Railroad Heritage Visual Archive

Submissions

Because of the large number of railroad photographs in existence and because a great deal of specialized and costly work goes into processing photographs professionally, the Center carefully reviews all offers of photography donations before deciding which ones to accept. The two-step process begins with review by our five-member Collections and Acquisitions Committee. Their recommendations then go to our full Board of Directors for a final vote.

If you would like us to consider adding your collection to our archive, please get in touch with us by sending an email to info [at] railphoto-art [dot] org. Please describe your collection briefly, including, at a minimum:

• Size: the approximate total number of photographs and the amount of physical space they occupy
• Format(s): Slides, negatives, prints, etc.
• Range of years depicted, e.g., 1960s to 1990s
• Geographic regions depicted
• Railroads depicted
• Details about how your collection is currently housed
• Details about how your collection is currently organized and documented (please be accurate in your description)
• If available, send an example of your organization scheme and documentation
• If you note any preservation concerns such as water damage or vinegar syndrome, please let us know
• Submit a short bio (no more than one page) about yourself (or the collection’s creator)
• Send a selection of sample images (at least twenty-five)

Before submitting, we recommend that you download a copy of our Collections Management Policy (206 KB PDF file). It provides valuable, additional information. Our Collections and Acquisitions Committee reviews all offers very thoroughly. Because the committee meets only twice a year, you may not receive a decision from us for a few months. When we decide that we are not able to accept a collection, we make every effort to suggest other, often nearby institutions that photographers might pursue as a home for their work.

2024 Collecting Policy Update

In late 2024, the Center’s board of directors revised the Center’s collecting policy to accept collections at three different levels based on the number of images accepted into the archive. Acceptance levels are described below. Click each level for more information:

For more information regarding the revised policy, please see Out of the Archives columns no. 35 and  no. 38 and our Dec. 2024 webinar, Behind the Scenes: CRP&A’s Collections Update

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.
• Questions to address:
  • What is in this collection?
  • What is the original order of this collection?
  • What are the main groupings of this collection?
• Keep in mind:
  • Maintain original order if possible
  • Understand a collection’s provenance
  • Gain a general overview of a collection
  • Recognize the condition and extent of a collection’s materials

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.
• Questions to address:
  • Are materials in archival safe housing?
  • Can this collection be digitized?
• Keep in mind:
  • Use archival safe supplies such as plastic sleeves, polyethylene (PE) and polypropylene (PP), and heavy duty clamshell D-ring binders for photographic materials
  • Perform any necessary cleanup such as removing rusty staples or paperclips and replace with archival safe fasteners

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.
• Questions to address:
  • Are all available metadata recorded?
  • Are there any unique metadata fields attributed to this collection?
  • Is the finding aid available online and beneficial to users?
• Keep in mind:
  • Metadata can include information such as creator, title, description, date, location, and railroad name
  • Finding aids include collection summary, search terms, administrative information, biographical note, scope and content, and container list

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.
• Questions to address:
  • Can users find our collections online?
  • Where can we make our collections accessible?
  • Are the materials in our collections searchable?
• Keep in mind:
  • The Center shares samples from its collections on its social media accounts with Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Instagram, LinkedIn, and YouTube
  • The Center’s usage terms are for educational use only, please contact the Center for other usage requests
  • The Center’s copyright notice is: © YYYY, Center for Railroad Photography and Art, www.railphoto-art.org

Each issue of Classic Trains magazine features images from the Center’s collections in the “Archive Treasures” series, like this article in the Spring 2021 issue by Kevin P. Keefe about Ted Rose’s photography in Mexico.

Image Use

The Center for Railroad Photography & Art provides public access to our collections via our services, digital collections, and archives. Many of our materials are digitized and available for research and usage in various electronic formats. You can browse selected images from our collections on our website (go to the “Collections” menu button and then choose from the drop-down list) and Flickr account. Please use the contact information at right to send us your research inquiries and image requests. Please allow for up to two weeks of turnaround time to receive a response to your request.

