A huge trove of historic railroad documents and archives is on track to stop at the Virginia Museum of History and Culture, donated by the Norfolk Southern Corporation. The collection comes with a $750,000 grant for permanent support of the collection at the Richmond museum.
Norfolk Southern’s donation includes thousands of photographs and glass plate negatives, business records, advertisements, blueprints and more from the Norfolk & Western, a railroad with deep Virginia roots. It started in Virginia in 1838, and after 150 years and over 200 mergers, it merged with the Southern Railway in 1982.
The $750,000 grant will allow the VMHC to digitize, catalog and preserve the collection. As part of the donation, Norfolk Southern has created a special fund to allow the VHMC to hire interns from underrepresented communities to support the museum’s work annually for the next five years, beginning this coming fall academic semester.
Among the historic materials in the archives are publicity materials including radio program scripts and posters, timetables, and rolling stock records as well as advertisements, contracts, an extensive collection of photographs, and construction plans for rail stations and yards.
