RE: (erielack) FW: Erie artifacts ??

["Schuyler Larrabee" <schuyler.larrabee_@_verizon.net>]

> I found an article printed in March 1983, Corn Hill 
> Gazette (Rochester ,NY, neighborhood adjacent to the Erie 
> depot) about a find of Erie documents located in the 
> Smithsonian collections.
> 
> The writer, Ray Nau, claims to have visited there in Feb.83 and 
> found "15,000 ink on linen drawings and 100,000 other sheets" 
> plus "working drawings" for depots on the Roch 
> branch, Salamanca roundhouse and many detailed drawings of the 
> Portageville bridge, pre-fire and proposed replacements .The 
> writer also spoke of documents from "about a dozen"
> pre-Conrail lines .
> 
> He also mentions the Society for Industrial Archealogy (SIAN).
> I tried searching for SIAN with no results.
> 
> Has anyone heard of this organization ??
> 
> Has the ELHS or members ever looked into the collection at 
> the Smithsonian??
> 
> ford

I have heard of SIA, and have been a member for probably 25 years plus.  It's largely a group of
academics, but they also have a lot of non-academic members.  They hold really interesting tours as
annual meetings, going to cities like Detroit, Milwaukee, Minneapolis, Pittsburgh, Philadelphia and
so on where they have five days or so of organized tours through industrial plants and operations.
Unfortunately, they are usually at a time when I have other commitments, or I'd attend in a
heartbeat.  Their range includes, but is hardly limited to, railroads.

Now, as to the collection of drawings mentioned at the Smithsonian.  We have been VERY aware of
those drawings.  They are there because one of the chief engineers of the EL (I think, I should get
this straight, and I'll ask the man who really knows and report later) used to direct his minions
not to dispose of old drawings which the railroad was systematically eliminating from dead files,
but to send them to the Smithsonian.  There are indeed, thousands of drawings, of many, many things.
I have made one trip to the Museum of American History on the Mall in DC, and viewed a number of
them.  I have copies of some.  They were very cooperative about making copies.  That WAS the good
news.  My impression is that they're no longer there.  See the second paragraph down.

Sidebar:  The drawings were being prepped for permanent storage by a Dr Looney, back in the 80's.
He would take these drawings, randomly, since that's how they were delivered, and unroll them (they
were all rolled and piled up in the railroad's archives) brush them off with a drafting brush to
remove the big pieces of dirt, make a few repairs of tears where necessary, and then hang them in a
room where there was a shower.  When he'd done his days work (he was a retired professor and this
was volunteer work) he'd run the shower for a while, to get the room nice and steamy, and then shut
off the shower, close the door and leave.  When he returned, the drawings would have lost >most< of
their curl.  They were then cataloged, and stored in flat files.  This was all reported in an SIA
newsletter.  Unfortunately, Dr Looney passed away, and no further work was done on the collection.

As I understand it, recently (the last six months?) there was a transfer of the drawings to the
Hagley Museum and Library in Delaware.  The word is that they will be organizing, cleaning and
cataloging the drawings, and that they will, WHEN THEY ARE READY, be available for research.
Please, don't bug the Hagley, they aren't ready, and they know that there is a large audience just
champing at the bit to get at them.  I've told them so.  And I'm first in line!  8^)

Lynne's website for the SIA is correct.  The listing she found for railroad records at the
Smithsonian is about the NH, and 1.5 CF of records is nowhere near enough to cover the scope of
these drawings.

I am especially interested in these because of the mention of drawings relating to the Rochester
Branch, which holds a particular interest for me in its electrified era.

SGL


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