Guide to the Western Highway Historical Collection M0314
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
1999, revised 2016-2024
Green Library
557 Escondido Mall
Stanford 94305-6064
Fax Number: (650) 723-8690
specialcollections@stanford.edu
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Western Highway Historical Collection
source:
Western Highway Institute
Identifier/Call Number: M0314
Identifier/Call Number: 477
Physical Description:
6 Linear Feet
(11 boxes)
Date (inclusive): 1888-1960
Abstract: Photographs, dealer catalogs, and specification sheets concerning trucks, mostly from the 1920s and 30s, and trucking ephemera
from the early 1950s.
Language of Material:
English
.
Conditions Governing Access
Open for research. Note that material must be requested at least 36 hours in advance of intended use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Various sources.
Preferred Citation:
[Identification of item] Western Highway Historical Collection (M3014), Dept. of Special Collections, Stanford University
Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Scope and Contents
Collection of photographs, dealer catalogs, specification sheets and other material concerning trucks, buses, trailers, and
other vehicles for transportation, freight and construction. Manufacturers include Autocar, Trailmobile, Fageol Motors, Kenworth,
Mack Trucks/International Motor Company, Reliance Trailer and Truck, Hilo Transportation and Terminal, and White Motor Company.
The Western Highway Historical Collection was founded in 1960 with the cooperation of the Western Highway Institute, primarily
to preserve the records and pictures of the early days of highway transportation west of the Rocky Mountains. Donors include
Randolph Brandt, E.E. Brower, W.D. Patterson, Don Pennell of Peterbilt Motors, Sam A. Simpson, William Tice, and E. Guy Warren.
Some published material was transferred to general stacks where it is accessible through the library's catalog.
While the focus of the collection is on the vehicles themselves, also depicted in photographs are drivers, workers, and urban/industrial
locales infrequently captured on camera. Additionally, researchers may encounter all manner of businesses and occupations,
including bakeries, dairies, gas stations, lumbering, passenger buses, house movers, and municipal projects.
In 2018, several boxes of related material was added, primarily ephemera from Western trucking and moving companies, circa
1949-1952. Most files in these series originated in the Hopkins Transportation Library as "Pamphlet Material on Motor Carrier
Industry" HE5612 Zpc. This addition includes training manuals, forms, promotional booklets and fliers, photographs & negatives,
employee magazines, legal papers, radio program and advertising scripts, speech transcripts, etc.
Correspondence within the collection, largely with Hopkins librarian Carolyn Mohr, concern the acquisition of research material
from various companies in the early 1950s. Mohr was also likely the author of the thumbnail histories included for most firms.
Some photographs referred to in the letters have not been located, although many are likely to be found in the various Hopkins
Transportation Library archival collections.
Conditions Governing Use
While Special Collections is the owner of the physical and digital items, permission to examine collection materials is not
an authorization to publish. These materials are made available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission
or reproduction beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or assigns.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Automobiles -- History
Trucks
Trucking
Transportation -- Photographs
Storage and moving trade
Freight and freightage
Autocar Company
Fageol Motors Company
Trailmobile Company
Kenworth Truck Company
Mack Trucks, inc.
Reliance Trailer and Truck Company, inc.
White Motor Company
Hilo Transportation and Terminal Company
Western Highway Institute
Pacific Gas and Electric Company
Box 1
Autocar Messenger 156155
1920-1925
Container Summary: Bound issues of promotional magazine (5 volumes).
Box 2
Autocar Messenger 156153
1926
Scope and Contents note
Bound issues of promotional magazine (1 volume).
Box 2
Autocar photo albums
1920s-30s
Scope and Contents
Five sets of bound promotional photographs.
