Synopses & Reviews
In the winter of 1942andndash;3, photographer Jack Delano was assigned by the Office of War Information (successor of the Farm Security Administration) to tell the story of the American railroad system and its essential role in keeping the nationandrsquo;s troops armed, fed, and housed, in addition to normal homefront railroad work. Delanoandrsquo;s boss was Roy E. Stryker, the visionary leader of FSA photography projects during Franklin Rooseveltandrsquo;s presidency, documenting social conditions during the Great Depression. The best of Delanoandrsquo;s photographs compare favorably with images made by such other famed FSA photographers as Dorothea Lange and Walker Evans.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Delanoandrsquo;s photographs of railroaders in Chicago, the nationandrsquo;s railroad hub, captured life in the yards, shops, and environments of the freight lines. He concentrated on the men and women who made the railroads tick: those employed directly in train service as well as many working behind-the-scenes in repair, maintenance, and bookkeeping. These superb portraits and their subjectsandrsquo; milieus have never before been published as a collection, and they are reproduced here magnificently. Extraordinary documentary text complements the images. Editor John Gruber and others at the Center for Railroad Photography and Art researched the railroadersandrsquo; lives and wrote their biographies. Delanoandrsquo;s son Pablo, himself a professional photographer, made new portraits of many of the railroadersandrsquo; families and wrote a reflection on his fatherandrsquo;s career. The book also includes essays by historian Jeremi Suri on the railroad and modern America and by editor John Gruber on Delanoandrsquo;s railroad assignment.
and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160;and#160; Railroaders breaks new ground for the genres of railroad books and historical photography books. These workersandrsquo; compelling, universal stories create a composite history not only of railroad work but of labor in the first half of the twentieth century.
Review
andldquo;Some books are histories, some biographies, some storybooks, and some are coffee table art books. Rarely can one book do all at once.
Railroaders: Jack Delanoandrsquo;s Homefront Photography canandmdash;and doesandmdash;in spectacular fashion.andrdquo;andmdash;
Trains MagazineSynopsis
These superb, World War IIandndash;era portraits of a diverse group of Chicago-area railroaders have been hailed as a universal story of labor. They were taken by Jack Delano for the federal Office of War Information in 1942 and 1943. Today Delanoandrsquo;s portraits stand for themselves, contextualized by touching biographies, new portraits of the subjectsandrsquo; families by Jack Delanoandrsquo;s son Pablo, historical essays, and other Delano images of Chicagoandrsquo;s rail yards, shops, and stations. No other photographic study of portraits from this period compares to this one for its universality.
Synopsis
Railroaders: Jack Delano's Homefront Photography examines Chicago's diverse railroad community during World War II by presenting the portraits and life stories of forty-nine railroad workers. The original color and black-and-white portraits by Jack Delano come from the Library of Congress via the Office of War of Information. The biographies come from the research efforts of John Gruber, Jack Holzhueter, and Scott Lothes at the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. Contempoary photographs by Jack Delano's son, Pablo Delano, and the Center's Gruber and Lothes complement the catalog. There are essays by Pablo Delano, Gruber, and University of Texas professor Jeremi Suri, a leading public historian.
About the Author
John Gruber is the principal founder of the Center for Railroad Photography and Art and the author or coauthor of six other railroad photography books. He lives in Madison, Wisconsin.
Table of Contents
Introduction Gary T. Johnson
and#160;
The Railroad and the Making of Modern America
Jeremi Suri
and#160;
Reflections on My Fatherandrsquo;s Railroad Photographs
Pablo Delano
and#160;
Roy Stryker, Jack Delano, and the Chicago Railroad Story
John Gruber
and#160;
Families
and#160;
On the Trains
Jamie W. Edwards
Garnett andldquo;Georgeandrdquo; Edgar Burton
Walter V. Dew
Daniel Sinise and Crew
Daniel Louis Sinise
Floyd Kenneth Gwinner
Edward V. Kletecka
Edward Henry Albrecht
John Joseph McCarthy
Cunningham Crew
Lawson Cunningham
Joseph Stites
Lawrence Adams Sr.
Benjamin Lee High
Louis Hazel Zerkel
Vernon William Brower
Jacqueline Halloran
Einar Larsen
John Louis Walter
Clarence Dwight Averill
John Mathias Wolfsmith
Hiram Gillman
and#160;
At the Station
Harry William Trout
Marie Buehler Griffith
Alfred Henry Stuhl
Charles H. Bern
Perry Collins Farley
Charles Sawer
Alfred D. McMillan
West Chicago Union Lodge
William (Wilhelm) Martin Hoag
Edward Herbert Schlueter
William Frederick Ehredt Jr.
Carl Berkes
and#160;
Around the Yards
Robert W. Mayburry
Frank J. Krisch
Larry Martin
Arthur Spencer Jerdee
John Paulinsky
Frank Williams
Mike Evans
Sam Cell
John Joseph Sabados
Harry August Vander Schilden
Dorothy Lucke Leslie
James Ira Ball Jr.
William London
Loxley Ray Logan
James Lynch
John Kelsch
Tomas Madrigal
Daniel Anastasia
and#160;
Index
Acknowledgments