To request digital copies of our images, first familiarize yourself with the Center’s unique image ID numbers (e.g., Lamb-01-001-01). Our staff members use these numbers to retrieve requested images. Please reference these ID numbers when making an image request. Non-profit, research, and other fair use requests are not subject to fees or licensing agreements. Commercial users will be asked to sign a licensing agreement and pay the appropriate fee. Please see fee schedule below.

We can supply images in JPEG, TIFF, or RAW file format. Digital copies of images can be sent via email, cloud-based file-sharing sites such as Dropbox, or by mailing a USB drive. Please note that transfers via USB drives are subject to reimbursement fees for the physical media and shipping (typically in the range of $10 to $20.)

We provide images free-of-charge for small press and self-published works, personal use, as well as educational and non-profit efforts. All other users, please see our Usage Fee Schedule for rates.

Research

In-person: Our collections are open to the public for research by appointment. To make an appointment, please use the contact information at right.

Distance: Research assistance is available by phone, email, and mail for patrons who are unable to visit the Center in person. This service is priced per hour of research time. The first hour of research is complimentary for all patrons. Examples include image retrieval and transfer by call number and basic collection inquiries. Center members receive a second hour of complimentary research. Additional research time will fall under the fee structure below. Staff will notify you if additional research time will be needed and advise you on the estimated cost. Payment will be due upon completion of the research. Payment for research services does not guarantee that the information/image will be found. As staff time is limited, please allow for up to two-week turnaround time for responses to research and image requests.

Research Assistant: If you require extensive research assistance beyond what the Center can provide, but cannot/do not wish to visit the Center, we suggest hiring a freelance researcher via University of Wisconsin’s History or Archival Studies departments.

CRP&A Research Fees:

Credit line 

In most cases the Center owns the copyright for the photographs in our collections. The Center does ask for the proper credit (see below) to recognize the photographer and the collection.

“Photograph by [PHOTOGRAPHER NAME], collection of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art, www.railphoto-art.org”

The Center expanded into a new archival storage facility in October 2019, offering more space and better environmental controls for our collections. Photograph by Scott Lothes

OUR ARCHIVAL OUTREACH EFFORTS include “Out of the Archives,” a regular column in Railroad Heritage that brings to light the world of professional archiving, providing a regular forum to share selections from our collections and tips for maintaining your own photographs. Whether you are a photographer, collector, or avid fan, it is important to organize and preserve the materials you create or collect. In this digital version of the column, we will be delivering every installment to further promote the significance and standards of the archiving world. Please let us know if there are any topics you would like us to cover in the future.

Members and supporters of the Center receive a new issue of Railroad Heritage each quarter. We post PDF files of “Out of the Archives” on this page a few weeks following publication of each issue. See the list at right and click on the link to view or download the file.

Archival Principles
Here at the Center we adhere to established archival principles to ensure safety and accuracy. Our work as archivists includes:

• Preservation. One of the Center’s main objectives is properly preserving our collections. This includes appropriately caring for and handling our materials by using archival-safe supplies, and providing a controlled environment where our collections are housed.
• Processing. Processing materials is a long, tedious, and detailed endeavor. Organizing a collection appropriately sets up the rest of the processing work that includes any digitization and metadata entry. This work is essential to the long-term care and future accessibility of a collection.
• Arrangement and Description. To maintain quick and easy retrieval of our materials, we organize every collection down to its individual items, if possible, given the time and resources available to us.
• Accessibility. Finally, the Center will make sure that users have access to our processed collections. We create detailed finding aids to describe each collection and its contents and share images electronically through our websites and many social media outlets.

Additional Resources

• CRP&A Preservation Resources List
• Society of American Archivists (SAA): www2.archivists.org
• Print File Archival Supplies: www.printfile.com
• Gaylord Archival Supplies: www.gaylord.com
• Facebook: www.facebook.com/railphotoart
• Twitter: twitter.com/railphotoart
• Flickr: www.flickr.com/photos/railphotoart