I am doing research for my thesis (topic: bill board freight cars) and was wondering if anybody had any good suggestions for libraries in the northeast. Steamtown NHS has quite a good library. How about RRMPA? Any others?
Thank you!

Joshua

joshuakblay@hotmail.com

The Maryland Rail Heritage Library at the Baltimore Streetcar Museum is a joint volunteer operation of the BSM and the Baltimore Chapter NRHS. It is an oft-overlooked but very useful and accessible library, holding tens of thousands of slides, photos, books, drawings, blueprints, timetables, manuals, and the like.

The MRHL is open every Wednesday from about 10 am to perhaps 4 pm, the second Sunday of the month, and by appointment. Please feel free to respond to my e-mail address if you need to arrange an appointment.

Other libraries I can direct you to include the national NRHS library in Philadelphia (see www.nrhs.com for more info) and the excellent libraries at the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania and the B&O Railroad Museum. Be advised, however, that the larger museum libraries often tend to be both somewhat overwhelming in their contents and occasionally pricey in their fees for such services as photocopying, etc. (you did get a nice grant for this thesis, didn't you? :-]

lner4472@bcpl.net

For some reason two entire paragraphs of my last post vanished............

Do not overlook public libraries. Some city libraries have vast holdings that may surprise you, and even small town libraries have occasionally stunning holdings. One Ohio small town library has dozens of rail books that would bring hundreds each on eBay or at train shows, apparently the work of a railfan library trustee in the 1970s.

And need I remind you that the Library of Congress, in spite of recent security concerns, is still YOUR library as well? Secure the proper ID, and you can walk in and read and/or photocopy just about any useful book that isn't falling apart. (Hmmmmm, wonder if they have Vol. 2 of "Two Feet Between the Rails" by Robert C. Jones?)

lner4472@bcpl.net

And excellent archives in Sacramento and San Diego. A fair amount of railroad material is preserved by the Georgia Historical Society as well.

Dave

irondave@bellsouth.net

Thank you Alexander and Dave. No grant money Alexander.

Joshua

joshuakblay@hotmail.com

> And need I remind you that the Library of
> Congress, in spite of recent security
> concerns, is still YOUR library as well?
> Secure the proper ID, and you can walk in
> and read and/or photocopy just about any
> useful book that isn't falling apart.
>

Could you elaborate on this? What is "proper ID?". If you wish, let me know off-line

I think i was there as a kid-don't recall needing ID-but then again didn't have any either!


Superheater@beer.com

If you're interested in libraries outside the Northeast, the Mercantile Library of St. Louis has an extensive collection of corporate records and other odments in its John W. Bariger collection. Presumably heavy on the roads with an association with "Mr. B." Some of their resources might possibly be available as an interlibrary loan, as they are now affiliated with the University of Missouri library system. (They moved into a new facility at UMSL's campus a few years ago. I know there is some kind of association, I'm not sure how tight it is.)

You might also keep local history museums in mind, as they often have extensive photographic archives.

Sincerely,
David Ackerman

david_ackerman@yahoo.com

> Could you elaborate on this? What is
> "proper ID?"

Most of the areas I actually did research in required a "Reader Identification Card", a photo ID they produced for you in a separate office of the LOC which resembled a DMV or MVA license office. You had to show these IDs and sign in and out of the rooms I was using (mostly Prints & Photos in the Madison Building). Any building you enter these days will have a full x-ray and metal detector routine--and that was well BEFORE last year's terrorism.

To be honest, I don't know how much ID is needed for an average Joe Schmoe to walk in off the street and ask to see a Beebe and Clegg book off the shelves. With the paranoia in DC the past few days, I'm surprised they let anyone near Capitol Hill these days.

lner4472@bcpl.net

> You might also keep local history museums in
> mind, as they often have extensive
> photographic archives.

Which jars to my memory the Hagley Museum and Library outside Wilmington, Delaware, which is VERY heavy in technical and corporate history of local industry, especially railroads and the PRR. Contact Chris Baer there and see if he can assist you with your specific needs.

lner4472@bcpl.net

> Interesting. Thanks for the info.

With the recent happenings, however, perhaps the idiom that "paranoia is a heightened state of awareness" has some merit.

Superheater@beer.com

Don't forget interlibrary loan. If you are a student at a college or university that has a good ILL system it is valuable. I am finally at a University that has an excellent selection on U.S. and foreign railroads, cyclopedias, Poor's Manual of Railroads. However, I can ILL about anything I want, so it sweetens the pot.

david.wilkins@bardstown.com

There is a Union List of manuscript collections that is often available at large and college and university libraries. Railroad related collections are listed in this list.

Issue 137 of "Railroad History", bi-annual of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society, contained a list of railroad manuscript collections compiled from the Union List. This dates from 1977

Brian Norden


bnorden49@earthlink.net

You might try contacting the people who publish Railway Prototype Cyclopedia (Edward Hawkins and Patrick Wider) at P.O. Box 451, Chesterfield, MO 63006. They know about freight car builders' photo archives I would never have guessed existed. In their books they have published photos of every variant of selected types of freight cars from every railroad that used those cars. The issue I have have (RP CYC 6) for example deals with Express Box Cars (AAR Mechanical Designation BX), some of which have advertising on their flanks.

pnichol6@prodigy.net

Have you considered the NRHS library in Philadelphia?

Email address to contact them at is info@NRHS.com

Bob H

> I am doing research for my thesis (topic:
> bill board freight cars) and was wondering
> if anybody had any good suggestions for
> libraries in the northeast. Steamtown NHS
> has quite a good library. How about RRMPA?
> Any others?
> Thank you!

> Joshua


Heavenrich@yahoo.com

> Could you elaborate on this? What is
> "proper ID?". If you wish, let me
> know off-line

> I think i was there as a kid-don't recall
> needing ID-but then again didn't have any
> either!

I acquired my LOC readers card back in July, went first thing in the morning, and it took all of about ten minutes. If you do not already know exactly what you are looking for, there is a docent volunteer in the area to orient you and start you out.

I had done my "wants" research ahead of the time over the internet, and in less than a half hour I was going through the volumes I needed. And the photocopy protocol was not too onerous either.

Steve

SZuidervee@aol.com