What does transportation look like around the world in 1900?

For the World's Fair/Columbian Exposition in Chicago at the turn of the century, railroad publicist Joseph Gladding Pangborn organized the World's Transportation Commission to gather information about foreign transportation systems, especially railroads, for the Field Columbian Museum in Chicago. At that time, the Field Columbian Museum had acquired several exhibits from the World's Columbian Exposition, including extensive displays on transportation and the railway.

The U. S. was in the midst of an economic depression when Pangborn's grand tour began. He intended to win friends for American businesses interested in international markets by gathering information about the far away lands and providing information about products available from the States. Besides Pangborn, the Commission included a railroad engineer, a graphic artist, and photographer William Henry Jackson (1842-1943), who had extensive experience photographing for American railroads and geological survey expeditions.

Please check out his photos in the Library of Congress' online gallery. They are organized by country.

Key to transportation above:

1| Saddled camel, William Henry Jackson, [1894].

2| Four turbanned natives pushing Pangborn in hand-car in Bolan Pass, William Henry Jackson, [1895].

3| Jinricksha, William Henry Jackson, [1895].