On May 9, a new special exhibit opens, Positively Third Street!, chronicling how transit helped build the southeast side of San Francisco, going all the way back to the 1860s. Thanks to great support from the San Francisco Public Library and the initiative of volunteer Grant Ute, co-leader of the important San Francisco Railway Archive project, the show will include some wonderful images from the collection of the late Jerry Graham. Last chance to catch the Vehicles of Recovery exhibit showing how transit helped rebuild San Francisco in the wake of the 1906 earthquake and fire.

We’re also preparing to install a second touch-screen video panel in the museum to allow display of more vintage movie clips, rare still photos, and information about Muni’s historic fleet. Later in the summer, an exhibition commemorating the 50th anniversary of the Powell-Hyde cable line will go up at the museum.

We are also starting to install artifacts just donated to Market Street Railway by Brian Adler, son of the late Jim Adler, a charter member of Market Street Railway. Some of these artifacts came from the estate of Charles Smallwood, longtime employee of our namesake, and then of Muni, and the man who literally wrote the book on Market Street Railway Company, The White Front Cars of San Francisco. One special treasure from Charlie already on display at the museum: a daily operations log from the 29th & Mission car barn of the old United Railroads. It’s opened to the entry for April 18, 1906 (see pictures below), documenting the devastation of the earthquake on the city. Thanks so much to Brian for his most generous gift to us.

Market Street Railway director Stephen Sutro continues the generous donation of his architectural skills to us by designing additional fixtures for the museum to provide more display space. As we have gained experience in operations and listened to what our visitors want to see, we have refined the museum contents considerably, a process we expect to continue. If you haven’t been by for a few months—or haven’t visited at all yet—you’ll want to come see what we’re doing. The museum is at the F-line Steuart Street stop between Market and Mission, across from the Ferry Building in the Hotel Vitale building. Hours are Wednesday through Sunday from 10am-6pm.

MSR members will certainly want to come by for our special members-only reception on May 16 from 4-6pm, just before our annual meeting.