The Erie Railroad Glass Plate Negative Collection

The Erie Railroad Company glass plate negatives are arranged by Erie subsidiary railroads in the states of New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Ohio. Mainline scenes come from all of the preceding states, as well as from Indiana and Illinois. The image content of the glass plates varies, including individual stations, mile posts, lengths of track, new track construction, and social organizations (such as the East Buffalo Car Shop Basketball Team and shop bands). While, to date, the station images have attracted the most researcher interest, the images also provide a valuable source of information for documenting the early 20th century landscape, product advertising, railroad construction, and on-and-off-the-job Erie Railroad Company employee activities.