Route 66 Archives and Research

Route 66 Primary Resource Survey

Descriptive Guidelines

Route 66 Archives and Research Collaboration (Route 66 ARC)

 

With ten founding members from libraries, archives and museums, Route 66 ARC, an initiative of the National Park Service Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program, endeavors to ensure that valuable information about the road and its impact on people and places is collected, cared for and made available to the public and researchers.  The goal is to conduct primary resource surveys in each of the Route 66 states and create a searchable database of available resources available on this Route 66 ARC web site.

We know that materials related to Route 66 are not always sitting together in a discrete collection or assigned Route 66 subject headings. Sometimes identifying these resources takes a little digging around! The Route 66 ARC created these guidelines to help you respond to this survey. Please remember that we are only interested in items that are available to the public and researchers.

 

Types of Materials:

Photographs and photograph albums

Booster and tourist brochures and pamphlets

Diaries

City and business records including planning documents, historic building surveys, plat maps, technical reports related to transportation management and engineering, meeting minutes

Oral histories

Maps

Postcards

Drawings

Product advertisements

Scrapbooks

Audio-Visual material

Newspaper clippings

Personal papers

Memorabilia

Vertical files

 

Geographic designations:

 

Materials related to Route 66, especially Route 66 in California

Communities and institutions that existed or still exist along or because of Route 66

 

 

Subject areas to consider:

History of Route 66 (United States Highway 66)

Transportation/Road building

Waterways

Cattle trails, immigrant routes/pre-modern roads

Roadside architecture

Local history, businesses, industry, and government

Automobiles

Commerce

Tourism

Historic Preservation

Native Americans/American Indian Lands or reservations

Route 66 and the military

Images of California and Route 66

Signage on Route 66