Route 66: Remembering the “Mother Road” - Libraries, Publishing and Research

R. Sean Evans
Cline Library, Northern Arizona University
Flagstaff, AZ. 86011-6022
(928) 523-4395
sean.evans@nau.edu
http://jan.ucc.nau.edu/~rse/66info1.htm

 Wigwam Village, Holbrook, AZ.

This year in November Route 66 turns 80. A strange celebration in a way given the official birth and death dates of Route 66 are 1926 and 1985.

 

Over the last few years I have talked a great deal about the history of Route 66. I have talked about the overall history of the road, about specific places along the road, about the scholarship of Route 66, if Route 66 represented the “frontier” in modern American History, and even how Route 66 might represent (or not) American History in a  microcosm of the whole. In other words, I have spent a bit of time (like many, many others) trying to describe what Route 66 was or is, and what our collective relationship is with that thing called Route 66. In short one thing we know for certain about Route 66, is that over its short history as a highway, it was about change. The road evolved on an almost once a decade level overall, and often more rapidly at the local level. We know Route 66 was an instrument of change to the cities and towns it passed through, and we know that even in the post-decommissioning period that Route 66 remains a fluid entity, attracting people and business back to the old alignments and away from the interstates. Part of the tension in understanding, researching, writing and publishing about Route 66 is the desire to fix Route 66 into a place or time. What I will talk about is the need for folks interested in the road to allow the element of change to keep working. This is where I think we are-

 

The preservation of the past is a noble thing. The past gives us links to the things we draw our culture and ourselves from. Keeping that past alive, honestly alive, helps ground us in the reality of the present. This means that as researchers and enthusiasts, we must be open to new ideas, new information and re-interpretation of data. In talking about  preservation of Route 66, one must acknowledge  that we can trace the early efforts back to the 1950s as businesses in towns along Route 66 began to file lawsuits to keep from being bypassed by one of the interstate highways which replaced Route 66(1). We may have to be open to their motivations at the time. It wasn’t about “preserving” the road as we mean today, rather it was about freezing “progress” so that their businesses and livelihoods would not be disturbed. Today we naturally think of the history of Route 66 preservation efforts taking hold much later during the post-decommissioning period of the 1980s. The efforts of the various historic and preservation groups from that time should not be diminished in any way by this revelation. This is partially because the motivations and ideas behind the effort are different now. If nothing else, time has generally proved that for many small towns, being bypassed has put them into a condition of watching the traffic going by on the interstate without gaining any economic benefit from it, just as they predicted, closing many businesses and altering many livelihoods.

There are three main areas of preservation as it applies to Route 66. First, the various Route 66 Historical societies, clubs, and enthusiasts who have gravitated to the road in the last 3 decades have done a wonderful job of attempting to explain what Route 66 was about and why it is still important today. These groups provided the focus for why the remaining portions of Route 66 need to be signed and physically preserved as Route 66, and not as the local roads Route 66 became after decommissioning and the creation of I-40, and the other interstate highways that replaced 66. One marker of this success might be the existence of the Department of the Interior, National Park Service’s Route 66 Corridor Preservation Program. This program, established in 1999 (and to continue through 2009) was built upon the local efforts of the various Route 66 organizations and continues to work with them today. The program is designed to help preserve the physical environment of Route 66 at the local level by providing cost-share grants for preservation work surrounding buildings, businesses and the road itself. The NPS program also provides grants to support intellectual preservation of the road by supporting oral history projects, research and educational/outreach programs involving the road(2).

The next part of the preservation puzzle revolves around Route 66-themed publications. It is through the many books, articles and websites that America learned about Route 66 in the post-bypass era. The writers of the books were the first wave of authors to write about Route 66 in the past tense. Since 1985, more than two hundred titles have been written on the subject of Route 66. Even generically describing these many titles as being “about Route 66” fails to uncover the diversity in these titles. Some of these works are literally about the road, while others see intersections with other topics (architecture, automobiles, cultures, food, gas stations, motels, restaurants, etc.). The published works on Route 66 fall into 5 major categories: popular works on all or part of Route 66, including photographic works; guide books for the road featuring driving guides, maps, tourist attractions, restaurants, motels, etc.; works of fiction placed along Route 66; scholarly works including research papers, thesis and dissertations; and various federal and state publications. While all of these categories have been represented over the last 20 years, we are seeing an acceleration in the growth of two of the categories: fiction, and scholarly works. Of those two, the scholarly publications are moving out of the realm of just university (or student) publications, and into more mainstream publications(3). To some extent, this probably reflects the real first wave of scholarly research which has used as a foundation the first generation of publications as their launching off point and now is performing more specific research which is leading to a more detailed examination of Route 66 as a topic. The fiction side of the growth also fits nicely here as authors are likely using the first generation publications as resources for placing their subjects on Route 66.

