Robert LaMay collection
Scope and Contents
The Robert LaMay Collection consists of approximately 500 small-format snapshot photos and corresponding negatives, as well as approximately 200 color slides, depicting the New York Metropolitan area railroads and rapid transit, the bulk of which is dated between 1938 and 1962. Also in the Collection are over 1,500 photographs and corresponding negatives, of railroad and rapid transit lines in other cities throughout the United States. Accompanying nearly every print and/or negative is a 4” X 6” index card with descriptive information recorded by collector William Higginbotham. Typically, these cards provide the name of the operating agency, specific line and division, car number and manufacture details, location and date. In some cases names of photographers or collectors are recorded.
Dates
- 1905 - 1990
- Majority of material found within 1938 - 1962
Creator
- LaMay, Robert (Person)
- Higginbotham, William (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
Access is available to the public at the Archivist’s discretion
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright restrictions apply; requests for reproduction must be submitted to the department in writing.
Biographical / Historical
Born in Hartford, Connecticut in 1941, Robert LaMay has been a train enthusiast since early childhood and has written about and photographed trains for over 50 years. He is a regular contributor to many railroad magazines and newsletters, and is the current editor of the Ghost Train Journal, a monthly newsletter of the Connecticut Eastern Railroad Museum located in Willimantic, Connecticut. He also volunteers at the Dodd Research Center of the University of Connecticut Libraries, processing a collection of his railroad photography housed there.
LaMay was enlisted by Mark Higginbotham to review his uncle William’s extensive railroad collection which consisted of papers, magazines, books, photos, negatives and 35mm color slides. After making inquiries with several railroad historical organizations and museums regarding donation of the paper, periodical, and magazine collections, LaMay took the photographic materials from Mark Higginbotham’s residence in Vernon, Connecticut to his home for review, sorting and eventual inventory.
According to LaMay, William Higginbotham had filed everything in his collection using the Dewey Decimal System, and had separated prints, negatives and slides. LaMay matched corresponding prints and negatives as well as their identifying index cards and re-arranged the collection by railroad in alphabetical order.
Extent
8 Linear Feet (10 boxes of photographic prints with index cards and negatives)
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Robert LaMay Collection consists of approximately 500 small-format snapshot photos, as well as approximately 200 color slides, depicting the New York Metropolitan area railroads and rapid transit, the bulk of which is dated between 1938 and 1962. Also in the collection are over 1,500 photographs, many with corresponding negatives, of railroad and rapid transit lines in other cities throughout the United States.
System of Arrangement
Prints and negatives have been separated. Each print and negative is assigned an object ID number. Prints with negatives have the same object ID number. Negatives and color slides have been moved to cold storage.
Other Finding Aids
PDF URL
Provenance
Robert LaMay acquired this collection from the collector William Higginbotham. LaMay and Higginbotham’s nephew, Mark Higginbotham, agreed to present this gift to the New York Transit Museum.
- Title
- Finding aid for the Robert LaMay collection
- Status
- Under Revision
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Carey Stumm, Desiree Alden, and Todd Gilbert
- Date
- Circa 2012
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Code for undetermined script
Revision Statements
- 2022: Edited and reformatted by Elise Winks
- 2024: Manually entered into ArchivesSpace by Joanna Satalof
Repository Details
Part of the Archives and Reading Room Repository