This fall, students in Professor Sam Dodd’s course ARH 400: “Sheet, Book, Box: Archival Research Methods & Historical Thinking,” explored one of Special Collections’ most frequently accessed collections: the Robert M. Emery Long Island Rail Road Collection. Over the course of three hands-on sessions, students worked closely with the Emery Collection to learn archival research methods, study historical photographic materials, and reconstruct visual narratives that span decades of New York and American life.
The Emery Collection contains:
- Over 5,000 identified photographs and postcards of railroad scenes, engines, depots, wrecks, conductors, and infrastructure
- Detailed pencil drawings with explanatory notes, mostly of LIRR track layouts and structures
- Timetables (262 in number) and related documents dating from 1880 to 1998
- LIRR‑related ephemera, maps, and administrative materials
The collection was acquired by Stony Brook in 1976 from Emery, who worked for the LIRR from 1943 until his retirement in 1976.
Students learned archival handling protocols, were oriented to finding aids, and were provided with an overview of the Emery materials – how the albums are arranged geographically by railroad line and how photographic materials were later removed for preservation. Next, they examined photographs, drawings, and timetables to reconstruct geographic and chronological narratives within Emery’s albums, tracing patterns of railroad expansion, station development, and track layouts. In the final session, students placed the materials in broader historical and infrastructural contexts – considering the social, economic, and technological significance of the LIRR, transformation over time, and how Emery’s work documents both continuity and change.
Working with the Emery Collection gave students an opportunity to treat visual and material sources as primary documents – not just images, but evidence. By engaging with the collection, students are not only learning how to “read” photographs as historical documents, but also how to interpret, curate, and care for archival materials.
Kristen Nyitray
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