From passenger tickets, wall calendars, and advertising posters to train orders and bills of lading, railroads have left a colorful paper trail across America. In Railroad Nation, historian Carlos Arnaldo Schwantes examines a fascinating array of these materials, showcasing the railroad industry's incredible variety of eye-catching illustrations to enliven their timetables and promotional brochures. Schwantes traces the evolution of railroad commercial art from drab black-and-white broadsides and text-only advertisements that the early railroads placed in local newspapers to the riotous melange of color graphics in the early twentieth century, when the visual appeal of public timetables and their thousands of different brochures enticed settlers to create farms, ranches, and towns alongside newly laid tracks. Railroad Nation offers readers an unparalleled look at the ephemera of the railroad industry, highlighting the vibrant history of railroading in America through its rich tapestry of visual materials.
Carlos Arnaldo Schwantes is St. Louis Mercantile Library Professor of History Emeritus at the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is author or editor of twenty books, including Electric Indiana: The Rise and Fall of the World's Greatest Interurban Railway Center, 1893-1941, and (with Peter Hansen and Don Hofsommer) Crossroads of a Continent: Missouri Railroads, 1851-1921. He grew up in Greenfield and Indianapolis, Indiana, and now lives in Missouri. He has taught undergraduate and graduate history for exactly fifty years, sixteen of which have been at the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction: Railroad Imprints Section I: Railroad Time and Space 1. Timeline and Overview: The Two Lincolns and the American Railroad 2. Coming to Terms with the Wonder of the Age 3. Spatial Reorientation; or, Passages to Elsewhere 4. God's Time versus Railroad Time 5. The Battle of the Gauges Section II: Railroad Commercial Art 6. The Compass of Opportunity 7. Railroad Imperialism and Nation Building 8. Magician's Wand; or, Landscapes Repackaged for Homeseekers 9. Inventing New Vacation Destinations 10. Matchless Pleasurelands and Seasonal Variations 11. Print Works 12. Timetable Tyranny; or, The Clockwork Railroad 13. Railroad Cartography as the Lie of the Land 14. Meet Me in Saint Louis and Elsewhere: Railroad World Fairs 15. Looking and Seeing: From Car Windows into the Great Outdoors 16. In Cathedrals of Commerce; or, Celebrating the Railroad Landscape 17. Design Matters: From Jim Crow to Phoebe Snow 18. The Quest for Speed 19. Railroad Graphics Conscripted for the Duration 20. America's Second Transportation Revolution Conclusion: Putting Things in Perspective Notes Index
"Railroad commercial art has a rich history that has long been underexplored. With Railroad Nation, Carlos Schwantes has provided an in-depth and fascinating study of how railroads have used visual imagery to sell their services and tell their stories."-Scott Lothes, President and Executive Director, Center for Railroad Photography & Art
