August 8, 1896 | Speech
Speech by William Jennings Bryan.
April 1, 1858 | Letter
This 1858 list shows the name, gender, color, and age of slaves sold, possibly for tax purposes.
August 4, 1900 | Newspaper
The restrictions of Jim Crow laws are tested by Virginia's Pamunkey Indians.
1864 | Photograph
The original footbridge across the Potomac was replaced with this railroad bridge in 1864 by the U.S. Military Railroads, connecting Washington, D.C., with the army?s growing camps, hospitals, and defenses near Alexandria, Virginia.
1862 | Illustration
The U.S. Military Railroads rebuilt the South?s railroads in the closing months of the war. African American railroad workers cut timber, broke rock, and hauled gravel for the grading. Their experience on the railroads as trackmen and laborers, as well as firemen and brakemen, continued after the war. In 1880 over 50 percent of all railroad workers in Virginia were black; in Pennsylvania, by contrast, railroad workers were almost uniformly white.
August 18, 1877 | Illustration
An illustration of "The Moral of the Strikes" which emphasizes their cost to working-class women and children.
August 1, 1877 | Illustration
This cover illustration from the August 1, 1877 issue of PUCK Magazine depicts a poor family's decision to go on strike.
1862 | Photograph
1877 | Photograph
Part of a series of stereographs published in the wake of the 1877 Railroad Strike. The images show the destruction at Pittsburgh, which resulted from violent clashes July 21-22.
July 17, 1877 | Newspaper
This excerpt from the July 18, 1877 edition of the London Times offers a glimpse into the British view of the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Strike.
1859 | Illustration
A visual representation of the relationship between photographers and painters.
September 6, 1894 | Newspaper
Republican Editor Edward Rosewater welcomes the consolidation of the Southern Railway out of its receivership and hopes that bigness will streamline railroad operations and open up opportunities for government oversight and control.
October 16, 1894 | Newspaper
Railroads presented political controversies at the very local level, in city hall meetings and town councils over the location of their depots, the kind of service they might run, and a host of other social issues.
1864 | Illustration
A time atlas, illustrating the time and mileage distances between Washington and numerous other world locations. Conceptualizng space and time in a way that was meaningful to an increasingly mobile population became an increasingly important task during the 19th Century.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911) captures a railroad freight crew posing with an Erie Railroad car in the background.
July 21, 1877 | Newspaper
This article from the July 21, 1877 issue of the Baltimore American describes the scene of the riot near the Sixth Maryland Regiment armory.
July 20, 1877 | Newspaper
This article from the July 20, 1877 edition of the Baltimore American gives an account of the strike and notes the military's effectiveness at calming the mob, but the reluctance of railroad workers to return to work.
1886 | Book
Isabella Bird, a peripatetic traveler, recounted her adventures in the American West to her sister in letters published as A Lady's Life in the Rocky Mountains. In this excerpt, she writes about part of her 1873 train journey, describing the parlor car and conditions on the train.
1911 | Photograph
This image from The Modern Railroad (1911) captures a white, female passenger receiving a manicure from an African-American woman while aboard the railroad.
1868 | Book
Manuals of etiquette and behavior were incredibly popular during the 19th Century and covered every aspect of life from infancy to mourning. In this excerpt, some of the gendered expectations placed on a well-bred traveler are recounted in detail.