What ever happened to the library of the Bureau of Railway Economics?

Disputes rail labor figures on employees' incomes. Washington, D.C., Oct. 4. Railroad management representatives today disputed before President Roosevelt's fact finding board figures presented by Labor as to the annual income of rail employees. J. Elmer Monroe, Statistician of the Bureau of Railway Economics, Association of American Railroads, asserted that the average earnings of railroad employees who worked at some time during each of the 12 months in 1937 was $1785. He challenged the claim advanced by the employees that the average was only $1,115, 10/4/38 (Library of Congress Photo)

Back in the day, the Association of American Railroads maintained an extensive library at its headquarters building in Washington, DC. Ostensibly this material was available to AAR members and employees and to the public at large to help promote railroading in the United States. The librarians supported AAR members and employees as they gave testimony before the Interstate Commerce Commission and the Congress. 

The AAR still exists today but it has evolved.  There's no ICC to deal with anymore since the passage of the Staggers Act.  There aren't as many hearings before congress either.  So the library of the BRE was not needed in Washington, DC any more.  However, it contained so many historic holdings, it just couldn't be thrown away.

Fortunately there were two world class libraries that agreed to take part of the collection.  The Northwestern University Library and the John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library.  Each institution accepted the items from the BRE Library into their holdings and added them to their library catalogs.  So now, even today, researchers can still access the contents of the library of the Bureau of Railway Economics.

Links:

Northwestern University Transportation Library

John W. Barriger III National Railroad Library

The New Digs.