BARABOO, Wis. — Former Trains Magazine publisher Kalmbach Media has donated nearly 600 images taken by famed California photographer Herb Sullivan to the Lake States Railway Historical Association (LSRHA), based in Baraboo. Sullivan was well known for his late 1930s and early 1940s action photography in Southern California’s Cajon Pass. One of his favorite photo locations on the Pass was a hairpin curve with a distinctive rock formation informally known as “Sullivan’s Curve,” later officially recognized with that name by the U.S. Forest Service.
Sullivan was born in Emerson, Manitoba, in 1887. He moved with his family to California, eventually established an orange grove business in Placentia. Sullivan was interested in photography out of high school. According to LSRHA, from what can be determined from the photography in the collection, he photographed railroads beginning sporadically in the 1920s using a 116-format camera. He resumed activities in the late 1930s with 4×5 and postcard-format cameras. His photography was regularly featured in Trains Magazine after it was established in 1940 earning Sullivan widespread recognition.
Although he did travel the greater Los Angeles and made at least one trip to famed Nevada short line Virginia & Truckee, he was drawn to the Cajon Pass area to photograph Santa Fe and Union Pacific action climbing the 2.2% grade. His last known photographs were taken in November 1941. He died in May 1945. His widow donated his photography to Kalmbach Media predecessor Kalmbach Publishing Co. shortly thereafter.
Aside from Sullivan’s original negatives received from Kalmbach, several photo albums of black and white prints were included in the donation. Many of these were his own, as they were made from the negatives, but there is also some photography that is the work of others. According to LSRHA President Paul Swanson, all the negatives have been scanned as have selected prints.
The non-profit Lake States Railway Historical Association was founded in 2006 dedicated to the preservation and dissemination of railroad history through an extensive collection of historic artifacts and materials, socioeconomic data, and industrial archeology relating to American railroads, with emphasis on the western Great Lakes region of the United States. It operates a climate-controlled secure archive storage and research facility in Baraboo. LSRHA’s photographic collections exceed one million images that are continually being cataloged and scanned. Over 110,000 images are currently available for viewing at the Association’s online archive. Downloads and prints of photographs may be purchased for private use at the Lake States website.
To view the Herb Sullivan images go to https://www.lakestatesarchive.org/Herb-Sullivan-Collection.
