AMONG THE MOST SUCCESSFUL PROFESSIONAL relationships of the first half of the twentieth century was the legendary association between the Standard Railroad of the World and the world’s best-known industrial-design firm, Raymond Loewy Associates. For two decades the mighty Pennsylvania Railroad and the dazzling Loewy organization collaborated on a set of images and objects that came to symbolize the Machine Age. Each organization proudly called public attention to its ties with the other. To many, this affiliation exemplified the immense potential for design in American industry, the ultimate merger of form and function.

Beneath the surface of that productive and symbiotic alliance, however, lay a troubled and intricate union of two very different cultures. Each had a strong and sincere system of values and a distinct world view, and each had its own idea of the proper role of a design consulting firm. The result was a fitful and constrained relationship that illustrated the difficulties of achieving a smooth fit for design within the corporation. The Pennsylvania’s hidebound railroad men saw the designers’ work as mere cosmetic frills, while Loewy and his associates saw themselves as an integral part of the railroad’s operations. The Pennsy-Loewy drama would be played out many times in other settings throughout the twentieth century, as the two cultures struggled to be of value to each other and to the larger society around them.

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