Donald Duke collection of railroad and electric railway photographs and ephemera, 1829-2010, bulk 1920s–1960s

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Summary

Creators:
Duke, Donald, 1929-2010.
Abstract:
This collection consists of railroad and electric railway photographs, ephemera and publications, 1829-2010, with the bulk of material from the early- to mid-20th century. The materials are chiefly focused on steam and diesel locomotives, major railroads, and interurban passenger railways of the United States and Canada. Also represented are shortline and narrow-gauge railroads, other foreign railroads, streetcars and urban light rail transit.
Extent:
64.63 Linear Feet (89 boxes)
Language:
English.
Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Donald Duke collection of railroad and electric railway photographs and ephemera. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Background

Scope and content:

This collection consists of railroad photographs, ephemera and publications, 1829-2010, with the bulk of material from the early- to mid-20th century. The focus is chiefly locomotives and trains (steam and diesel) of major railroads and interurban electric railways of the United States and Canada. Also represented in the collection are smaller shortline and narrow-gauge railroads; other foreign railroads; streetcars (or trolleys); and burgeoning light rail and subway systems.

Most of the ephemera is printed material produced by railroad companies for promotional and business purposes, such as annual reports, brochures, route maps and guides, timetables, tickets, dining menus, stationery, stock certificates, bond coupons and other items. There are also many city and state tourist guidebooks describing sights along rail routes or promoting land available for farming, mining or home-building across the United States. Also included are items produced for or by railroad employees, such as instruction and safety manuals, train orders, freight bills and in-house newsletters. Railroad industry publications, statistics and reports can be found in the American Association of Railroads files, which are part of Donald Duke's subject files on railroad-related topics. Throughout the ephemera files are newspaper and journal clippings, often from scarce small press and trade publications such as The Railway and Engineering Review, The Railroad Gazette, The Santa Fe Magazine, The Western Railroader, Railway Ageand others.

In addition to railroad history, other topics of social and cultural historical interest in the ephemera are:

  1. Depictions of African Americans and Native Americans in mass-marketed train travel brochures. There are many examples that reflect American cultural and class stereotypes in the early- to mid-20th century. Selected files are noted in the container list.
  2. Occupational safety and health: See railroad worker safety manuals and accident prevention literature in ephemera files.
  3. History of food and drink: See numerous dining and beverage menus throughout Railroads and Foreign Railroads ephemera files (not always noted in container list).
  4. History of graphic design and typography: See examples of early- and mid- 20th century popular styles in printed ephemera throughout collection.

Photographs and negatives:

The photographs depict locomotives, freight and passenger trains, logging railroads, electric interurbans and streetcars across the United States. This was primarily a publisher's file of ready-for-press photographs, which are almost all 8 x 10-inch black-and-white prints, made approximately 1950s-1980s. The photographs were made chiefly by various amateur train photographers, including Donald Duke, but most are uncredited. There are some copy prints (photographs of other photographs), and a few original photographs from the late 19th-early 20th century. Some photographs have locations and dates written on the back, but many are unidentified other than the name of the railroad.

The negatives are chiefly of locomotives of the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway ("The Santa Fe"), Southern Pacific Railroad, and Union Pacific Railroad, made approximately 1940s-1950s. There are also many views of streetcars of Los Angeles-area lines: Los Angeles Metropolitan Transit Authority, Los Angeles Railway, Los Angeles Transit Lines, and the Pacific Electric Railway. There are a few negatives of other railroads, as well as stations, roundhouses, railyards, and copy negatives of miscellaneous train wrecks. The negatives were made by Donald Duke and others (often uncredited), with a small portion of copy negatives.

Biographical / historical:

Donald Duke (1929-2010) was a publisher, writer, railroad photographer and collector. He was born in Los Angeles and, from the age of 10, lived in San Marino, California. He grew up riding the Pacific Electric Railway, which stopped two blocks from his home, embarking on a love for trains and train photography, which he shared with his father. After graduating from Colorado College, he worked in sales for Mobil Oil, and later as an agent for General Steamship Corporation. In the 1950s, Duke formed his own publishing company, Pacific Railroad Publications; it later became Golden West Books, incorporated in 1960. Duke published over a hundred books on trains and railroads, written by himself or other railroad historians. Many of the photographs and pieces of ephemera in this collection appeared in Golden West Books publications. Duke also wrote articles for and edited the Pacific Railway Journal and the Branding Iron quarterly for the Los Angeles Corral of Westerners. He was a member of the Lexington Group of railroad historians, founding member of Orange Empire Railway Museum in Perris, California, and active in several other train, rail and locomotive historical societies. He was a longtime reader at the Huntington Library, where he bequeathed his collection of over 2,000 railroad books and trade journals.

Acquisition information:
Gift of the Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation, September 1, 2008.
Arrangement:

The collection has primarily been kept in the collector's original arrangement, and is organized in the following three series:

  1. Series 1. Printed material and ephemera (Boxes 1-46)
  2. Series 2. Photographic prints (Boxes 47-82)
  3. Series 3. Negatives (Boxes 83-89)
Rules or conventions:
Describing Archives: A Content Standard

Indexed terms

Subjects:
Locomotives -- Photographs.
Diesel locomotives -- Photographs.
Railroads -- Photographs.
Railroad yards -- California -- Los Angeles -- Photographs.
Railroad stations—Photographs.
Railroad accidents -- Photographs.
Street-railroads -- Photographs.
Electric railroads -- Photographs.
Railroads -- History -- Pictorial works.
Railroad travel.
Railroads – Employees.
Railroads -- Safety measures.
Railroads – Timetables--Specimens.
Railroads, Cable.
Narrow gauge railroads.
Local transit.
Logging railroads.
United States -- Description and travel.
Tourism – United States
Land settlement -- United States -- History.
Coal--Transportation.
Mines and mineral resources -- West (U.S.) -- History.
Food—History.
Advertising – Railroads -- Specimens.
Graphic design (Typography)—Specimens.
African Americans -- Employment.
African Americans -- Pictorial works.
Indians of North America -- Pictorial works.
Indians in popular culture.
Advertisements.
Clippings.
Ephemera.
Ephemera United States 19th century.
Ephemera United States 20th century.
Guidebooks.
Leaflets (printed works).
Letterheads.
Maps.
Menus.
Negatives.
Photographs.
Postcards.
Printed ephemera.
Promotional materials.
Stationery.
Stock certificates.
Tickets.
Names:
Atchison, Topeka, and Santa Fe Railway Company -- Photographs.
Los Angeles Railway -- Photographs.
Pacific Electric Railway Company -- Photographs.
Southern Pacific Railroad Company -- Photographs.
Union Pacific Railroad Company -- Photographs.
Kimball, Ward.
Duke, Donald, 1929-2010, former owner.
Hazeltine, M. M. (Martin Mason), 1827-1903, photographer.

Access and use

Restrictions:

Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.

Terms of access:

The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.

Preferred citation:

[Identification of item]. Donald Duke collection of railroad and electric railway photographs and ephemera. The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.

Location of this collection:
1151 Oxford Road
San Marino, CA 91108, US
Contact:
(626) 405-2129
reference@huntington.org
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