Don Ball, Jr. Railroad Photograph Collection
Scope and Content
The Don Ball, Jr. Railroad Collection consists of 887 photographic images, most of them taken by Mr. Ball, of stations, locomotives, and railroad related scenes of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and other New England and eastern United States railroad lines. Most of the images are photographic negatives.
The photographs that were not taken by Mr. Ball are starred (*).
Dates
- undated, 1895-1975
Access
The collection is open and available for research.
Restrictions on Use
Permission to publish from these Papers must be obtained in writing from both the University of Connecticut Libraries and the owner(s) of the copyright.
Biography
Don Ball, Jr., born in 1938, was a resident of Chester, Vermont. He was a railway consultant, photographer and author. His eight books included Portrait of the Rails, Railroads, an American Journey, and America's Colorful Railroads. He was director of the Steamtown Foundation, which operates Steamtown U.S.A., a railroad museum in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and formerly of Bellows Falls, Vermont.
Mr. Ball died at the age of 48 on 15 October 1986, in Norwalk, Connecticut.
Extent
1 Linear Feet
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
Don Ball, Jr. (1938-1986) was a railroad employee and photographer and author of books about railroads. The collection consists of several hundred photographic images, most of them taken by Mr. Ball, of locomotives, stations, and railroad related scenes of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad and other New England and eastern United States railroad lines.
Arrangement
Series I: Photographic Negatives, New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad (undated, 1895-1967) consists of images of stations and facilities, locomotives, and other scenes. Stations and facilities are those located in Connecticut, Massachusetts, eastern New York and Rhode Island. Images of the railroad's locomotives are organized by steam, electric and diesel, and multiple unit car and passenger cars, and thereunder by number. Other scenes are those that are of unidentified right-of-ways, stations, and tracks.
Series II: Photographic Negatives, Other Railroads in the Northeast United States (undated, 1933-1976) series consists of images, locomotives, and scenes of the American Freedom Train of 1975-1976, Amtrak, Bangor and Aroostook Railroad, Boston and Maine Railroad, Canadian Pacific Railway, Central Railroad of New Jersey, Central Vermont Railway, Claremont and Concord Railway, Conrail, Delaware and Hudson Railway, EMD, Erie-Lackawanna Railway, Grand Trunk Railway, Green Mountain Vermont Railroad, Long Island Railroad, Maine Central Railroad, Nickel Plate Road, Penn Central, Pennsylvania Railroad, Rutland Railroad, Saint Johnsbury & Lamoille County Railroad, Springfield Terminal Railway, Strasburg Railroad, and Union Pacific Railroad. It also includes images of Steamtown U.S.A. when it was located in Bellows Falls, Vermont, buses, and several unidentified railroad bridges and locomotives. [Note: negative 2003-0109.ph504 is housed in Box 3.]
Acquisition Information
The collection was donated in 2003.
Existence and Location of Copies
Digital reproductions of materials in this collection may also be found in the Archives & Special Collections digital repository
- Locomotives Subject Source: Fast
- Negatives (photographs) Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- New England (general region) Subject Source: Getty Thesaurus of Geographic Names
- Photographs Subject Source: Art & Architecture Thesaurus
- Railfans Subject Source: Fast
- Railroad stations Subject Source: Fast
- Railroads Subject Source: Fast
- Title
- Don Ball, Jr. Railroad Photograph Collection
- Status
- Published
- Author
- Archives & Special Collections staff
- Date
- 2004 July
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Archives and Special Collections, University of Connecticut Library Repository
University of Connecticut Library
405 Babbidge Road Unit 1205
Storrs Connecticut 06269-1205 USA US
860-486-2524
archives@uconn.edu