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Railroaders

Jack Delano's Homefront Photography

Jack Holzhueter Jeremi Suri Scott Lothes John Gruber

9780615951560
200 pages
Ctr For Railroad Photography-art
Overview

Railroaders: Jack Delano's Homefront Photography examines Chicago's diverse railroad community during World War II by presenting the portraits and life stories of forty-nine railroad workers. The original color and black-and-white portraits by Jack Delano come from the Library of Congress via the Office of War of Information. The biographies come from the research efforts of John Gruber, Jack Holzhueter, and Scott Lothes at the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. Contempoary photographs by Jack Delano's son, Pablo Delano, and the Center's Gruber and Lothes complement the catalog. There are essays by Pablo Delano, Gruber, and University of Texas professor Jeremi Suri, a leading public historian.

Author Bio
Between 1975 and 2000 Jack Holzhueter became well known around Wisconsin for his hundreds of appearances on Wisconsin Public Radio and Wisconsin Public Television concerning Wisconsin history and Frank Lloyd Wright. He worked at the Wisconsin Historical Society as a research specialist and editor from 1964 until 2000, serving as an editor of the Wisconsin Magazine of History as well as a researcher and editor for the definitive six-volume history of the state. He currently is a member of the Wisconsin Historical Society’s governing body. Among his retirement consultancies have been a role in the historic structure report of the Wisconsin capitol building; an essay (with George Talbot) in Zane Williams’s acclaimed re-photography book Double Take; and research, editorial, and writing tasks for the Center for Railroad Photography & Art of Madison, particularly for its Railroaders exhibition with the Chicago History Museum.Jeremi Suri is an American historian, and the Mack Brown Distinguished Chair for Leadership in Global Affairs, at University of Texas at Austin.Scott Lothes became the Center’s executive director in 2011, after serving on its staff part-time since 2008. In 2013 he succeeded John E. Gruber as the Center’s president and editor of its journal, Railroad Heritage. Lothes is an accomplished photographer and author, with more than seventy bylined articles in magazines including Classic Trains, Locomotive, NRHS Bulletin, Railfan & Railroad, Railroads Illustrated, and Trains, as well as two front-page travel stories in newspapers. He is the author and editor of the "The Railroad Photography of Donald W. Furler," coauthor of "Wallace W. Abbey: A Life in Railroad Photography," and he has contributed forewords and chapters to five other books.John Gruber (1936-2018), the author or coauthor of seven other railroad photography books pursued a photographic interest in railroads from the early 1960s. His images of Chicago's Union Station in that era are milestones in railroad photography. He also was among the first railroad photographers to capture workers in their daily routines. He had a thirty-year career in publications for the University of Wisconsin, and he served as editor of the magazines Vintage Rails and Railroad Heritage. Gruber was the principal founder of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art and served on its board until his death.