Center For Railroad Photography And Art Inc

Publicationsthe center publishes a quarterly journal, railroad heritage, that uses photographs and art to inform the public about the railroad's influence on economic growth and development, popular culture, and the lives of the hundreds of thousands of men and women who built, operate, and maintain railroads in north america and beyond. Books add to this message, and the center continues to publish one each year. The title for 2024 is burlington's spectacular steam program. It draws from the people-focused photography in the center's john e. Gruber collection and the expert writing of two center board members to show the cultural impact of the burlington steam excursions of the 1950s and 1960s.

Conferencesthe center hosts an annual conference near chicago and sometimes another regional conference in a different city featuring presentations about railroad photography and art. The events give photographers and researchers the opportunity to network and exchange ideas through programming and social activities. Attendees come from all over the united states and several other countries. The 2023 conference sold out with 170 attendees in less than two months; a move to a larger auditorium for the 2024 conference expanded capacity to 192 and the event was sold out. The center hosted its first online program in 2020 and now manages a monthly series of online presentations that appear live via zoom and are then recorded and posted to youtube for later viewing. Attendance on zoom ranges from 100 to 400, while several of the youtube records have received thousands of views.

Exhibits and awardsthe center prepares and manages several photography exhibitions that travel to museums and other venues across the country where they are made available to the public. With the 2024 accession of the kalmbach art collection, the center prepared an exhibition about it that debuted in 2025 at the grohmann museum in milwaukee, wisconsin. Other exhibitions currently or recently in circulation include after promontory: 150 years of transcontinental railroading; beebe & clegg: their enduring photographic legacy; milwaukee's beer line; requiem for steam: the railroad photographs of david plowden; and wallace w. Abbey: a life in railroad photography. After promontory's winter 2024-2025 exhibition at the eiteljorg museum of american indians and western art in indianapolis led to a joint event between the museum and the center. The center's annual creative photography awards program recognizes creative photography and provides an important point of entry for engagement with contemporary photographers and new audiences. Named for principal founder john e. Gruber, the program seeks to recognize and encourage excellence in railroad imagery. The volunteer panel of three judges is chaired by a board member and typically splits the program into two categories, one for color photographs and one for black-and-white, both around a different theme each year. The winning images are published in the center's journal and in railfan & railroad magazine, and they are displayed at the colorado railroad museum.