The New York Central System Historical Society online database, https://nycshs.omeka.net/, is a collection of primary and secondary sources put together by the society for everyone to access freely. The society itself is an all volunteer nonprofit group that is funded by subscribers to the magazine and by selling items related to the society (books, models, etc.) and by donations. The society is dedicated to the preservation of the New York Central Railroad and its related systems, as well as the stories and people that surrounded the former railroad.
The database that is provided by the New York Central Historical society is a fairly recent addition to the society itself. The database is powered using the service Omeka, which is a well known and established database system used by many other historical groups. Therefore, if you’ve used a database that is Omeka based before, this one will be immediately recognizable to you. The database is searchable via different modes depending on what you’re looking for. There is a table of contents but it does only cover broad aspects of the different aspects of the society. If you do not see what you’re looking for there is an advanced search option that allows you to search via different fields. There are also multiple help pages in order to steer you in the right direction. The site itself loads quickly and lacks ads, providing a clear interface to work with. The database itself is also regularly updated with new content as the members are able to upload them.
The content that is available on the website is mainly primary sources. Most of which are photographs that have been cataloged based on what’s in them. There are other formats available, but are limited. This database is mainly for photos, and is useful to historians that are trying to aim for historical accuracy in projects. As for secondary sources, the society runs a couple magazines and columns where they will provide secondary accounts of events and background on different primary sources in their collection. While the people that are writing these are not always “historians” by their main job, they are usually well versed people on the subject of the society and are extremely dedicated to the craft and getting things as accurate as possible, which is where the photographic database is important. This can take away some trust in the secondary sources, since they are not by a historian’s standard of the term “peer reviewed”, but since the evidence that is being provided is free for anyone to look at and interpret, you can also draw your own conclusions. The magazine that is published by the society is normally only available to subscribers and members however.
The NYCSHS archive system is useful as a source to the 1920s. The company that it mainly follows, was one of the largest railroads in the world at that point in time, and therefore was present for many of the monopoly-breaking, regulation changing, and notable strikes that occurred in this decade. This archive also has a very large catalog of photos, which allows for a literal insight into what the average railroad would look like in this era and get a better image in the mind of who is searching for 1920’s info on what the average person would be seeing or using in this timeframe.
Gregory Kruimer is currently enrolled in his senior year at Ramapo College as a History major.
