Object Details
Summary
Approximately 20,000 negatives of railroad related subjects with an emphasis on the eastern lines, especially the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Besides locomotives, other subjects include freight trains, passenger cars, bridges and tracks, stations, yards, tunnels, shops and engine houses, and train wrecks.
Scope and Contents
An extensive and detailed guide to this collection was created by the Division of Transportation (now the Division of Work and Industry, National Museum of American History in 1991 and published by the Smithsonian Institution which is available upon request in the Archives Center. The guide provides a name or number of the locomotive or railroad scene, builder, type, date built, negative number and a brief description or caption for each negative. The collection was also scanned to video disc.
The collection contains approximately 20,000 negatives of railroad-related subjects, with the vast majority of the images being various views of locomotives. Some of the photographs were taken by Mr. Chaney, although a large number are copy negatives made from existing photographs. Many are copies of builders' photographs. The emphasis is on the eastern lines, especially the Pennsylvania Railroad and the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad. Besides locomotives, other subjects include freight trains, passenger cars, bridges and tracks, stations, yards, tunnels, shops and engine houses, and train wrecks. The collection is arranged in three series.
sova.nmah.ac.1167
Collector
Chaney, Charles B.
Topic
Locomotives
Locomotives -- 19th century
Locomotive industry
Locomotives -- Design and construction
Railroad bridges
Railroad passenger cars
Railroad passenger cars
Railroad stations -- United States
Railroad yards
Tunnels
Provenance
The materials were originally collected for the Division of Engineering and Industries (now the Division of Work and Industry) in 1948.
Collector
Chaney, Charles B.
See more items in
Charles B. Chaney Jr. Railroad Photographic Collection
Accruals
.50 cubic feet of material consisting proimarily of pencil and watercolor drawings by Chaney was added to the collection in 2022.
Biographical / Historical
Charles B. Chaney Jr. was born February 7, 1875 in Baltimore, Maryland. He was the oldest of seven children born to Charles B. and Mary E. Chaney. At an early age he developed an interest in locomotives while playing in and around local railroad yards. His lifelong passion for locomotives resulted in photographing and collecting materials related to the subject. As a young man Chaney moved to New York, where he began a career as a draftsman in the Brooklyn Navy Yard. Charles B. Chaney Jr. retired in 1942 and returned to Baltimore, where he died on April 5, 1948.
Extent
34 Cubic feet (101 boxes)
Date
1850-1947, 1972, undated
Custodial History
Transferred from the Division of Work and Industry, Engineering and Industries Collections (now Division of Work and Industry), National Museum of American History, to the Archives Center, National Museum of American History in 2009.
Archival Repository
Archives Center, National Museum of American History
Identifier
NMAH.AC.1167
Type
Collection descriptions
Archival materials
Black-and-white negatives
Microfilms
Photograph albums
Citation
Charles B. Chaney Jr. Railroad Photographic Collection, 1850-1947; 1972, undated, Archives Center, National Museum of American History.
Arrangement
This collection is arranged into four series.
Series 1, Negatives, circa 1850-1947, undated
Series 2, Microfilm, 1972
Series 3, Nitrate Negatives, 1850-1947, undated
Series 4, 2022 Addenda, undated
Processing Information
Collection processed by Vanessa Broussard-Simmons, 2013.
The original guide to the Charles B. Chaney Jr. Railroad Photographic Collection was authored by the Division of Transportation in 1991. Revised by Vanessa Broussard- Simmons, archivist, May 2013.
Rights
Collection items available for reproduction, but the Archives Center makes no guarantees concerning intellectual property rights. Archives Center cost-recovery and use fees may apply when requesting reproductions.
Genre/Form
Black-and-white negatives
Microfilms
Photograph albums
Photograph albums -- 19th century
Photograph albums -- 20th century
Other Finding Aids
An inventory for the Charles B. Chaney railroad photographs is available.
Restrictions
Collection is open for research but is stored off-site and special arrangements must be made to work with it. Contact the Archives Center for information at archivescenter@si.edu or 202-633-3270.
NMAH.AC.1167
https://n2t.net/ark:/65665/ep8b55752fd-a1bf-4900-a1b7-63cb19abf85c
NMAH.AC.1167
ACAH
Record ID
ebl-1503512092906-1503512092913-0