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Series 1: Revenue Cars, 1894 - 1991

 Sub-Series — Multiple Containers
Identifier: 2019.7.1

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The Ari Bousbib Trolley Photograph Collection comprises 4 binders containing 1,715 mostly black-and-white prints, some in color, depicting revenue and work cars operative in Brooklyn and Queens from 1875 to 1991, with most items dating from 1900 to 1950. Images show trolleys in service on streets, at yards, and occasionally suffering damages or accidents. Most images are dated, and many present handwritten captions on the reverse denoting car specifications, locations, and photographers. Employees and passengers, while by no means the focus of the collection, may be observed in approximately one-quarter of the images. The collection also includes ephemeral material including color postcards, color prints, brochures, and some press releases and announcements documenting the preservation and restoration of certain cars at transit museums in the northeast region.

Among the photographers whose names appear in the collection are Edward B. Watson, E.P. Doyle, H.L. Goldsmith, Jr., G.B. Olsen, Tony Kozla, Alfred Seidel, W. Nesmond, and Steve Meyer.

The collection is divided into 4 series in function of subject matter:

Series 1: Revenue Cars, 1893-1991 (1369 images)

Series 2: Work Cars, 1885-1958 (260 images)

Series 3: Yards, Tracks & Elevated Structures, 1889-1958 (50 images)

Series 4: Early Railroads & Stock, 1875-1924 (36 images)

Dates

  • 1894 - 1991

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Collection is open for research.

Extent

1369 Photographic Prints

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Series Description

Series 1 shows images of revenue cars in service, at yards, and post-retirement. They are processed at the folder level, established in function of number ranges assigned to vehicular fleets. The collection inventory lists fleets in numerical order, followed by series iteration, and incidentally appears chronologically, with the exception of PCC cars, which were issued as the third iteration of the 1000-1099 numbering scheme in 1936. Former and subsequent numbering schemes have not been honored by the arrangement schema.

Each folder as presented in the inventory is identified by the builder of the fleet (manufacturer), the dates it was operative (built/thru), the agency who managed its regular operations (operator), the abbreviated car type (model), quantity of images included in the folder (Qt.), dates of images (dates), and location.

Six of the cars in this series are accompanied by visual and textual ephemera documenting preservation endeavors and related activities. These include cars 1792/9370, 4753, 8111, 1001 and 1002, preserved at the Shoreline Trolley Museum in Branford, Connecticut, and 4547, at the Seashore Trolley Museum in Kennebunkport, Maine.

Physical Storage Information

Repository Details

Repository Details

Part of the Archives and Reading Room Repository

https://www.nytransitmuseum.org
Contact:
Research Archivist

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