American Freedom Train Tours Georgia (1976)

A rumbling red-white-and-blue museum on steel wheels, the American Freedom Train toured all 48 of the contiguous states in America in 1976, the year of the Bicentennial. This classic photograph, author unknown, captures the steam locomotive in May of ’76 as it makes its way to Columbus and Atlanta. The ten display cars carried a trove of hundreds of pieces of rare Americana for viewing, including George Washington’s copy of the Constitution, Dorothy’s dress from the Wizard of Oz and a moon rock. Some home-movie footage of the Wisconsin leg of the trip: