Shaughnessy is known for his coverage of the Northeast U.S., living near Albany, N.Y., for much of his life, giving him considerable coverage of the Delaware & Hudson. He made several trips out West, including to Sherman Hill to document the last of the mighty Union Pacific Big Boys in the 1950s and, and to New England and Canada to see the end of Canadian Pacific steam operations in the early 1960s.
The organization will receive the collection in batches; the first is expected to arrive later this spring. Center staff will start with an inventory of the collection as they begin to process the images. Lothes expects that the staff will prioritize the oldest works first and notes that the Center will keep the collection intact.
Shaughnessy’s work has appeared many times in Trains and Classic Trains magazines. In Fall 2007, Classic Trains launched a recurring series called “The Shaughnessy Files” that ran until 2017. “He really has a fire for publication that burned bright all his life,” Lothes says.
For more information about the Center and its collections, go to
www.railphoto-art.org.