150th Gold Spike Celebration, 2019
On May 10, 1869, Leland Stanford participated in the ceremonial driving of the last railroad spike, a gold spike, that made the U.S. Transcontinental Railroad possible. The Stanford Historical Society examined this legacy in a year-long celebration of the 150th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. In addition to a film series, an event at the Stanford Mansion in Sacramento, a talk on the building of the railroad, and a presentation on the history of the American West, the society sponsored The Transcontinental Railroad Symposium on April 6, 2019.
Symposium Recordings
The Big Four
Richard White, Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Stanford
Impacting Cultures: The Chinese and Native Americans
Hilton Obenzinger, Associate Director, Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University
C. Matthew Snipp, Senior Associate Vice Provost of Faculty Development and Diversity; Burnet C. and Mildred Finley Wohlford Professor in the School of Humanities and Sciences, Stanford
Celestial Railroad Revisited: The Railroad in 19th Century American History and Culture
James Campbell, Edgar E. Robinson Professor in United States History, Stanford
Stanford University’s Railroad Legacy
Laura Jones, Director, Heritage Services and University Archaeologist, Stanford
News
Construction as Conquest: An Interview with Native American Historian Alessandra Link. Daily Nonpareil 08/14/2019
Utah Tech Firm Changes Transcontinental Railroad Photos into AR Game. KJZZ.com 08/06/2019
Video: Building the Transcontinental Railroad. CBS Sunday Morning 06/16/2019
Men of Iron and the Golden Spike. Stanford Live 06/12/2019
Citizens of Nevada town honored for Chinese reburial. elkodaily.com 05/29/2019
Chinese Railroad Workers Were Almost Written Out of History. Now They’re Getting Their Due. New York Times 05/14/2019
Remembering the migrants who built the transcontinental railroad 150 years ago. CNN 05/11/2019
All the stories, photos from Utah's 150th anniversary celebration of the transcontinental railroad. Ogden Standard-Examiner 05/10/2019
The Last Remaining Rail Car that ‘Witnessed’ the Transcontinental Railroad’s Momentous Day. Smithsonian.com 05/09/2019
First Transcontinental Railroad and Stanford forever linked. Stanford Report 05/09/2019
Multimedia
Photos: Scenes from the Golden Spike Sesquicentennial Celebration and festival at Promontory Summit. Ogden Standard-Examiner 05/11/2019
Photos: 150 years ago, America was United by Train. Bloomberg. 05/09/2019
Stanford Libraries Transcontinental Railroad Exhibit (photos, oral histories, maps, survey, payroll records, and more). University Archives and Special Collections.
ARTEFFECTS: Reno Philharmonic commissions work for 150th anniversary of completion of the Transcontinental Railroad (video). KNPB. 2/16/2018
Transcontinental Railroad marks 150th anniversary (audio). Capital Public Radio. 2/09/2018