Promotional photograph from the film Journey By Train: Museum Object and Cultural History

The object in the museum catalogue

Silver gelatin print from a series of original photographs taken during the production of the 1935 educational short film, "A Journey by Train", produced by the Text Film Corp., Hollywood, CA. This print depicts an outdoor scene of a train yard. Inside the train you can see a train engineer standing at the window. On the tracks you can see another train engineer along with an African American porter holding three suitcases in his hands, with one tucked under his arm. Standing in front of him is a family of four: mother, father, and two children, one boy and one girl. The family is looking up and admiring in the train. The front left corner contains an identification tag within the photograph that reads "A JOURNEY BY TRAIN copyright by TEXT FILM CORP. HOLLYWOOD, CALIF. 101-23".

Materials, dates and provenance

• Date: ca. 1935
• Created by: Text Film Corp., American
• Subject of: Unidentified Man or Men
• Subject of: Unidentified Woman or Women
• Subject of: Unidentified Child or Children
• Type: gelatin silver prints
• Medium: photographic gelatin and silver on photographic paper
• Dimensions: H x W: 8 x 9 5/8 in. (20.3 x 24.4 cm)
• Topic: African American
• Topic: Labor
• Topic: Photography
• Topic: Pullman Porters
• Topic: Segregation
• Topic: Transportation
• Object number: 2012.46.75.13
• Credit Line: Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
• Data Source: National Museum of African American History and Culture

Sources and reuse

Catalogue descriptions and facts adapted from National Museum of African American History and Culture through the Smithsonian's official Open Access dataset. This record explicitly marks its metadata CC0 1.0; formatting and selection have been changed. The underlying object's rights statement is: Unknown - Restrictions Possible Rights assessment and proper usage is the responsibility of the user.