Our Archives is a repository of local transportation history. The collection contains over 20,000 photographs, as well as films, audio tapes, video tapes, and various ephemera, books, journals, and artifacts documenting the role of public transportation in Los Angeles and Southern California back to 1873. These resources include all of the predecessor public transportation providers and agencies that operated in the Greater Los Angeles area. We continuously seek donations of significant historic items to preserve and enhance understanding of the role public transportation has played in defining Los Angeles and Southern California.
We are an active participant in "L.A. As Subject," an alliance of research archives, libraries, historical societies and other organizations and institutions dedicated to preserving the rich history of the Los Angeles region and its less-visible cultural resources. We also participate in the Online Archive of California, a core component of the University of California's California Digital Library, which enhances scholarship through the provision and promotion of primary resources.
Metro Transportation Library Archival Research:
Family Tree of Metro's Predecessor Transit Agencies (1911-present)
Historic Los Angeles Transit and Transportation Studies (1911-1957)
California Highway Commission's California Highways (1924-1927) and California Highways And Public Works (1927-1967): Keyword search This ongoing digitization project will provide full-text keyword access to the history of road and highway construction in California. The California Highway Commission is the predecessor agency to Caltrans.
LAMTA, SCRTD & LACMTA Employee Newsmagazines (1958-1999): Arranged by date
LAMTA, SCRTD & LACMTA Employee Newsmagazines (1958-1999): Keyword search
LACMTA Press Release Archive (1995-ongoing): Keyword search
First Women Operators - Motormanettes
First African American Motormen
Arcola Philpott: The first African-American "Motorman" was a woman
Other Archival Research:
Los Angeles County And Its Incorporated Cities' Websites Search: Meta-search across all 88 cities within Los Angeles County as well as the County of Los Angeles.
Public Transit Agency Search: Meta-search across all major transit agencies and transit-related organization websites for fares, routes, data, reports, research, press releases, budgets, policies, programs, and other industry information.
Archives Partners:
L.A. As Subject
L.A. as Subject is an alliance of nearly 300 research archives, libraries, and collections dedicated to preserving the rich history of the Los Angeles region. It works to increase the visibility of local archives and improve access to them for students, researchers, K-12 educators, and everyone else with a stake in Southern California history. L.A. as Subject promotes tools and mentoring to help its members with everything from preserving and cataloging materials in their collections to fundraising and public outreach.
To support this mission, L.A. as Subject organizes an annual Archives Bazaar and bimonthly Archives Forum meetings. These events raise public interest in local history while providing opportunities for educators, community archivists, librarians, and historians to share ideas and help one another preserve the L.A. region's diverse cultural heritage. The research alliance publishes an online directory - organized by topic - guiding students, researchers, and the public to resources that can help them explore the complex subject that is Los Angeles. L.A. As Subject functions through an Executive Committee of members and is hosted by the University of Southern California.
Online Archive Of California
The Online Archive of California (OAC) provides free public access to detailed descriptions of primary resource collections maintained by mor ethan 150 contibuting institutions including libraries, special collections, archives, historical societies, and museums throughout California, as well as collections maintained by the 10 University of California campuses. You can browse, locate, and view selected items in nearly 20,000 online collection guides containing more than 170,000 digital images and documents.
National Transportation Knowledge Network
The National Transportation Library is facilitating the establishment of regional transportation knowledge networks (TKNs) to provide access to information in support of transportation development. The networks provide the combined resources of all institutions to members, deliver a wider pool of expertise to locate and provide needed information, create a platform for interoperability for tools and information, and enable leveraging of resources through coordinated acquisitions and lending agreements. More information can be found in: Transportation Knowledge Networks: A Management Strategy for the 21st Century (Transportation Research Board : 2006)
Archival resources for Southern California transportation history:
This Was Pacific Electric
Produced by Sky City Productions in cooperation with our archives, other local libraries and the Huntington Library, this 90 minute DVD explains the interweaving of famous Pacific Electric railway with the creation of Southern California. It provides outstanding context to popular myths about the "Red Cars." The story is told through historical film footage and hundreds of still pictures. It contains interviews with historians, those who worked on the railway, and others who simply remember the days when you could travel anywhere in Southern California by electric rail.
Transportation Futuristics Exhibit
Transportation Futuristics is an exhibit showcasing daring visions of transportation engineering. It was on display from July 6 through September 30, 2004 in the Bernice Layne Brown Gallery of the University of California, Berkeley's Doe Library. The exhibit was researched and assembled by the staff of the Harmer E. Davis Transportation Library which supports the research needs of the Institute of Transportation Studies at the University of California campuses of Berkeley, Davis, Irvine, and Los Angeles.
California Highway History
You can access a variety of information related to California highways and California highway history from this site. It is not affiliated with or sponsored by Caltrans, the California Department of Transportation; it is however very complete, informative and entertaining.
Historic photos and maps of California
This resource is provided by Mark Furqueron.
Transit and Railroad Museums
Listed below are some of the major transit museums dedicated to the preservation and history of public transit trolleys, cable cars, street railways and buses.
Transit:
Baltimore Street Car Museum
Canadian Transit Heritage Foundation
National Capital Trolley Museum
Electric Transit in Latin America
Glasgow Transit Museum
UK Greyhound Bus Museum
London Transport Museum
UK London Bus Preservation Trust
Museum of Bus Transportation
Manchester Transport Museum
UK National Transport Museum of Ireland
New York MTA Transit Museum
Orange Empire Railway & Trolley Museum
Ohio Museum of Transportation
Pacific Bus Museum (California)
Pennsylvania Trolley Museum
Seashore (Kennebunkport) Trolley Museum
Seattle Metro Historic Vehicle Association
San Francisco Cable Car Museum
Transit Museum Society Vancouver Canada
Railroads:
The history of railroading is an interesting adjunct related to public transit. One of the important purposes of public transport was to provide the local distribution network for arriving railroad passengers. A number of light rail systems now run on former railroad rights of way. Some of the major and local railroad museum and railroad resource websites are:
Arizona Railway Museum
B & O Railroad Museum
California State Railroad Museum
California Zephyr Virtual Museum
City of Los Angeles Travel Town Museum
Central Pacific Railroad Photo Museum
Colorado Railroad Museum
Golden Gate Railroad Museum
Illinois Railway Museum
John W. Barriger National Railroad Library
Lomita Railroad Museum
Los Angeles Railroad Heritage Foundation
Pacific Railroad Society San Dimas
Railroad Maps 1828-1900 from the Library of Congress
San Diego Railroad Museum
Smithsonian America on the Move
Bus, Rail and Transit Fan web sites:
Bus Drawings/Photos
The Bus Stops Here
Busway Publications
Chafee's Bus Page
Electric Railway Historical Association
Los Angeles Railway in Brief
New York City Subway
Rapid Transit Press
Regional Transit Service
San Fernando Valley Transit Insider
The Story Of The Johnson Farebox Company
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