Founded in 1846, Pennsylvania Railroad Company (PRR) was a leading industrial and transportation force throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. This collection features a cyanotype and a photographic copy print of an image depicting the first passenger car created for PRR, most likely taken in 1893 in relation to Chicago World's Columbian Exposition.

World Fairs or International Expositions are large-scale exhibitions highlighting technology, agriculture, and other innovations of national or cultural significance. The Chicago Century of Progress International Exposition was held along Lake Michigan and Northerly Island Park from May 27, 1933 to October 31, 1934. The collection consists of forty-five identical gummed stickers. The stickers feature an image of an approaching Pennsylvania Railroad locomotive.

The World's Columbian Exposition, named in celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus's arrival in the Americas, was a World's Fair held in Chicago from May 5 to October 31, 1893. One of those exhibitors was the Pennsylvania Railroad Company (PRR). Founded in 1846, the PRR was a leading industrial and transportation force throughout the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Pennsylvania Railroad Company's exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition was housed in a dedicated pavilion located near the fairground's 64th Street entrance, immediately northeast of the fairground's station for passengers arriving by rail. This collection of photographs contains a selection of images that were once exhibited alongside similar photographs throughout the eastern half of the exhibition pavilion. These photographs document industries located along PRR and subsidiary rail lines (section 28 of the exhibition) as well as views of wharves, docks, and stations used by PRR (section 41 of the exhibition).