City Archives and old photos...where?

[Anonymous]

For those of you who rely on schmatics and photos of places long gone from your city or town, you look to the archives right? Should I check my library? If they have them, are they accessable to the public? I live in Upland CA, and we have an old depot, lots of old spurs covered up by asphalt, and many, many citrus packing houses, run down and the lot. So im sure if we have archives, there should be some rr pics or atleast pics of the industries in their golden days right? Any other suggestions for finding more about my city's industries? Thanks, Bennett

[howmus]

QUOTE: Originally posted by bnsf97

For those of you who rely on schmatics and photos of places long gone from your city or town, you look to the archives right? Should I check my library? If they have them, are they accessable to the public? I live in Upland CA, and we have an old depot, lots of old spurs covered up by asphalt, and many, many citrus packing houses, run down and the lot. So im sure if we have archives, there should be some rr pics or atleast pics of the industries in their golden days right? Any other suggestions for finding more about my city's industries? Thanks, Bennett

You may have better sucess checking at the local Historical Society, at least for photos. Most Historical Societies can also help you find the information you need or at least direct you to the right agency.

[Anonymous]

The Cincinnati and Hamilton County has an entire department for photographs so don't give up on the library. They will also have an answer desk or research desk, whatever they call it they that can point you to the most likely source for he information. Happy hunting.

[lyctus]

Have a look at the latest PRRT&HS on-line magazine Keystone Modeller which has a great article which should give you more clues than you can jump over for sources of historical data. Topo Maps, Insurance maps, even huge libraries of historical postcards.

[orsonroy]

Virtually any data that you're looking for, for any given railroad area is out there....somewhere. The trick is to actually FIND it. That requires looking around everywhere and anywhere you can think of. And don't expect it to be a quick search: I've been researching the NKP's Peoria division, or at least a 45 mile chunk of it, for the past six years now. I'm STILL finding new data on the line, which adds to the overall picture of things (an online friend sent me a great photo which shows much of one online city in context just this weekend)

Anyway, you've got to start big, and work your way down to the little stuff. Start with finding maps of the area. USGS topo, aerial survey maps, Sanboen fire insurance maps, railroad track diagrams and charts (two different animals), USRA 1918-1920 Valuation maps...and anything else you can squirrel up (I like old Rand McNally road maps!). Once you know the general lay of the land, start asking around. The 'net is fast becoming a place for "real" research. It's not quite there yet, but you can get a good start on research by asking around online. Join several Yahoo Groups that seem to relate to your area of interest and start digging through the archived messages. If there's data that is of use to you, store it and start asking related questions.

Books are a fantastic resource, and still the primary place to find RR-specific information. But don't buy anything sight-unseen, especially if your budget is tight. I've bought books for one specific photo, bt only if the price is right.

Join your RR's historical society. I can't think of a better place to find like-minded people to grill for data.

As for local libraries and town historical societies, don't start digging through them until you "sort of" know what you're looking for, and looking AT. Most of these facilities are geared towards genealogical research, so there's lots of "aunt Emma went to school at..." information, and relatively little "RR xyz interchanged 3450 cars in the year 19xx" type data. There probably IS some of that in each facility, but it's hard to dig out. Don't expect the people working there to know ANYTHING about trains, other than they occasionally make them late for work.

[jrbarney]

Bennett,
There are two other sources you might try, with unpredictable success. One is the "Images of Rail" series offered by Arcadia Publishing:
http://www.arcadiapublishing.com
Their Web site isn't the most user friendly, but they may have published a book
on one of the railroads or on a larger city near you. The other possibility is the Chamber of Commerce for Upland.
For access to the Sanborn maps, try:
http://sanborn.umi.com
For the Username, use: sjplremote
For the Password, use: welcome
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

[orsonroy]

QUOTE: Originally posted by jrbarney
For access to the Sanborn maps, try:
http://sanborn.umi.com
For the Username, use: sjplremote
For the Password, use: welcome
Bob
NMRA Life 0543

AAAARRRRGGGGHHHH!!!!!! The password only gives me access to California maps! Drat!!

Anyone got a password good for IL and IN maps?????

[Jetrock]

The library is a good place to start--even if they don't have anything there, librarians often know where to point you. Old city directories are very useful tools, as well as old maps. If you ever get up to Sacramento I'd recommend a stop at the Railroad Museum library, as there is lots of specific West Coast information (you can take a very general look at the collections online via www.csrmf.org .)

One easy tool is just doing a Google-search for your city name--you might not immediately find photos, but including terms like "history" or "railroad" with the name might turn up some interesting finds.