In that great documentary "Crumb" cartoonist Robert Crumb shows his notebooks in which he keeps pictures of all sorts of mundane infrastructure that he incorporates into his drawings.
It's really effective in this sequence "A Short History of America":
It's really effective in this sequence "A Short History of America":
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IFVUHg_tUc
That one always gets me...