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Officers' lounge, 1955

 Item — Volume: 5, Photograph: 17
Identifier: Photograph 17

Scope and Contents

From the Collection:

The Transportation Photograph Collection of the Northwestern University Transportation Library consists of 217 mounted silver gelatin prints in six bound volumes. The photographs are uncommon illustrations of automotive and maritime transportation spanning from the early to mid-20th century. The collection is multi-disciplinary in scope: beyond transportation, it touches on industrial design, engineering, social life, and local industry. Because of its focus on the early- to mid-20th century motor vehicle and shipping industries, the Collection presents an invaluable picture of transportation of the period.

The first four albums in the collection depict early 20th-century motor vehicles, ranging from automobiles to heavier industrial vehicles. Photographs of the Studebaker Company, founded in 1852, and of the Wilmo Vehicle Co., founded circa 1915, depict early combustion automobiles and their engines, as well as the factories in which these automobiles and engines were assembled. Photographs of the Walker Vehicle Company founded circa 1915, depict an early alternative to the internal combustion engine automobile: an electric carriage. Finally, photographs from General Motors, founded in 1908, illustrate the early adoption of trucks and larger vehicles by various industries, notably delivery companies of Chicago and Detroit.

The last two albums in the Collection includes two volumes of photographs of “banana boats”, a colloquial term for steamships that carried passengers from England to the Caribbean and returned with bananas for the British market. The TSS Camito was built for the Fyffes Line in 1956 by Alexander Stephens and Sons, of Glasgow, Scotland, and was scrapped in Taiwan in 1973. It operated between Southampton, England and various ports in the Caribbean. The SS Chicanoa was a banana boat liner built for Elders and Fyffes in 1958 by Alexander Stephens and Sons, of Glasgow, Scotland. It operated between Liverpool, England and the Port of Tiko, French Cameroons, now in the Republic of Cameroon. Due to its small size and inefficient steam turbines the Chicanoa was scrapped after 13 years.

Dates

  • 1955

Creator

Language

Caption in English

Conditions Governing Access

Restricted. To inquire about access to this collection, please contact the Transportation Library at transportationlibrary@northwestern.edu or (847) 491-5273.

Extent

From the Collection: 217.00 Photographic Prints

From the Collection: 6.00 Volumes

Extent

1 photograph

Color

Black & White

Dimensions

23 x 30 cm

Note

Silver gelatin print

Library Details

Part of the Northwestern University Transportation Library Repository

Contact:
Main Library, 5th Floor, North Tower
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston IL 60208-2300 US
847-491-5273