Box 3
Autocar photo album of road construction projects in Sierra Nevada 156115
1920s-30s
Yosemite Valley 156151
Container Summary: 30 photos
Mono Lake 156149
Container Summary: 3 photos
Leevining Canyon 156147
Container Summary: 2 photos
Valley Springs 156145
Container Summary: 7 photos
Calaveras 156143
Container Summary: 1 photos
Jackson 156141
Container Summary: 3 photos
Colfax - Gold Run 156139
Container Summary: 2 photos
truck driving 156137
Container Summary: 4 photos
Mystic (Truckee River) 156135
Container Summary: 3 photos
Lake Tahoe 156133
Container Summary: 5 photos
Bijou -Minden Road 156131
Container Summary: 1 photos
Pleasant Valley (Relocation of Yosemite VAlley Railroad) and Exchequer Dam) 156129
Container Summary: 6 photos
Lodoga 156127
Container Summary: 5 photos
Sacramento River Canyon 156125
Container Summary: 3 photos
Lake Almanor Dam 156123
Container Summary: 13 photos
next generation 156121
Container Summary: 3 photos
miscellaneous - includes the Calaveras Big Tree grove 156119
Container Summary: 12 photos
mounted separately, many dated 156117
1930-31.
Container Summary: 20 photos
Box 5, folder 1
Autocar Trucks 156111
Scope and Contents note
1 flier (printed after 1950) for the 1898 Autocar ; 3 printed advertisement bulletins ; brief outline of the history of the
company, 1951 ; bound catalog showing construction process, etc.
Box 11
Autocar scrapbook
1915-1916
Immediate Source of Acquisition
gift of John H. Phillips
Fageol Motors
Scope and Contents
Fageol was based in Oakland, and most of the photos here are set on the West Coast, including California, Oregon & Washington,
along with some from Australia (they had a branch there) and one from Japan.
There are quite a few non-Fageol photos filed here as well, including some from New York.
Box 4, folder 1
misc. 156113
Scope and Contents
Includes images of a christenings, a trade show display, offices, showrooms, advertising, technical drawings, and commercial
copy with cropping and highlighting.
Box 4, folder 3
casual driving, rural roads & snow
Box 4, folder 4
misc. - towing, horse trailer, ferry, fire trucks
Box 4, folder 5
dump trucks, construction, roadworks, etc.
Scope and Contents
Includes images from Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest
Box 4, folder 2
flat bed trucks, cabs, hauling
Box 4, folder 6
food hauling - produce, livestock, dairy, ice, etc.
Scope and Contents
Includes images from Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest
Box 4, folder 8
gas trucks, gas stations
Scope and Contents
Includes images from San Francisco, Los Angeles and the Pacific Northwest
Box 4, folder 10
Los Angeles, Southern California
Box 4, folder 11
Los Angeles - buses & coaches
Scope and Contents
Most are Los Angeles Motor Bus Company
Box 4, folder 17
San Francisco etc. - gift of Randolph Brandt (copy prints) 156037
Box 4, folder 15
San Francisco Bay Area - construction, etc.
Box 4, folder 16
San Francisco Bay Area - produce, foodstuffs, etc.
Box 4, folder 19
Pacific Northwest - buses & coaches
Box 4, folder 20
Pacific Northwest - Consolidated Truck Lines/Freight Lines
Box 4, folder 21
Southern Pacific Motor Transport Co. Safety Coaches
Box 4, folder 26
photocopies in numbered order
Box 5, folder 2
Kenworth 156107
Scope and Contents note
Kenworth Craftsman, June 1960. Vol 18 #3 ; 4 prints of Kenworth, gift of Edwin S. Acker ; 1 print Kenworth, gift John C. Springer.
Mack Trucks (International Motor Co.)
Box 5, folder 3
Mack Trucks 156105
Scope and Contents note
1912 price list (with 13 pictures) ; 2 printed sheets (front and back) inc. 5 pictures.
Box 4, folder 14
Santa Cruz - Union Traction Co. (Mack)
Scope and Contents
Transferred from Hopkins Transportation Library at unknown date
Box 5, folder 7
San Francisco - Reliance Trailers dealer catalog 156055
Box 5, folder 6
San Francisco - Reliance Trailer and Truck Co., Inc. 156057
Scope and Contents note
Gift of William Tice.
