Highlights
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.
Photography Awards
Photo by Brandon Smith, 2010 winner.
As a part of its commitment to excellence, the Center has established annual national awards for outstanding contributions to railroad imagery. See the 2010 winners.
Center for Railroad
Photography & Art
1914 Monroe St.
P.O. Box 259330
Madison, WI 53725-9330
(608) 251-5785 / Email Us!
A Railroad Heritage Community
Jim Shaughnessy of Troy, New York, captured the spirit of the Pennsylvania Railroad's Elmira, New York, branch in 1957. The challenge for the Center is to interpret these and other images in innovative ways, to explain the impact of railroading and photography for 21st century audiences.
Your continued support is what keeps the Center going. Feedback, suggestions, and new ideas are essential. In addition, your gifts of photography, art, monetary donations, and participation are crucial.
The Center is creating a community of people interested in the broader topic of railroads as they pertain to artistic and documentary photography and cultural history. A goal of the Center is to create an awareness and appreciation for railroading's place in, and contribution to, America's visual culture. The Center's programs are moving ahead. In addition to our publications and issues of Railroad Heritage, we have placed several prominent exhibits across the country providing free access to important railroad photography and art.
Perhaps as important, the Center sponsors and encourages artists and photographers. Art and scholarship cannot happen without resources to support the people producing them. We are proud of our work in this area. Last year the Center gave more than $11,000 in honoraria to many artists and scholars to support their art and their writing for our programs. That averages annually to nearly 10 percent of our operating budget. The Center also has mobilized many volunteers to contribute their time and money to move these programs ahead. We want to continue this record of success.
Our operating income stems primarily from memberships, gifts, publication sales, and grants. We need support in all these areas to keep this small operation running. Here are some ways you can help us:
Become a Member: First and foremost, if you aren't already a member, please consider joining now. With a gift of $40 or more a year, we mail to you Railroad Heritage; $10 is reserved for the subscription to the magazine.
Give a Gift of Support: The Center is a 501(c)(3) organization that provides meaningful visual arts and history programs. Your gift[PDF] goes a long way towards promoting railroading's contributions to America's visual culture via our nationwide outreach programs. Our operating costs are very low, and we intend to keep them that way. The Center is and will remain a small independent organization, allowing flexibility and creativity to collaborate and produce quality ideas and programs. Gifts aside from membership support are essential. Generous benefactors, for example, made possible the exhibition of Ted Rose's photographs and watercolors plus the accompanying catalog.
You can give a gift online by clicking here.
Purchase Publications: We are very proud of our publications, and are lucky to work with top-notch designers and contributors. Your support of these efforts enables us to continue and to develop them in new directions.
You can purchase the Rose catalog and past issues of Railroad Heritage by clicking here.
Attend Conferences and Programs: The annual conference is our forum where you can engage one another and exchange ideas and experiences. Ideas need to be formulated, tested, and encouraged through presentations and feedback. Professional artists and historians have much to say about this subject; attend and be a part of these endeavors. Continuing to participate in our Railroad Heritage community takes your passion for railroads to levels that enable scholarship and studies that will broaden understanding about railroad art, culture and history. The conference encourages us all to share ideas, photography, and history with one another.
Enter the Center's Photography Contest: Submit your work, get your perspective out in front of our members. Competition aside, be proud of your efforts and see your submissions as contributions to what railroads mean visually and symbolically. The 2009 deadline is March 10.
Volunteer: We want to develop programs that speak to your interests and reach out to the general public. Volunteers help us do things that otherwise couldn't be done. Collaborations are essential--contact us if you have an idea or program you think needs attention.
The Center was incorporated in 1997 as a nonprofit Wisconsin organization. The special collections department at Donnelley and Lee Library at Lake Forest (Illinois) College serves as the archive. Railroad Heritage regularly features articles about railroad photography and art. The website offers online galleries and a calendar of events sponsored by the Center and other visually oriented railroad groups, and railroadheritage.org, our web portal, offers exceptional railroad-related images with first-rate explanatory and descriptive material provided by experts in all fields. By supporting the Center, you become a part of a larger group that helps present high quality railroad images to the public in many ways.
Center for Railroad Photography & Art
1914 Monroe Street
P.O. Box 259330
Madison, Wisconsin 53725-9330