Carnegie Library digitized 186 volumes of 19th & 20th Century American railroad journals. These titles comprise state of the art professional and technical literature of the period, reflecting the primary role the railroads played in the United States, and of Andrew Carnegie’s commitment to promote industrial and technological advancement through the public library. These materials were scanned as part of the Lyrasis Mass Digitization Collaborative, with support from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

American Marketplace, a digital exhibition comprised of manufacturer’s and mail-order retail catalogs tracks the development of American industrialization and its relationship to the consumer class. Many well-known companies in industries such as agriculture, shipping, railroad, automotive, and early aviation are represented in the American Marketplace collection, as well as the mail-order catalogs that sold their products to the new middle class. Together, they tell the story of American industry and domestic economy, the American workplace and American home life, in a time of rapid growth.

Carefully curated and digitized from the collections and holdings at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh, the Iron & Steel Heritage Collection provides primary sources and key insights from books, journals, photographs, trade catalogs, and other unique resources dating back to the mid-1800’s.

This project is made possible in part by Library Services and Technology Act (LSTA) funds from the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services and through Library Access Funds administered by the Office of Commonwealth Libraries, Department of Education, Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, Tom Wolf, Governor.