The other item mentioned is lack of knowledge on the part of the library staff. That is why museums that specialize in transportation materials should be considered first when making plans for the future of collections. We somehow expect local historical groups that often are more social than competent to cope with the complexities of specialized collections just because they are local. There are many stories of wonderful collections of loco builders plates going to a fraternal lodge, or dining car china to a county group when institutions that would treasure them instead of selling them off or storing them in a basement are not considered. The RR Museum of PA, Cal State RR Museum, and (blush) the Museum of Transportation in St. Louis are just three that can recognize good rail collections for what they are, care for them, and share their contents with researchers while safeguarding them for the future. But even these can only slowly catalog large donations so they can be made available. I've been working on the files of the Railroad YMCA in St. Louis the past week, finding wonderful things, but I know there are many hundreds of cubic feet of untouched materials here that need the same attention. Competent, trustworthy help is priceless, and the only way we can keep ahead of the game.

rdgoldfede@aol.com

Earlier in this thread was a note that librarians ans curators are loath to let people handle the collections because their intentions are not necessarily altruistic.

Do we have a way of clearing and training potential volunteers so they can work on these archives without damaging (or taking) the historical documents?

Electric City Trolley Museum Association