"Telling 'The Epic Story Of The Chinese Who Built The Transcontinental Railroad'"

"Telling 'The Epic Story Of The Chinese Who Built The Transcontinental Railroad'" by Meghna Chakrabarti, © wamu.org, May 7, 2019. (Audio interviews)

On Point, NPR Podcast

"Guests

Gordon H. Chang, author of Ghosts of Gold Mountain: The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad. Co-director of the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project. Professor of American history at Stanford University. Director of the Center for East Asian Studies. (@Stanford)

Lisa See, great-great granddaughter of Fong Dun Shung, who worked on the transcontinental railroad as an herbalist. Author of On Gold Mountain: The One-Hundred-Year Odyssey of My Chinese-American Family. Participated in the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America oral history project. (@Lisa_See)" [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

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Also see,

The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad
by Gordon H. Chang amd Shelley Fisher Fishkin (Editors)

"Building the Transcontinental Railroad: Stanford historian's book shines light on Chinese workers in California ... "

"Building the Transcontinental Railroad: Stanford historian's book shines light on Chinese workers in California ... " by Erin Baldassari, © The Mercury News, May 6, 2019. (News Article)

" ... Now, in preparation for the 150th anniversary of the completion of the historic railroad, a new book by Stanford professor Gordon H. Chang, Ghosts of Gold Mountain, takes one of the most comprehensive looks to date at Chinese railroad workers' lives during that time, pulling from extensive public and private archives, oral histories, and other sources. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

Two plays put Chinese American workers center stage in Golden Spike 150 celebration

"Two plays put Chinese American workers center stage in Golden Spike 150 celebration" by Kaitlin Hoelzer, © Deseret News, May 5, 2019. (News Article)

" ... Richard Chang and David Henry Hwang, two Asian American playwrights, are now giving Utah theatergoers the chance to learn the history that they didn't learn growing up. Chang's work Citizen Wong and Hwang's play The Dance and the Railroad are being featured as part of Utah's Golden Spike 150 celebration, which commemorates the 150th anniversary of the transcontinental railroad's completion. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

"Transcontinental Railroad artifacts set to display together for first time in Utah"

"Transcontinental Railroad artifacts set to display together for first time in Utah" by Hunter Geisel, © kutv.com, May 4th 2019. (News Article)

" ... For the first time, seven significant artifacts from Transcontinental Railroad will be on display together in one place as part of Utah's 150th anniversary of the driving of the Golden Spike ... From May 3 to June 24, people can go to the State Capitol's "peoples' house" to see the free exhibit that showcases the seven artifacts from the Transcontinental Railroad. In the State Capitol's Gold Room, visitors can see the Hewes Gold, Nevada and Arizona Spikes, which were the last three out of four spikes used in the completion of the railroad at Promontory Point on May 10, 1869. Visitors will also see Central Pacific Railroad's former President Leland Stanford's ceremonial mallet, which was used to drive in the spikes, an inscribed piece of the last iron rail installed at Promontory Summit and the 1862 Pacific Railway Act signed by then President Abraham Lincoln. A model 1866 Lever Action Winchester Rifle owned and used by Union Pacific Chief Engineer Grenville Dodge will also be on display. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

"Chinese workers’ role in US history ignored for decades, but not anymore"

"Chinese workers’ role in US history ignored for decades, but not anymore" by Carl Nolte, © San Francisco Chronicle, May 4, 2019. (News Article)

" ... When the nation celebrated the 100th anniversary of the railroad in 1969, John Volpe, transportation secretary under President Richard Nixon, gave the keynote address.

"Who else but Americans could drill 10 tunnels in mountains 30 feet deep in snow?" Volpe said. "Who else but Americans could drill through miles of solid granite? Who else but Americans could have laid 10 miles of track in 12 hours?"

As Volpe spoke, Philip Choy, then chairman of the Chinese Historical Society of America, sat in stunned silence. He couldn’t believe what he was hearing. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

"The meaning of the Transcontinental Railroad"

"The meaning of the Transcontinental Railroad" by Bill Oudegeest, © Sierra Sun, May 3, 2019. (News Article)

" ... TRIUMPHANT COMPLETION ... now that the mass of our people can stop to reflect upon the Grand results which has caused such vast rejoicings over the State within the past week, we shall all begin to see and feel the full value of our State, to Our Country, and to the World, the boundless good which has been achieved for us all by the Grand, Triumphant and Gloriously successful COMPLETION OF THE PACIFIC RAILROAD. (California Farmer and Journal of Useful Sciences, May 13, 1869) ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

"150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad is May 10"

"Flashback Friday: 150th anniversary of the Transcontinental Railroad is May 10" by Scott Mall , © freightwaves.com, May 3, 2019. (News Article)

