Rail photo exhibit in Madison, WI capitol

[Anonymous]

Hi everyone!

Just wanted to let you all know about the latest exhibit sponsored by the Center for Railroad Photography and Art. It's a two-week exhibit opening in Madison, Wis., this Thursday, June 8th.

--Matt Van Hattem
TRAINS Magazine

The Center for Railroad Photography & Art’s exhibit, Faces of Railroading and the Making of Madison and Dane County, at the Wisconsin state capitol in Madison runs June 8-22. The opening from noon to 1 p.m. June 8 includes a program and exhibit in the rotunda (first floor) and reception in the senate parlor (second floor). The reception is courtesy of Trains magazine, Waukesha, and Kitchen Hearth Catering, Madison.

The center (www.railphoto-art.org) exhibit features 37 photographs, including views by Henry Koshollek, John Gruber, Richard Gruber, Robert Eineke, and Paul Swanson, plus images from the Wisconsin Historical Society.

“Railroads truly built Madison, and they continue to foster its never-ending growth,” said Jack Holzhueter, a retired researcher and editor for the Wisconsin Historical Society. He will talk about the impact of their passenger and freight service on the city. “The arrival of the railroad to Madison in 1854 gave what was then a village the growth spurt that elevated it to city status in 1856,” he said. “Today, when Madisonians flip electrical switches they benefit from the coal still hauled here by rail.”

A second short talk by John Gruber, president of the center, will be about railroad workers—their jobs and their neighborhoods. He will tell about the compelling images, past and present, of workers whose efforts made railroad operations possible.

A grant from the Evjue Foundation, the charitable arm of The Capital Times, Madison’s afternoon newspaper, provides partial support for the exhibit and heritage project, bringing attention to railroad heritage, an otherwise overlooked aspect of Madison’s history, during its sesquicentennial.

Faces of Railroading is part of “Representations of Railroad Work, Past and Present,” a national program. The center, with support by the North American Railway Foundation, has created exhibits across the country, including Grand Central Terminal in New York City, that tell the public about the past and present importance of railroads in their own communities.

The center, a nonprofit arts organization founded in 1997, does not maintain its own museum. Instead it collaborates with other institutions to present these exhibits and conferences. It maintains an office in Madison and an archive at Lake Forest College in Illinois.