Menu, Italian Line Menu, 1969

The Gary Gelzer Transportation Collection consists of 454 postcards, timetables, menus, and other materials related to 20th-century railroads, ships, and other modes of transportation. The bulk of the collection (312 items) consists of offset lithographic printed postcards. The collection is arranged into 75 series, each representing a corporate body. It includes a substantial miscellaneous series for materials not associated with a particular transportation company. The majority of items were published between 1960 and 1980. However, items from the Northern Pacific Railway Company date back as far as 1905, while items from the Washington State Ferry system and Amtrak were published late in the 20th century. Major subject areas include Chicago and Minnesota area railways and railroads, shippers and shipbuilders of the Great Lakes, and transit systems of the Pacific Northwest, and reproductions of posters from the Cunard Line. Railroads and railways of the American Southwest also have substantial representation. Though postcards constitute the majority of the collection, timetables and menus also appear in many of the Chicago and Pennsylvania area-related series. Materials are primarily in English, with secondary representation in French, German, Dutch, and Spanish.