" ... before the transcontinental railroad was completed, a journey across the continent to the western states meant a dangerous six-month trek over rivers, deserts and mountains. Alternatively, a traveler had the option to hazard a six-week sea voyage around Cape Horn, or sail to Central America and cross the Isthmus of Panama by rail, risking exposure to any number of deadly diseases in the crossing. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

"Celebrating Chinese American's contribution to the Golden Spike Railroad"

"Celebrating Chinese American's contribution to the Golden Spike Railroad" by Marquee Mclain, © abc4.com, Salt Lake City, Utah, May 01, 2019. (News Article)

" ... Michael Kwan and Margaret Yee from the Chinese Railroad Workers Descendants Association joined ABC4 at 4 p.m. to talk about how they're working to make sure their ancestors are recognized. ... The 2019 Golden Spike Conference will tell that story. The conference is bringing many of the world's leading experts to share what we know about the Chinese who lived, worked and sometimes, died while working on the Central Pacific Railroad and what happened to them after the railroad's completion. ... The event is May 8-11, 2019, at the Salt Lake Marriott Downtown City Creek hotel. For more information, visit www.goldenspike150.org." [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

"A hike along a record-breaking 10 miles of track of the first transcontinental railroad"

"A hike along a record-breaking 10 miles of track of the first transcontinental railroad" by Agnes Constante, © nbcnews.com, May 2, 2019. (News Article)

" ... for Jack Shu’s 67th birthday, he decided he wanted to go on a 10-mile hike in northern Utah. ... On April 28, 1869, a team of Irish and Chinese immigrant workers laid down a record-breaking 10 miles and 56 feet of railroad track on America's first transcontinental railroad, which connected the country from east to west. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

Nevada State Railroad Museum "Lecture details Transcontinental Railroad’s effect on average citizens"

"Lecture details Transcontinental Railroad’s effect on average citizens", © Nevada Appeal, Carson City, April 30, 2019. (News Article)

" ... events leading up to the opening of the Nevada State Railroad Museum’s new exhibit, The Transcontinental Railroad: What a Difference It Made.

Railroad Museum director Dan Thielen will give the lecture at 6 p.m. Thursday at the museum, 2180 S. Carson St. The event starts at 6 p.m. ... Thursday, May 9, 2019 ... Thielen will discuss a number of ways the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad affected everyone, including significant changes in communications, food, lifestyle and travel.

Upcoming events at the Railroad Museum include:

Rust, Splinters and Woodpeckers – The New Exhibit at the Nevada State Railroad Museum

When: 6 p.m., May 9, 2019

Where: Nevada State Railroad Museum, Carson City

Presenter: Wendell Huffman, Curator of History, Nevada State Railroad Museum

Event description: A discussion of the new exhibit on the transcontinental railroad and the role artifacts in the Nevada State Railroad Museum’s collection played in it.

Reenactment of the laying of the Gold and Silver Spikes

When: Noon, May 10, 2019

Where: Nevada State Railroad Museum, Carson City

Event description: A recreation of the scene at Promontory Summit when the transcontinental railroad was connected. The museum’s locomotives Inyo and Dayton will reprise their roles in the anniversary of the historic date." [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

"Golden Spike celebrations across Utah have taken years of preparation, planning"

"Golden Spike celebrations across Utah have taken years of preparation, planning" by ANNA BURLESON, © the Standard-Examiner, April 28, 2019. (News Article)

" ... The massive celebration scheduled for the first part of May 2019 actually began two years prior when Doug Foxley approached the governor’s office and several legislators with the aim of throwing the biggest party Utah had ever seen. ... " [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

"Scholar's search for Chinese railroad workers' history leads to East Coast railways"

"Scholar's search for Chinese railroad workers' history leads to East Coast railways" by Chris Fuchs, © nbcnews.com, April 26, 2019. (News Article)

" ... In the two decades following the 1869 completion of the first transcontinental railroad ... Chinese railroad workers fanned out across the country to help build, maintain and repair at least 71 other rail lines. ... said Stanford University professor Shelley Fisher Fishkin, who uncovered this piece of history and wrote about it in the forthcoming book, The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad." [More]

[Courtesy Google Alerts.]

The Great National Project

From: "William Reese Co." amorder@reeseco.com

Our new illustrated e-list, The Great National Project: The Development and Impact of the Transcontinental Railroad, consisting of 53 items.

William Reese Company
Rare Books & Manuscripts
ABAA - ILAB
409 Temple Street
New Haven, CT 06511 USA
phone: 203-789-8081 fax: 203-865-7653
www.williamreesecompany.com