Like old trains or popular culture? Then stop by the faculty lounge on the second floor of Social Sciences through mid-December to enjoy 12 historical railroad calendars given to the public by the New York Central and Pennsylvania Railroad Companies between 1925 and 1952.
“This combines technology, commercial art and history in an interdisciplinary treat,” says Robert V. Wells, professor of history. “The calendars are on loan from my father, who collected them when he was young.”
As part of their promotional efforts in the first half of the 20th century, railroad companies offered calendars yearly to interested individuals. Wells' father, Ronald V. Wells, collected a number of them between the 1920s and 1950s.
The exhibit includes two calendars from the New York Central, ca. 1920s, and 10 from the Pennsylvania Railroad, 1930s-'50s.