Preserving freight-transportation history

By William J Augello -- Logistics Management, 4/1/1998

The time has arrived for the nation to realize that until recently, there has been no organized effort to preserve freight-transportation history on a nationwide basis. A few universities have maintained libraries on certain segments of freight transportation, such as Northwestern University's railroad collection, and many others have extensive highway, port, and urban-planning collections. Because of budget constrictions, however, many of these libraries, such as the Port Authority of New York-New Jersey's, have been closed.

Without a comprehensive library encompassing all modes of freight transportation, located at one site, where will our business executives, legislators, students, and instructors of the future find materials and texts to learn how and why the United States built the finest, most efficient freight-transportation network in the world? Using today's electronic information technology, the creation of an on-line collection of the texts, treatises, articles, decisions, laws, regulations, and technical papers on every segment of transportation should be relatively easy. It will require a concerted effort to organize and fund such a project, however.

The good news is that efforts finally are being made in that direction. The National Transportation Library Inc. (NTL) was formed several years ago by a handful of transportation professionals who recognized the need for preserving transportation history and making it available to the public. Personal collections of texts, papers, and memorabilia are being accumulated, cataloged, and stored. Funds are being raised, and affiliations with other libraries and organizations are being developed.

The major accomplishment was the acquisition of the Interstate Commerce Commission's library by the University of Denver's newly formed Intermodal Transportation Institute (ITI), in collaboration with the NTL. This 60,000-volume collection was moved and stored through voluntary contributions from transportation companies, warehousemen, and private citizens. Plans now are being made to raise funds for cataloging all materials on a database and for building the necessary facilities to make this information readily accessible to the public.

Another major acquisition is the collection of the legislative history of all of the transportation laws that deregulated the freight-transportation industries over the last two decades, which was maintained by Stanton P. Sender. Stan was widely regarded as the prime mover for deregulation when he was transportation counsel to Sears, Roebuck and an officer of the National Industrial Transportation League. His estate has donated his entire collection to the NTL for the establishment of a special section on legislative history in his memory.

Another project under consideration by the ITI/NTL consortium is an "Oral History Program" that will interview leaders in the development of the U.S. intermodal system and thus preserve on tape a live account of the role they played in transportation history. What transportation pioneer's story would you like to hear?

William J. Augello Esq. has practiced transportation law for 46 years. He also is the executive director of the Transportation Consumer Protection Council, an organization that is devoted to protecting shippers and receivers in transportation matters, such as freight loss and damage, undercharges, and contracts. He can be reached at (520) 531-0203 or via e-mail at augello@transportlaw.com.