REPORT ON THE SECTION OF TRANSPORTATION AND ENGINEERING 

 IN THE U. S. NATIONAL MUSEUM, 1889. 



By J. ELFRETH Watkins, Curator, 



The routine work in the Section of Transportation and Engineering 

 during the fiscal year 1888-'89, was interrupted by my absence from the 

 Museum during almost the whole month of July, at the Ohio Valley 

 Centennial Exposition, at Cincinnati, where several series of models, 

 photographs and drawings were placed upon exhibition, to illustrate 

 the successive stages in the development of the art of transportation 

 from aboriginal times to the present era of the steam-ship and the loco- 

 motive. 



It is believed that this was the first attempt in the history of expo- 

 sitions, to present an object-lesson of the development, step by step, of 

 our great systems of transportation. 



While this first effort must be regarded as an experiment, it is 

 gratifying to know that it met the approval of those interested in pre- 

 serving the history of engineering science. This is particularly true of 

 the objects in the fourth series alluded to below. 



The exhibit was arranged in seven series. 



The first was intended to show the methods adopted by the aborig- 

 ines and early settlers, and contained objects of special local interest 

 to the residents of the Ohio Valley and of the old Northwest Territory. 



The second contained only objects illustrating the development of (1) 

 the American; and (2) the English locomotive. It is believed that this 

 series contained a larger number of objects than had ever before been 

 assembled to show the history of the locomotive. 



In the third, illustrating the development of the American passen- 

 ger car, the objects were arranged according to dates, rather than as a 

 series showing the progress of development. This arrangement was 

 made necessary owing to the large number of experiments that were 

 made before the present type of American car* came into general use. 



"Many of tlio objects in this aeries were illustrated in "The Evolution of the Rail- 

 way Passenger Car," by J. Elfretta Watkins, Harper's Weekly, August 25, 1888. 



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