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Shirley Burman Steinheimer

Shirley Burman Steinheimer by Dick Steinheimer

Shirley Burman Steinheimer received the 2012 Fred A. and Jane R. Stindt Photography Award for her “accomplishments as a railroad photographer, especially the documentation of women’s contributions to railroading.”

Burman Steinheimer and her late husband, Richard Steinheimer (1929-2011), worked together on many railroad photography projects, mostly in the western United States, from the time they were married in 1984 until shortly after he was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in 2000. She cared for him in their Sacramento, California, home for 11 years. During this time, she worked to organize his tremendous collection of photographs, negatives and prepared captions for many of them and continues today.

Her research and writing about railroad women’s history is underway again and was only put aside while Steinheimer was ill. However, during this time she was able to use her photography and research in several projects for Railroad Heritage magazine and web postings with Trains magazine and was contributor to the Encyclopedia of North American Railroads. Her exhibits have traveled throughout the United States since 1991.

At the Center for Railroad Photography & Art’s 2012 conference, Burman Steinheimer shared their photographs and discussed their travels together on California’s Donner Pass. She also judged the center’s 2012 awards program with the theme, “Railroading, inspired by Steinheimer.”

The announcement appeared in Railroad History, Fall-Winter 2012.