It's Work gallery
You can see many photographs from the exhibits in the publication It's Work. The exhibit here is available to travel. Click on the thumbnail image to view the larger image.
Center for Railroad
Photography & Art
1914 Monroe St.
P.O. Box 259330
Madison, WI 53725-9330
(608) 251-5785 / Email Us!
Representations of Railroad Work, Past and Present : It's Work
Our other galleries: Wisconsin Railroaders | Chicago's Railroad Community | Ted Rose
Unidentified (Smithsonian Institution) Tioga, built in 1848 for the Philadelphia & Columbia, among the earliest known railroad photos. Philadelphia was the locomotive capital of America when the Norris Brothers built the Tioga in 1848 for the Philadelphia & Columbia Railroad. In one of the earliest railroad daguerreotypes known, the crew appears dressed in its finest clothes. Only a few hundred individuals in the United States held the respectable title of "Locomotive Engineman."
About the Exhibit
During "Representations of Railroad Work, Past and Present," a three-year program funded by the North American Railway Foundation, the Center created seven impressive photography exhibits that have been displayed on the east and west coasts and at nine locations in between. A selection of the memorable images are presented here and in our special publication, It's Work. With these exhibits plus our publications, Internet galleries, and bibliography, we have achieved our goal of building awareness of the significance of the human element of railroading. We have told the story visually of the people who built the railroads, rail by rail. As the exhibits continue to tour and as others pick up the story, we are seeing the long-term impact of our efforts.
While "Representations" ended September 30, it does not mean Center will abandon its commitment to telling the story of railroad work. It will continue to expand on the story in all its programs. In addition, the Center is cooperating in producing books such as Working on the Railroad by Brian Solomon (MBI and Voyageur Press, 2006), which includes an introduction by John Gruber, president.
The Center's "Representations" partnerships will serve it well in its next project, a web portal called railroadheritage.org.
For much of the period of industrialization in the United States, railroads were the single largest non-farm employer in the country. The 1920 U.S. Census, for example, found that 2, 236,000 people worked for railways, 7.25 percent of the non-farm labor force. Yet the 68,942 locomotives in service that year receive far more attention. The human element of railroading, the focus of the project, often is ignored or minimized. Railroads are some of the earliest examples of modern corporations. The workers who built these organizations have an important story.
NARF, Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, was formed in 1996 as private operating foundation "to explore, nurture and support railway safety, efficiency and technology and to educate about and preserve the history of railroads in the United States and Canada." The foundation receives its financial support from organized rail labor.