Del Monte Creamery truck & tailer, 156097
1926
Solid tire low-bed trailer 156093
Experimental dump truck, 156091
circa 1926
Riverdale creamery truck & trailer 156089
Reliance side dump trailer, 156087
1926,
Scope and Contents note
(San Diego Street R.R. Co.)
Alaska- special construction trailer, 156085
circa 1922
Bottom dump trailer for Santa Clara Co road maintenance. 156083
Pierce Arrow truck, Reliance trailer (Soledad to San Francisco over San Juan grade, 134 miles, 12-13 hours) 156081
1921-22.
Reliance building at 16th St., San Francisco. 156079
Lane air brakes, 156077
1921.
Pierce Arrow truck, Reliance trailer, (Glass lined tanks for Naitonal Ice Cream). 156075
1922.
Bekins Van & Trailer, 156073
1927.
Peterbilt truck, Reliance trailer with the largest load of Redwood logs recorded, Ft. Bragg. 156071
1952.
Logging truck & trailer, 156069
1922.
Pacific Body Works truck & trailer, 156067
1924-26.
Box 5, folder 4
Trailmobile 156109
Scope and Contents note
Gift of Trailmobile, Includes 10 photos of Trailmobile trucks (the following subject matter is also included in the photos:)
Cincinnati, Ohio, 1919 (2) ; fairs (1916) ; parade ; San Antonio, Texas, 1918 ; Gas stations, 1939 (Associated Oil Co.)
Box 5, folder 9
White Motor Co. 156049
Scope and Contents note
Gift of White Motor Co. 1921 White truck (photo) ; Ad showing White trucks doing rescue work during floods in Obio/Indiana,
1913; Pittsburgh flood in 1906, and other emergencies ; Extract from the White Bulletin, 1906
Box 5, folder 5
White Motor Co. Growth of Motor Transportation talk by O.E. Dagner 156103
May 8, 1936
Scope and Contents
5 pp typescript by O.E. Dagner (of White Motor Co.) for a presentation at a meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers,
accompanied by 26 photos and transparencies used in illustration.
Series 2. Freight companies
Box 6, folder 1
Asbury Transportation Company
Box 6, folder 2-3
Bekins Van & Storage Company
Box 6, folder 6
Consolidated Freightways, Inc.
Box 6, folder 7
Consolidated Freightways - Action
1951-1953
Box 6, folder 8
Gallagher Transfer & Storage Company
Box 5, folder 8
Hilo Transportation and Terminal Co., Ltd. 156053
Scope and Contents note
5 photos of sugar hauling equipment in Hawaii. Gift of Hilo Transportation.
Box 6, folder 9
Interstate Motor Lines, Inc.
Box 7, folder 1
Los Angeles - Albuquerque Express
Box 7, folder 2
Lyon Van & Storage Company
Box 10, folder 1
Pacific Freight Lines - negatives
Box 7, folder 4
Pacific Intermountain Express
Box 7, folder 5
Pacific Intermountain Express - Log
1950-1953
Box 7, folder 7
Signal Trucking Services, Ltd.
Box 8, folder 2
miscellaneous trucking ephemera, correspondence, etc.
Scope and Contents
Includes small amounts of material from firms including City Transfer & Storage, Long Beach ; Commercial Motor Freight ; Fortier
Transportation ; Garibaldi ; Garrett Freightlines ; Keystone Express Sysytem ; Lamb Transportation ; Lang Transportation ;
A.R. Pearson Truck ; Peerless Trailer & Truck Services ; Pierce Freight Lines ; Petroluem Transportation ; Shell Oil ; Southern
California Freight Lines ; Wells Cargo ; Western Truck Lines.
Series 3. Utility companies
Box 9
Pacific Gas & Electric Company - prints and negative sleeves
Box 10, folder 2-3
Pacific Gas & Electric Company - negatives
Series 4. Trade organizations
Box 6, folder 5
California Motor Transport Association
Box 11
The Commercial Car Journal vol. IV No. 4
December 15, 1912
