Highlights
Our Organization
The Center for Railroad Photography & Art is a nonprofit arts organization that preserves and presents significant images of railroading. This focus on visual representations sets the Center apart from most other historical and preservation organizations. It does not maintain its own museum space but instead collaborates with other institutions and scholars. It maintains an office in Madison, Wisconsin, and an archive at Lake Forest College in Illinois. The Center, incorporated in 1997 in Wisconsin, has received 501(c)3 status from the U.S. Internal Revenue Service. Its board of directors represents a broad range of interests and professions. Generous individual and institutional gifts make its programs possible. Support us with your tax-deductible gifts.
"Conversations" Conference
Photo by Henry Koshollek, M.A.
The Center's eighth "Conversations About Photography" conference will be held April 23-25, 2010, in Lake Forest, Illinois. Photos of the 2009 conference are on the conference page.
Railroad Heritage 22
Railroad Heritage no. 22 showcases the winners of the annual Creative Photography Award and begins a series, “Faces of Railroading,” about Jack Delano and his portraits of people and railroads in preparation for an exhibition in Chicago. Other highlights of the journal include stories about the Center’s 2009 activities, the 2010 “Conversations about Photography” conference, and profiles of photographer Frank Barry and the designer of the Southern Pacific’s 1937 Daylight passenger train. Receive your copy of Railroad Heritage with your gift/subscription today.
Center for Railroad
Photography & Art
1914 Monroe St.
P.O. Box 259330
Madison, WI 53725-9330
(608) 251-5785 / Email Us!
Make a Gift
If you value the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, please make a gift to help us preserve and present significant images of railroading. Since our founding a decade ago, we have become a leader in the Railroad Heritage® community's visual world through our exhibitions, publications, conferences, awards, and Internet archive, railroadheritage.org. We have recognized the work of established photographers and encouraged creativity among younger photographers.
Foremost, if you aren't already a member, please join our community now with a basic gift, $40 a year, a rate that will hold only for a short time longer. We encourage larger gifts for more extensive initiatives such as the Delano project, or you can underwrite an issue of Railroad Heritage or support our annual conference by underwriting speakers' travel and lodging. All gifts are acknowledged and tax-deductible, except for $10, which is reserved for a Railroad Heritage subscription. Unless you indicate otherwise, your gifts for the year will be recognized publicly by category early in the next year. You may pay online here, using PayPal, or send a check.
Purchases of our publications also support the Center. If you prefer, you may use mail-in order forms. These are printable from the web at Support the Center (pdf) or can be obtained by contacting the Center using the address at the bottom left.
Become a Member and Support the Center
Basic membership is $40 a year, although we appreciate gifts at higher levels, as suggested below under “Continuing Monthly Gifts.” Member benefits include a subscription ($10 a year) to our journal, Railroad Heritage, discounted admission to our annual “Conversations About Photography” conference, entry in our awards program, and the satisfaction of knowing you are a part of a community dedicated to creativity. The $30 balance constitutes a tax-deductible contribution to the Center. To join, click on the yellow “Join” button below.
Continuing Monthly Membership Gifts
Your support at any level for the Center and its programs is appreciated. You may find it convenient to express your support through a monthly gift rather than a lump-sum contribution. All gifts are tax-deductible apart from the $10 subscription that is part of a membership gift at any level. You may pay through PayPal by using the signup feature here; PayPal will bill you automatically every month. Whether you provide support with a one-time annual gift or through monthly payments, your help is valuable to all our programs: our journal, Railroad Heritage; our web portal, railroadheritage.org and its invaluable collection of images and descriptions; and exhibitions. Monthly gifts enable us to plan ahead; they sustain the Center and make our work possible. Should circumstances require that you discontinue giving, merely visit this page anytime and use the “unsubscribe” button.
Gift Categories
Supporters: Up to $199
Supporters recognize our unique position as a nonprofit arts and educational organization. A gift of support helps us fund our office, operations, and publications so the Center can nurture and cultivate our community. Join us today in these efforts.
Friends: $200 to $499
The Center is fortunate to have a group of individuals and organizations who have the ability and desire to make the Center part of their annual giving. The Center is an independent nonprofit arts and educational organization. Friends recognize our unique mission and the value we and our donors together provide to our arts, educational, and railroad heritage communities.
Patrons: $500-$999
Patron-level support of the Center delivers the satisfaction of knowing that a gift will aid an organization that sees preservation and presentation as complementary. The Center provides advice and programs to photographers, artists, the public and museum communities about placement of collections, often being in a position to provide a home for them itself. Patrons take that extra step to help us maintain our commitment to preservation and presentation.
Benefactors: $1,000-$4,999
The Center sees railroad art and photography as legitimate artistic, educational, and historical endeavors, recognizing their value and promoting them as professional undertakings. This requires resources--to support and encourage artists, scholars, and writers to create and analyze new and past railroad artistry--and to produce traveling exhibitions, programs, Internet resources, and print publications. All of these are costly, especially because of our commitment to creating mainstream acceptance of railroad fine art. Benefactors recognize and support this challenge.
Leadership Circle: $5,000 and above
People interested in railroad art and photography often have an intellectual curiosity and a fiery passion for the subject. Leadership Circle members (private and corporate) see the Center as both an organization and an institution--committed to promoting and preserving our railroad heritage both today and tomorrow. Their participation demonstrates serious philanthropic investment in preserving railroad history through art and photography. Giving at this level paves the way for the Center's long-term future and continued recognition of the importance of railroads and railroading to visual history.
A note about our e-commerce system: The Center uses Paypal to process its gifts and publication sales. It has encryption and security safeguards that ensure your payment information remains confidential and secure. Gifts and sales can be made using a credit card or by PayPal transfers from a PayPal account.