[Posted by Sally Dickinson, Associate Curator]

Today while I was cataloging, two 19th century books about railroads crossed my desk.  The first was a hefty tome called Rand McNally & Co.’s Enlarged Business Atlas and Shippers’ Guide (1890).  It has color maps of all the states, Canada, South and Central America showing all existing railroad lines.  It also shows which express companies use which lines.  Maps of all other countries are thrown in for “ready reference” as well as maps of major cities and locations of railroad stations and post offices.   It is the 24th edition, which clues us into the fact that this atlas was highly useful to any shipping business in the western hemisphere.  It also has full returns of the 1890 census.  This comprehensive approach must have been as helpful in the 1890’s as the web is for us today.  And for us it is a snapshot into the business of shipping and the importance of railroads in the 1890’s.

The 2nd book on railroads covering an earlier period, Railway Economy (1850), gets a full description in the Bibliphiles’ Lair (see http://watkinson.wp.trincoll.edu/2011/09/14/all-aboard-newly-acquired-book-on-railroads/).  Together the books give us a sense of what land transportation was like before the age of cars and air transportation.

Tags: Staff pick