Digital Transit Archiving
Structured digitization of vintage streetcar data, photographs, and paper records for long-term public education.
Paper collections decay. Unlabeled scans are almost as fragile: a folder of images without dates, company names, or locations cannot be cited by a student or reused by a historian. FolkCity’s archiving program treats digitization as cataloging, not as a photo dump.
What we digitize
Typical items include builder photographs, car diagrams, route maps, public timetables, transfer tickets, employee notes, and newspaper clippings that document street railways and early urban bus substitutions. We prioritize material that explains how systems operated in daily life, not only ceremonial first-day images.
How a record is built
Each digital object receives a stable file name, a short title, a date or date range when known, a geographic note, and a rights statement. Uncertain facts are marked as uncertain. That discipline keeps the archive honest and usable in classrooms.
Access
Educational summaries appear on this website. Deeper finding aids may be shared with researchers, teachers, and partner museums after an inquiry. Some physical items remain at the Chandler facility and are described rather than fully published when condition or rights require caution.