The Railroad and The Art of Place

The Railroad and the Art of Place is a 152-page, 11 x 11-inch hardbound book printed in lush duotone that features photographs made by David Kahler, FAIA, with design and editing by Jeff Brouws and Wendy Burton. In the late 1980s, Kahler was deeply inspired by seeing an exhibition of O. Winston Link photographs. He soon began making annual trips to the West Virginia and eastern Kentucky coalfields, destinations that strongly resonated with his own aesthetic of “place.” Armed with a used Leica M6 and gritty Tri-X film, he and his wife made six week-long trips in the dead of winter to photograph trains along the Pocahontas Division of the Norfolk Southern Railway. Nearly one hundred images edited from this body of work form the core of The Railroad and the Art of Place, along with a selection of earlier Pennsylvania Railroad steam-era photographs that reflect Kahler’s interest in the railroad landscape from an early age. The volume also contains three essays (by Kahler, Scott Lothes, and Jeff Brouws) discussing the personal motivations, historical context, and aesthetic development behind the photography. With funding for printing provided by the Kahler Family Charitable Fund, all sales will go to support the Center’s work.

$60, hardcover, 11×11 inches, 152 pages, duotone, limited edition of 1,000 copies

The Railroad and the Art of Place, by David Kahler

Delivery by mail, add $7 for domestic shipping and handling

Pickup in-person at Conversations 2017 and pay no shipping

International shipping is available; please inquire by email at info [at] railphoto-art.org

Significant Images of Railroading

Significant Images of Railroading, edited by Center president Scott Lothes, is a 78-page, softcover book that, for the first time, presents an overview of the Center’s photography collections. Of the nearly 200,000 images in those collections, ninety-three are presented here in vibrant color and rich, quadtone black-and-white. Those images come from ten principal collections, including the work of Wallace W. Abbey, whose circa 1950 photograph from Chicago Union Station is featured on the cover. A preservation award from Trains magazine helped fund processing of the Abbey Collection. Other major holdings include the works of Fred M. Springer, John F. Bjorklund, and Ted Rose. Biographical sketches written by Jack Holzhueter introduce each section. Archives manager Jordan Radke completed processing work on many of the collections; archival partner Lake Forest College also contributed greatly to the processing work. In addition to the Trains award, funding for this special publication came from Fred and Dale Springer, the Candelaria Fund, and Bon and Holly French.

$19.95, softcover, 78 pages, color and b/w

Railroaders: Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography

200-page, hardbound, 11- by 11.5-inch book published by the Center in 2015. Printed in the United States, it features 108 photographs, including seventy-three of Jack Delano’s 1942–1943 views of Chicagoland railroads and their workers, reproduced in full color with rich quadtones for the black-and-whites. Contempoary photographs by Jack’s son, Pablo Delano, and the Center’s John Gruber and Scott Lothes complement the catalog. There are essays by Pablo Delano, Gruber, and University of Texas professor Jeremi Suri, a leading public historian. Biographical essays prepared by Center editorial consultant Jack Holzhueter as well as Gruber and Lothes tell the life stories of the forty-nine railroaders.

Winner of the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society’s George W. and Constance M. Hilton Book Award.

$60, $50 for members of the Center, $5 s/h, 200 pages, hardbound, color and b/w