Wilbur Hague collection

The Wilbur Hague Papers consist of loose files and notebooks of material collected in the course of a lifetime of research on interurban rail transportation in Northwest Ohio, including photographs, indexes, printed material, and research notebooks. Much of the information was incorporated in such publications as “The Toledo and Western Railway Company, 1900-1935”, and “The Detroit, Monroe & Toledo Short Line Railway”, both co-authored by Hague and Kirk F. Hise, or used in various issues of “Trolley Wire” which Hague edited after 1986. The various topical notebooks on the different transportation companies are primarily photographic, but include some timetables, transfers, advertisements, receipts, and other printed material pertaining to each particular line. Small handwritten “labels” with explanatory information are included on many pages. The images generally show just the cars and other equipment of the companies, but also visible are several street scenes in such places as Toledo, Bowling Green, and Findlay. Indexes to various Toledo newspapers were created over the years as Hague would search microfilm for articles related to transportation. As he did so he also found articles on local history, obituaries, weather, politics, education, and economics, which he also added to the index providing a timeline for tracking such events as the 1918 flu epidemic, the preparations and local involvement in World War I, strikes, coal shortages, Willys-Overland, and the decline of the streetrailroads and interurban lines.

Printed material in the collection either provides support for the images or shows the end product of Hague’s research. Loose printed items are generally in envelops, often with an accompanying explanatory sheet from Hague puttinge the piece in context, such as with various passes, schedules, and transfers. The more significant grouping of printed material is a complete run, with only minor gaps, of the rail enthusiast newsletter “Trolley Wire”, put out by a local Toledo group first under the name Waterfront Electric Railway, Inc., and later as the Toledo, Angola & Western Railway. Wilbur Hague was the editor of this newsletter from 1986 until it ceased publication in 2001 and many photos appearing in its pages are credited to his collection. Loose photographs in the collection are divided into separate envelopes according to the rail company represented. Most of the pictures have some identifying information and dates on the verso provided by Hague. In addition, a number of the images have been used in either “Trolley Wire” or in Hague’s books, or there may be a duplicate copy in one of the topical notebooks.