Who Killed Jane Stanford?

This program will be presented both in-person and online. The online access information was emailed to registered attendees on May 15. For new registrations, the access information is included in the registration confirmation email.

If you cannot attend and you are an SHS member, please register and we will send you the link to the recording.

The program will be preceded by the Stanford Historical Society Annual Members' Meeting.

Full Schedule (Pacific Time):

• 4:15 - 4:30 p.m. | SHS Annual Members' Meeting *Non-members are welcome to attend the meeting.
• 4:30 - 6:00 p.m. | Who Killed Jane Stanford?
• Reception to follow

Jane Stanford, the wife of Leland Stanford and one of the richest women in California, was the co-founder of Leland Stanford Jr. University, which was a monument to their dead son. In 1905 she ingested strychnine twice within six weeks. The second dose at the Moana Hotel in Hawaii, where she had gone to flee her murderer, killed her.

In his talk, Richard White, author and the Margaret Byrne Professor of American History, Emeritus, will discuss the reasons why so many people had a reason to kill Jane Stanford, how Gilded Age Stanford and San Francisco allowed the investigation of the murder to be dropped, and why the murder was covered up.

Copies of Professor White's book, Who Killed Jane Stanford?,will be available for purchase at the event.