 

Finally, we are also gaining an understanding of the underlying resources these new titles are drawing upon: the primary source materials housed in libraries interested in Route 66 as a collecting area. Many libraries (especially along Route 66) are starting to identify collections of materials (photographic, manuscript, or oral history material) in their possession which touch upon the subject of Route 66. It important to understand that libraries and archives are not suddenly going out and acquiring new material to support research into Route 66, but rather they are scanning the collections they have to see what might apply to Route 66. This is a truly significant awakening. Libraries have had this material all along, but they are just now realizing that this material is about Route 66. One such library is the Cline Library at Northern Arizona University. Not only is the library working to identify Route 66 related images in their collection, they are digitizing the material and making it available via the web(4). The Cline Library Colorado Plateau Digital Archives is not unique- there are other archival institutions placing digital content on the Web-but when it comes to Route 66 however, they are likely among the first institutions to explore creating access to primary source materials in this way.

 

On the face of it all, this development seems quite logical. But it is illustrative to remember that as recently as 1989, scholars were saying that at some point Route 66 would become a viable research topic, but at that time, Route 66 was relegated to the realm of popular culture. In other words, Route 66 was a significant topic, but not one for a student to build an academic career around. Today, we are seeing whole classes performing research based upon some aspect of Route 66.

 

Part of what is allowing all of this to occur is a greater understanding of how people relate to Route 66. A recent conversation I had with a friend in a local car club helped illustrate how different people relate themselves and their interests to Route 66. He said in relation to the recent Route 66 festival held in Albuquerque “you know, not everyone who is into Route 66 is also into cars, and not everyone into cars is in to Route 66” by way of explaining why it is difficult to assimilate these groups at events. Following his line of reasoning helps explain a number of mysteries-

 

 

What this means is that as we develop collections for researchers, programs of study, or even civic festivals in honor of Route 66 that we must take into account those who are the Route 66 enthusiasts, we have to help those whose interests lie adjacent to Route 66 see the linkages between their interests and Route 66, and finally, we need to clearly articulate what it is about Route 66 anyone might need to know and understand so that even if they are not Route 66 enthusiasts, they can understand why we are.

 

 

Footnotes:

 

1. While only casual legal research was done on my part, it is easy to locate lawsuits by individuals who were suing over loss of access to the interstate highways which replaced Route 66. Two such examples are: State Of Missouri, ex rel. State Highway Commission Of Missouri, Respondent, vs. Robert R. Johnson, et al., on Exceptions of Robert R. Johnson, Anne Johnson, R. Charles Johnson and Eliza Johnson, Appellants. No. 51025, Supreme Court of Missouri Division 2, 392 S.W.2d 251; 1965, or: STATE of New Mexico ex rel. STATE HIGHWAY COMMISSION of New Mexico, Plaintiff-Appellant, v. Woodrow Wilson BROCK, Charleen P. Brock, John J. Radosevich, Ann Radosevich, First State Bank and the Merchants Bank of Gallup, Defendants-Appellees. No. 8094,
Supreme Court of New Mexico, 80 N.M. 80. Both of these cases deal with the change in access to the highway. Route 66 in its early versions was a full access highway meaning that any and every property owner whose property fronted on the road could have a driveway for access. With the advent of the interstate highway came the limited access concept. Access to adjacent properties became strictly defined, and property location along the right-of-way did not automatically provide access.

 

2. This side of the NPS initiative has supported oral history workshops, and even production of Route 66 : a celebration of America's main street, Northern Arizona University Department of Theatre  written and directed by Mac Groves among other efforts.

 

3. Two recent titles as examples that come to mind are: Arthur Krims’ Route 66 : Iconography of the American Highway, Center for American Places 2006, and Lisa Mehr’s American Signs: Form and Meaning on Route 66, Monacelli, 2002. Mentioning just two titles really is a disservice however- there are many recent works dealing with corridor management along Route 66, repeat photography of places along Route 66 and others who are beginning to add real depth to the Route 66 knowledge base begun in earnest only twenty years ago.

 

4. Go to: http://www.nau.edu/library/speccoll/index.html and search Route 66. There are now approximately 1,000 images, historic and contemporary covering New Mexico, Arizona and California.

SE 7/10/06