It gives me great pleasure to introduce Andrea (pronounced An-Drey-Yah) Renner, our new Assistant Rare Map Librarian, who actually started on March 9, 2020, one day before we were all sent packing to our homes due to COVID-19 and the soon to follow shelter-in-place order.
Stop! What you are about to read is good stuff but if you also register for GISDay@Stanford 2019, it will be even better.
Please note that registration is currently restricted to Stanford affiliates. If you would like to attend but are not a Stanford affiliate, please add yourself to the waiting list and we will release unclaimed tickets the week before the event.
Dads taking the scenic route, singing aloud (really loud) with your favorite songs, racing to beat your older sister at collecting all the letters of the alphabet from road signs, moms taking pictures, a favorite pillow forgotten at the motel, brothers silently poking you in the backseat, or the best BLT in the world from a small town diner.
Friday, May 10th, marks the sesquicentennial of the Golden Spike, the ceremonial completion of the first transcontinental railroad. In honor of the occasion, curators Eitan Kensky, Kathleen Smith, and Ben Stone are organizing an Open House in Green Library from 11:00am to 3:00pm. In addition to material documenting the American transcontinental railroad and railroads in the United States, this event highlights stories of other significant trains and transportation networks around the world.
The completion of the transcontinental railroad on May 10, 1869 marked an important milestone in the history of the United States with the joining of the populated east with the growing cities and towns of the west. Stanford University, with its connection to Leland Stanford and Timothy Hopkins, holds in its libraries an impressive array of materials related to this monumental achievement including the often overlooked contributions of the Chinese railroad workers.
