Lunch break on the fast mail train -- CARLI Digital Collections Featured Image

From Railroads in the Midwest: Early Documents and Images (Knox College) in CARLI Digital Collections.

I had a difficult time choosing a single photo from this collection to feature this week because I fell in love with so many. But, finally, I could not tear myself away from these two guys eating lunch. Although the photo was taken over a hundred years ago, it feels as fresh as if it were taken yesterday. The seated gentleman in the foreground looks directly at the viewer with an impish smile on his face as if he and the photographer were just sharing a joke. His companion appears lost in thought, studiously eating his lunch, and as yet unaware of the photographer’s presence. The photo feels spontaneous and uncomposed; we just stumbled upon these two during a tour of the mail train.

The Knox College Library is responsible for this wonderful digital collection of photos and documents focusing on Illinois railroad history from the late 19th century through the early 20th century. Many of the photos were taken by a Knox College alum, Allen A. Green, who worked as the official photographer of the Chicago, Burlington & Quincy Railroad Company. Click through to view the entire collection.

Written by Alice Creason, Systems/Digital Collections Librarian at Lewis University

For more information about this and other CARLI Digital Collections, visit http://collections.carli.illinois.edu

To learn more about becoming part of CARLI Digital Collections and using CONTENTdm, see http://www.carli.illinois.edu/products-services/contentdm and http://wiki.carli.illinois.edu/index.php/Portal:CONTENTdm.