Scope and Contents:
This collection mainly contains cyanotype pictures of railroad bridges, 1885-1897, of the Illinois Central Railroad. The pictures usually show the bridge as first constructed and the immediate surrounding area. Some pictures also show nearby structures such as crossing towers and passenger stations. Most of the pictures, which are bound in six volumes, are dated and located exactly.
Officials of the Illinois Central Gulf Railroad in Chicago, led by L. F. Fox, Vice President and Chief Engineer, donated the collection to the Library in 1976-1977. The pictures are filed in three boxes, two volumes in each box. Each volume contains between one and two hundred pictures.
In 1976, the railroad, through D. S. Beechly, Engineer-Structures, added to the collection by arranging for the duplication of some 15 photographs of the construction of the freight house and the roundhouse in Champaign, Ill. Also included are prints of the depot, passenger house, and division offices in Carbondale, Ill. These photographs and prints are in Box 2.
[In 2002, the Library transferred 57 volumes of railroad right-of-way maps of the Illinois Central and absorbed lines to the Illinois Central Historical Society archives in Paxton, Ill.]
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