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Al Graves Railroads Collection
MS.2018.027
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Title: Al Graves Railroads Collection
Dates: 1872-1998, bulk: 1900-1930
Collection Number: MS.2018.027
Creator/Collector:
Graves, Alvin Clifton, 1913-2008
Extent: xx linear feet, x boxes, additional items
Online items available
Repository:
Mill Valley Public Library
Mill Valley, California 94941
Abstract: A collection of photographs, mechanical drawings and blueprints, artwork, original documents, manuscripts, maps, annual reports,
scrapbooks, postcards, timetables, large objects, books, and ephemera collected by Al Graves, primarily about the Mt. Tamalpais
and Muir Woods Railway that ran from Mill Valley from 1896-1930. There are also objects about railroads, locomotives and streetcars,
and manuscripts relating to the writing of the book, The Crookedest Railroad, which he co-wrote with Ted Wurm in 1954.
Language of Material: English
Collection is open for research. Original materials may be viewed with permission from staff. Digital copies of materials
may be available. Materials in this collection do not circulate.
[Identification of item]. Al Graves Railroads Collection. Collection Number: MS.2018.027. Mill Valley Public Library
Biography/Administrative History
Al Graves, born Alvin Clifton Graves on July 15, 1913, was the son of Cliff Graves (Henry Clifton Graves) and nephew to Roy
D. Graves, who was a fireman for the North Shore Railway and later for the Mill Valley & Mt. Tamalpais Scenic Railway. Roy
went on to become curator for the Marin County Historical Society Museum. Al was a collector of photographs and railroad memorabilia,
and co-author of Narrow Gauge to the Redwoods: The Story of the North Pacific Coast Railway and San Francisco Bay Paddle-Wheel
Ferries with A. Bray Dickinson, and The Crookedest Railroad in the World; A History of the Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railroad
of California with Ted Wurm.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collection contains photographs, mechanical drawings and blueprints, artwork, original documents, manuscripts, maps,
annual reports, scrapbooks, postcards, timetables, large objects, books, and ephemera primarily about the Mt. Tamalpais and
Muir Woods Railway, but also about railroads in Marin County, streetcars and gravity cars, and papers relating to the writing
of the book The Crookedest Railroad by Ted Wurm and Al Graves.
Cable cars (Streetcars)
Locomotives
Railroad cars
Railroad conductors
Railroad workers
Railroads -- California
Railroads--Northwest, Pacific
Scenic railways--California--Marin County
Graves, Henry Clifton, 1891-1942
Graves, Roy, 1889-1971
Wurm, Theodore G., 1919-2004
Mt. Tamalpais and Muir Woods Railroad Co.
Mill Valley (Calif.)
Muir Woods National Monument (Calif.)
Tamalpais, Mount (Calif.)