Title: Philip Ross Hastings, M.D. collection

Dates: 1925-1987

Collection Number: MS 413

Creator/Collector: Hastings, Philip R., 1925-1987

Extent: 15 boxes + 3 oversize boxes

Repository: California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Abstract: The collection contains correspondence, drafts of articles, promotional material, brochures, newspaper articles, field notebooks, certificates, awards, itineraries and other material primarily related to Hastings' photography career and his interest in railroad photography and railroadiana

Language of Material: English

This collection is open for research at our off-site storage facility with one week's notice. Contact Library & Archives staff to arrange for access.

Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the Director of Collections. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.

Philip Ross Hastings, M.D. collection. California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives

Gift of Mrs. Marian B. Hastings, 1997 and 2015.

Philip Ross Hastings was a celebrated railroad photographer with a much copied, innovative style. He was born in 1925 in Bradford, Vermont. As a child, Hastings accompanied his father to the local railroad station. He took his first railroad photo before age 10. Hastings' plan to become a locomotive engineer was foiled by his bad eyesight. He enlisted in the Army in 1943. While a student at Tufts, Fordham, and New York Universities and the University of Vermont, Hastings studied both medicine and photography. He graduated from the University of Vermont as an M.D. in 1950. After college, Hastings re-enlisted in the Army and was posted in New York State, Maryland, Texas, and Washington as part of his medical training. He was certified by the American Board of Psychiatry and Neurology in March of 1959. Hastings received many awards as a practicing psychiatrist, and became president of the Iowa Psychiatric Society in 1971. He and his wife, Marian and their five children, Pamela, Stephen, Hugh, Doug and David settled in Waterloo, Iowa in 1959 where Hastings continued to develop his interest in photography. Hastings became a staunch supporter of the Mid-Continent Railway Historical Society in North Freedom, Wisconsin and served as its board chairman during the 1980s. During the 1950s and 1960s, Hastings wrote for TRAINS magazine. He and David Morgan, editor of TRAINS, documented the end of the steam era in a series of articles. In 1985, Hastings won the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society's annual Photography Award in recognition for a lifetime of outstanding achievement in his field. Many of Hastings' photos are prominently featured in railroad books and publications. His images were compiled and printed in THE MOHAWK THAT REFUSED TO ABDICATE AND OTHER TALES (1975). Another book, PHILIP ROSS HASTINGS: THE BOSTON & MAINE: A PHOTOGRAPHIC ESSAY was published posthumously in 1989. Hastings died on February 20, 1987 in Waterloo, Iowa. In 1997, the Hastings family selected the California State Railroad Museum as the permanent home for Hastings' photograph collection, consisting of over 46,000 plus black and white negatives, 4,000 prints, and 32,000 35 mm color transparencies.

The collection contains correspondence, drafts of articles, promotional material, brochures, newspaper articles, field notebooks, certificates, awards, itineraries and other material primarily related to Hastings' photography career and his interest in railroad photography and railroadiana. The following items have been removed from the collection and catalogued separately: photographs, menus, books, magazines, maps and a Brownie Junior Six 16 camera which belonged to Hastings' mother. For more information, please inquire. SERIES SUMMARY 1 PROMOTIONAL MATERIALS: INSTITUTIONS & SITES 2 CLIPPINGS 3 CORRESPONDENCE 4 NOTEBOOKS 5 PUBLICATIONS 6 CORPORATE MATERIALS 7 SUBJECT FILES 8 TRIPS AND EXCURSIONS 9 AWARDS, CERTIFICATES AND DIPLOMAS 10 MISCELLANEOUS