George M. Foster Timetable Collection
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No requestable containers
Scope and Content note
The George M. Foster Timetable Collection is a companion to the Transportation Library Menu Collection. It provides contextual depth for that collection, as many of the timetables include Foster's notes as to flight date and time, and can be matched to his annotated menus.
The collection consists of 1766 timetables issued between 1929 and 1991. There are 1695 airline, 56 railroad, and 15 ship and ferry timetables. The collection is international in scope, reflecting the scope of Foster's many years of travel. Languages represented in the collection include English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Irish, Czech, Dutch, Italian, Serbo-Croatian, Afrikaans, and Indonesian. Each company record includes the ICAO code if available, as well as a reference to any predecessor or successor company name. Each item record includes the timetable's title and effective date(s), and a transcription of any notes Dr. Foster made on it.
Dates
- Published timetables issued between 1929 and 1991.
Creator
Language of Materials
English, Spanish, French, German, Portuguese, Chinese, Arabic, Hebrew, Irish, Czech, Dutch, Italian, Serbo-Croatian, Afrikaans, and Indonesian.
Conditions Governing Access
To inquire about access to this collection, please contact the Transportation Library at transportationlibrary@northwestern.edu or (847) 491-5273.
Conditions Governing Use
Researchers wishing to review physical collection must contact the Transportation Library at (847) 491-5273 or transportationlibrary@northwestern.edu for appointment.
Biographical note
Pioneering anthropologist and Northwestern alumnus George M. Foster took his first commercial flight in 1935. In the seven decades that followed, he would fly hundreds of times as well as traveling by rail and boat for his anthropological research and as a consultant for such agencies as the World Health Organization and UNICEF. Foster not only collected remembrances of his travels in the form of in-flight or on-board menus, which he donated to the Transportation Library in 1997, but also in the form of the timetables and other ephemera associated with his travels. As with the menus, he annotated many of the timetables as to when and where he traveled.
Extent
13 Boxes
Abstract
The George M. Foster Timetable Collection, consisting of 1766 timetables issued between 1929 and 1991, is a companion to the Transportation Library Menu Collection (collection number TL017). It provides contextual depth for that collection, as many of the timetables include Foster's notes as to travel date and time.
Organization of the collection
The collection is organized by company name. Within each company, the individual timetables are arranged in chronological order, with undated timetables at the end of their respective company.
Physical Location
Northwestern University Transportation Library, Evanston, Ill., Room 5346
Provenance
Gift of George M. Foster in 1997.
Separated Materials
Other documents, primarily airline advertising and guides, have been removed for processing as a separate collection. 1 bankers box.
Physical Description
1766 timetables (1695 airline, 56 railroad, and 15 ship and ferry) issued between 1929 and 1991.
Processor
Elizabeth Kahakulani Blaisdell
- Title
- Guide to the George M. Foster Timetable Collection
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Elizabeth Kahakulani Blaisdell, Jordan Ellison, Lisa Currie, Gary Strawn
- Date
- 2018-05-24
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- English
Library Details
Part of the Northwestern University Transportation Library Repository
Main Library, 5th Floor, North Tower
1970 Campus Drive
Evanston IL 60208-2300 US
847-491-5273
transportationlibrary@northwestern.edu