DO YOU HAVE RAILROAD HISTORY IN YOUR CLOSET?

... stored in your garage, tucked away in a book, or pressed into a family album? Have you considered the possibility of sharing this history with others? The Travel Town Museum would greatly appreciate your tax-deductible contribution.

The Travel Town Museum has been a Los Angeles attraction since 1952, a favorite destination for families and school groups, railroad enthusiasts and students of railroad history. Since its founding, Travel Town has benefitted from community support: local businesses, community groups, and individuals have pulled together and donated locomotives and passenger cars, railroad artifacts and library materials. This willingness to preserve our railroad heritage has built the Travel Town Museum’s railroad collection and library. Your contribution can continue this community spirit.

The primary collection focus of the Travel Town Museum is the history of railroad transportation in the western United States from 1880 to the 1930s, with an emphasis on the development of railways in Southern California and specifically in Los Angeles. The Museum also seeks to broaden its collection to reflect the development of railroading from the advent of diesel locomotion to present day rail transportation. The memories and materials we collect are used for display to Travel Town visitors and for research by the Museum.

One of the Travel Town Museum’s priorities is to further develop and strengthen our permanent collection. Toward this end, we invite your interest in becoming a partner and a donor to the Travel Town Museum. Listed below are examples of artifacts that the Museum looks for to expand its collection.

  • Railroad industry ephemera (railroad maps, advertisements, tickets, pamphlets, luggage tags, timetables, dining car menus, travel brochures, and calendars)
  • Employee uniforms and personal belongings (watches, pins, hats, jackets, shoes, awards)
  • Lanterns, clocks, tools, luggage carts, scales, and telephones/telegraph equipment
  • Dining Car linen, china, glassware, and silverware
  • Photographs, moving footage, and sound recordings
  • Books and magazines
  • Company records
  • Luggage and shipping crates
  • Passenger car furnishings and decorative details

The Travel Town Museum, additionally, wants to preserve its own story and is interested in collecting family snapshots of visits to Travel Town, photographs of the Museum’s historic locomotive and rolling stock collection, and Museum souvenirs and collectibles.