“Exhibits on the history of railroads often focus on the machinery — flashy, loud, showy.
“That’s understandable, Scott Lothes said.
“‘Trains are big and loud and fascinating,’ said Lothes, president and executive director of the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. “They really command a lot of attention. But ultimately, it’s the people that make it run.’
“That’s what the Historic Pullman Foundation is doing, with a display of photographs showing the people who worked in the industry during World War II. It will be at the Pullman Exhibit Hall through the end of the year.
“‘Railroaders: Jack Delano’s Homefront Photography’ was born from a partnership between the Chicago History Museum and Lothes’ Wisconsin-based center, which originally curated the photos and other items on display.
“In all, the project has 60 photos Delano took of railroad workers in 1942 and 1943 as part of his assignment from the Farm Security Administration-Office of War Information. Thousands of Delano’s photos from the series are now in the Library of Congress. Delano, who died in 1997, also took photographs for the Depression-era Works Progress Administration.
“After stops at the Chicago History Museum and the Peoria Riverfront Museum, arriving in Pullman is a homecoming of sorts for the exhibit.
“‘It’s really about Chicago,’ said Julian Jackson, executive director of the Historic Pullman Foundation. ‘It’s a Chicago story of Jack Delano coming in and recording the lives and the history of people working on the railroads in a variety of different capacities during World War II in and around Chicago.'” (Rush, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/26/22)