This collection’s photographs focuses on the Budd Company rail division with some images of automobiles and wheel products and manufacturing. The bulk of the materials date from the 1940s, 1950s and the 1980s. There are exterior and interior views of plants showing both railroad car and automobile parts manufacturing. Many of the photographs are by well-known commercial photographers Robert Yarnall Richie, William M. Rittase, and Richard T. Dooner.

The collection is organized into five series: Company executives and employees; Plants and manufacturing; Products; Advertising; and Films and videos.

Company executives and employees series consists of portraits of company presidents and executives, as well as employees, notably women employees during World War II. There are images of numerous war time events such as blood drives, war bond rallies, and award ceremonies. The photographs date from the 1930s through the 1990s, with one image from 1916. The materials are arranged in chronological order.

Plants and manufacturing series includes photographs of several Budd Company plants exterior views of buildings and surrounding areas, as well as, interior views that show manufacturing processes. Often the interior images include workers. Automotive and rail car manufacturing is primarily what is documented and the plants are not always identified. These photographs date from 1934 to 1980 and are arranged in chronological order.

The Products series is divided into five subseries: Airplanes; Automobiles; Railcars; Space; and Wheels.

Airplanes subseries only consists of a few images and is arranged by date. There are photographs that show various plane parts such as a fin, rudder, wing, frame, stabilizer, and a pilot seat. There is also a few images of the Conestaga RB-1, a Navy Cargo plane and a “plane mate” which is a mobile lounge. These images date from 1934 to the 1950s.

The Automobiles subseries consists of photographs of cars, vans, trucks, frames, and trailers. Most images show the final product, others show products in various stages of development, and a few images are of models. These photographs date from 1931 to 1987 and there is one 1974 automobile products catalog. The materials are arranged alphabetically.

The Railcars subseries shows interiors and exteriors of various types of railcars such as lounge, coach, observation, sleeper, diner, washroms, dome, and post office cars. Interior views often picture passengers and railroad staff. Images include famous railroad cars built by Budd such as the Zephyr, Super Chief, Rocket, and Meteor trains, among others. The images are organized alphabetically by railroad company and date from 1934 to 1984.

Space subseries contains a few images related a Lunar orbiter and S-6 satellite produced by Budd in the 1960s.

The Wheels subseries consists of two war time albums, one from 1918, and one from the 1940s. The World War I album includes images of wheel manufacturing, as well as final products. There are images that include employees. The World War II era album is titled “U.S. Government Vehicles using Budd Wheel Equipment” and in addition to the photographs there were numerous newspaper clippings laid in to the album. There are a few negatives and transparencies that date from the 1950s that show a woman posing with large tires.

Advertising series consists of tearsheets of advertisements primarily from the 1960s, though the materials date from 1943 to 1982, with one set of advertisements from 1924 to 1926. The materials are organized chronologically by topic. Advertisements focus on automotive, corporate, and railway topics, but include other divisions and highlight other areas of the company’s work. There are two albums, one of general Budd Company advertisements from 1978 to 1982, and one of Wheel division advertisements from 1947 to 1957.

Films and videos series consists of twelve titles primarily from after the Budd Company was acquired by Thyssen in 1978.These films highlight various aspects of the Budd Company’s production and manufacture of steel automobiles and railcars. The materials are listed in chronological order.