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Exhibits
Current Exhibit
January 20, 2009 - March 22, 2009
A World Apart: 150 Years of Railroaders at Work
Sponsored by Capital City Bank and the Frank C. Sabatini Family Foundation
The Center for Railroad Photography and Art¹s unique exhibition about railroaders and railroad work is now showing in the Fink Exhibit Gallery at the Great Overland Station, 701 N. Kansas Avenue, Topeka.
The exhibit had its origins in a three-year program, "Representations of Railroad Work," funded by the North American Railway Foundation. It consists of about 40 photographs from across North America, beginning with a copy of a daguerreotype of the crew and locomotive Tioga, built for the Philadelphia & Columbia railroad in 1848. The images trace some of the changes in the railroad work environment, from the age of steam to the age of microchips, highlighting the human face of an industry that is dominated by machines and hardware. Technology has made the machines more powerful and the equipment more sophisticated, but behind the technology are people who toil in an environment that is a world apart from most other industries.
Of special interest to Kansans are several photographs featuring railroaders from Topeka. Jack Delano, a photographer for the Farm Security Administration - Office of War Information, made three photographs at the Santa Fe shops in Topeka. They show Robert Hill (1892-1963); Walter Mitchell (1897-1967); and Harry Tostado, who lives in California. Two are by a Lawrence photographer, Robert P. Olmstead, including a view at Lawrence in 1949. Also featured is a sampling of various railroad photographs from local photographers.
The exhibit will be of interest to photographers, railroad buffs, railroad employees and retirees, historians and everyone who enjoys learning about social and cultural change.
Permanent Exhibits
Santa Fe Artifacts and Photographs
Union Pacific Artifacts and Photographs
Display of Kansas trains dating back to 1932
History of Topeka from 1800 to present
Display of Harvey Houses and Harvey Girls
Photographs of Topeka Churches
Photographs of Education Buildings
Model G Gauge Train Layout
Photographs Flood of 1951 and 1966 Tornado
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