Charles B. Gunn Collection

The materials are arranged by format. The papers are arranged with personal information about and by Charles G. Gunn first, followed by materials organized alphabetically by subject. The illustrations, poster and diagrams are organized by type of item. The photographs are arranged by the following subseries: derailments and damage done to the railroad by natural disasters, railroad structures such as stations and bridges, and then other topics, including photographs of Gunn himself and New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company presidents George Alpert and Patrick B. McGinnis. The Flood of August 1955 photographs are organized by towns along the railroad routes. The scrapbooks consist of two volumes of photographs.

Series I: Papers (undated, 1834-2002) consists of papers collected by Charles B. Gunn about the railroads he worked for, including the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company (a.k.a. New Haven Railroad), Penn Central, Amtrak and ConRail, as well as information about his career with the railroads, particularly when he served as official photographer in the mid-1950s. Much of the material is of photocopied newspaper articles and other literature about various railroad history topics. A few of the files hold materials produced by the railroad indicated, including a manuscript letter book from the Boston & Providence Railroad, files of departments of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, and a volume of stockholders minutes of the Old Colony Railroad. The papers also include information about various presidents of the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company, including Frederic C. Dumaine (1948-1951), Frederic C. ("Buck") Dumaine, Jr. (1951-1954), Patrick B. McGinnis (1954-1956), and George Alpert (1956-1961), and trustee Harry W. Dorrigan, who served after the 1961 reorganization. It also includes information about natural disasters that occurred in the northeast, particularly the Hurricane of 1938 and the Floods of 1955, and their effect on the railroad.

Series II: Illustrations, Poster and Diagrams (undated, 1937-1967) consists of equipment diagrams of diesel locomotives 0760-0786, flat cars, box cars, steel cabooses, and a sleeper car, as well as a hand brake and freight car wheels. It also includes freight train cut-out illustrations meant for children and a reprint of a 1855 poster advertising the Philadelphia, Niagara and Western railroad route.

Series III: Photographs (undated, 1927-1985). The photographs include those taken by staff at the New York, New Haven & Hartford Railroad Company Public Relations Department, particularly by Gunn himself when he served as official company photographer in the mid-1950s. Subseries A consists of photographs of train derailments and the damage done to the railroad by the Hurricane of 1938 and the Floods of August and October 1955. Subseries B consists of images of railroad stations, and the construction of a highway bridge over railroad tracks in New Haven, Connecticut, in 1959. Subseries C includes other photographs of various topics, including company presidents such as Patrick B. McGinnis and George Alpert. Of special interest are photographs of Cuban president Fidel Castro at the New Haven, Connecticut, railroad station, when he visited the United States in 1959.

Series IV: Scrapbooks (1955) consists of two scrapbooks of large prints of aerial photographs of locations in Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island devastated by the Floods of August 1955, taken by New Haven photographer and filmmaker Samuel Kravitt.