me. I have only met him once. This was at the 1985 R&LHS convention I was sent to the car that he was talking to Mr. Best to tell them where they could move to see SP 3420 operating. I have often hoped that the work on EP & SW#1 would meet his approval.

Robby Peartree