DC for research

[Randy Hees]

I am currently in Washington DC for my somewhat annual ill-regular week of libraries and archives fun.

Thursday I was at Archives II in College Park... Among many other things they hold the ICC valuation maps and notes, and Navy Purchase contracts for 1926 to 1946… (when they were buying cars from NCNG, PCRy and East Broad Top) I started with the SPng maps, and will return for the contracts. I finished an index and list of the maps… They limit you to 10 oversize scans a day, so I had 11 made (don’t ask) of the line, starting at Mina… There are 17 between Mina and the CA border, so the next visit will finish that section… I will also finish the Churchill to Mound house section that I started earlier. If I go back a third time I will work in the Owens Valley… I already have Keeler (5 sheets including Inyo Development) and Laws. Owenyo is missing, but is likely included in the standard gauge Jawbone Branch files. I likely won't complete the entire line until another visit...

Yesterday (Friday) I started at the Library of Congress, putting in a pull for logging directories. (Seattle would likely be better hunting but I am in Washington DC not Seattle Washington.) I spent time with a reference librarian trying to identify what they held, resourted to the card catalog, not updated since the early 1990's, and ended up trying a Hail Mary… submitted my pull and headed to the Smithsonian Museum of American History. I had a cart of trade literature on hold… it turned out to be a gold mine. Included was a Baldwin Steam Dummy catalog, Kilbourne and Jacobs catalogs, lots of National Malleable Iron stuff, two Sheffield catalogs, and a bunch of Brill stuff. I wanted to see if I could identify some Brill narrow gauge trucks I had seen a reference to. It turned out they had two catalogs of interest, one a Brill “Railroad Cars” the second on “Narrow Gauge” railroad cars. I returned to the LofC to find 4 books had shown up on the first pull… but hand little time to work with them…

I posted a catalog page from K&J showing the Death Valley hopper cars in cars… other goodies to follow…

Monday I return to Archives II, Tuesday I return to the Smithsonian, the Library of Congress and start at the Archives in DC looking for early Navy contracts for Pearl Harbor. Wednesday and Thursday will depend on the results found Monday and Tuesday…

Randy

[elminero67]

You are in Washington D.C. and you are spending all of your time at archives?
Sounds like your family needs to do an intervention...if you are not too far gone.

Carry on, always wanted to do that (the archives, not the intervention).
Duane

[Randy Hees]

The trips are split between Archives (DC)< Archives II (College Park), Smithonian Libraries (there are three in the Museum of American History) and Library of Congress...

There is also family (nieces and nephews and great nieces and great nephews) and food and drink... museums... some railroad museum, some not... House museums are found here... beyond the railroad work I run a house museum, and visit others when traveling...

Plus battle fields... Great Great Grandfather fought here... in the Civil War... Great Great Great Grandfather died here purring the War of 1812... We were here for the Revolution... So, history sites have personal meaning...

This time I took a niece to her dance class... with her father took her sister to a birthday party.... (we wanted to play pool, but gave up waiting for a table and just drank beer)