high humidity; protect and store fragile items in appropriate archival quality sleeves or containers. If you do decide to collect railroadi-
ana, remember that price is not the only consideration, nor necessarily the only determinant of ultimate value. Provenance, the history of origin and use of an item, beyond its identification with a specific railroad, can add much to both interest and financial value, es- pecially if the history is well document- ed. This is not a topic of the book, but let me elaborate a little. If a group of items comes with clear documentation, or even solid aural history, be sure to record and save this evidence along with the items. Even a fragment of a la- bel can be important to documentation and dating. This is what can distin- guish, to pick a fictitious example, a watch that Casey Jones or perhaps your grandfather used from one that was found in a thrift store or auction whose provenance is completely un- known. Two objects may be essentially the same, but one with documentation of its former use is clearly of more val- ue to collectors, historians or family de-
scendants than the other. Interesting provenance, especially if this includes personal memories or family associa- tions, can trump good condition or rari- ty. Tickets on the train that brought your grandparents across the country, for example, even if they don’t have high market value, are probably far more important to you than tickets of the same time used by someone else. Remember too that often one per-
son’s perception of value or their reason for buying an item can be different from another’s, and this can have a lot to do with availability and costs. If all you want is information about a railroad’s operations, a battered timetable can be as useful as a pristine one, and can of- ten be found for a fraction of the cost. But if you have a timetable or other document in good condition, make a photocopy to work with and protect the original; that way you’ll have the infor- mation you require and still preserve the value of the article. Similarly, a damaged book can tell the same story as a mint first edition, and again can be much cheaper. If you want a book to sit on your workbench while you are creat-
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