About the archive
The Center cares for nearly 700,000 photographs in our Railroad Heritage Visual Archive under the leadership of Adrienne Evans, director of archives and collections. Our goal is to build a representative archive encompassing the many styles and subjects of railroad photography and art—from their beginnings in the early decades of the nineteenth century to the present, and from throughout the United States and the globe. Standing commitments (as of 2026) will push the total number of images to 1.1 million in the future, while we continue to review and consider new submissions and acquisitions. Our mission is to preserve these images and make them accessible.
Collection processing status
| Collection | Status |
|---|---|
| Keith Bryant | In progress: 25% complete |
| Shirley Burman | Women and the American Railroad series to commence in 2027 |
| Tom Gildersleeve | Estimated start: fall 2026 |
| Gordon Glattenberg | Estimated start: fall 2026 |
| John Gruber | Negatives complete; slides up next |
| Stan Kistler | Slides complete; Middlebrook series positing in progress |
| Henry Posner III | Posting in progress |
| Jim Shaughnessy | Negatives complete; 55% of slides complete |
| Richard Steinheimer | In progress: 72% of slides complete |
| Karl Zimmermann | Images onsite complete; posting in progress |
Last updated: May 2026
Collection updates
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Zoom member-exclusive: Inside the Fred Springer Collection
Join us for a previously unseen tour of Fred M. Springer’s early black-and-white railroad photography across the United States in the Center’s first member-exclusive program of 2024, hosted by executive director Scott Lothes. “Inside the Fred Springer Collection” explores one of the first big photography collections that the Center took on, arriving in 2012. We’ve…
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Zoom member-exclusive: Inside the Jim Shaughnessy Collection
The Center capped 2023 with a long-awaited dive into the Jim Shaughnessy collection. Acquired in late 2019, the Center, led by processing archivist Natalie Krecek, has been diligently digitizing the 90,000-image collection. We’ll sit down with Natalie and CRP&A board members Jeff Brouws and Kevin Keefe to discuss themes from Jim’s collection and the larger…
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Zoom member-exclusive: Inside the David Mainey Collection
Step into the world of David Mainey as we take you on a journey through his life and work in this members-only program. Join Erin Rose, reference and digital projects archivist, as she sits down with David for an insightful interview, giving you a glimpse into the person behind the art. Explore decades of creativity, from his very first photograph…
Collection visualizations
As our digital collections grow, we can use their metadata to say more about them while also identifying trends, strengths, and gaps within our archive. Jordan Craig, digital archives manager, shared both of these graphics at our Conversations 2026 conference. The video shows current photographic coverage of states by decades, while the chart looks at coverage of Chicago—the most photographed location in our archive—by photographer and year. Note that both graphics represent images in our (external) online digital collections portal.
Collection processing procedures
The Center’s Railroad Heritage Visual Archive is a professional archive repository whose personnel follow established archival principles while caring for our collections. Our archivist supervises work performed by other archives staff members, contract archivists, graduate interns, and volunteers to ensure the materials in our possession receive proper care.
A newly-acquired collection goes through several phases, collectively known as processing:
Phase 1: Arrangement and Description
This is the initial planning phase for any collection where we get familiar with its materials. In this phase we will begin to organize the collection and create an inventory along with any information that can be used in a finding aid.
Phase 2: Processing
This phase involves long, tedious legwork but is essential in the general preservation and accessibility of the collection. Once the collection is organized we can apply labels to binders and pages while correctly matching up the physical materials with a digital inventory that will include metadata.
Phase 3: Metadata and Finding Aid
Metadata, or data about data, are necessary to fully understand the materials in our collections. At the Center we record detailed metadata and embed that raw data into any digitized materials. Once we have finished processing a collection we can create a detailed and cohesive finding aid. This is the best way for our users to understand the scope and content of a collection.
Phase 4: Accessibility
In the final phase, we strive to make our collections available to the public and searchable online via finding aids. Throughout the previous phases the Center will attempt to provide previews of collections online as they are processed.
We’re able to do this work thanks to the generosity of our community.
- Multi-year support from the Elizabeth Morse Genius Charitable Trust has helped us build up every aspect of our collections work, from expanding our space, to adding more staff, to implementing our collections management system.
- Heritage grants from the National Railway Historical Society help fund our work on the John E. Gruber Collection and the Richard Steinheimer and Shirley Burman Steinheimer Collection.
- Thanks to the Railway & Locomotive Historical Society’s William D. Middleton Research Fellowship, we’ve been able to fill in more metadata for many of our collections.
- Our more than 1,000 members empower all of our programs through annual memberships and additional gifts. If you’re already a member, thank you. If you’re not, join now and begin receiving quarterly issues of our beautiful journal, Railroad Heritage.
