MCI MC8, Australia, 1980

The photographs in the William Luke Photograph Collection are, as a general rule, arranged by the country in which the bus is located, the manufacturer of the bus, the decade in which the photograph was taken, and a four-digit number assigned to each photograph. However, photographs in the Collection of buses from Austria and Switzerland are arranged by the country in which the bus is located, whether the bus is a postbus or not, the manufacturer of the bus, the decade in which the photograph was taken, and a four-digit number assigned to each photograph. The Collection is housed in 12 boxes, and measures 12.25 linear feet. Finding aid authored by Ronald Carrier, Michaela Kizershot, James Quirke, Henry Lothschutz, Zachary Stein and Callie Weers.

The William Luke Photograph Collection consists of 4,580 photographs of buses from at least 60 countries. William Luke acquired the photographs primarily as the editor of the magazine Bus Ride. The photographs are predominantly depictions of demonstrator buses, which are buses shown by manufacturers to potential customers. A special class of buses featured in the Collection is postbuses, which are buses operated in Switzerland and Austria by the postal service. Postbuses are descendants of the mail coaches operated in these two countries. The text on each photograph is in one or more of six languages. Each photograph has annotations in English provided by William Luke on the verso of the photograph. Many photographs also have printed text and/or annotations provided by other individuals on the verso. A few photographs have captions on the recto. The publication dates of the photographs range from 1880 to 2010, with the majority of the photographs published between 1980 and 1999. The Collection also contains one file of correspondence from William Luke.