After a brief delay, the travelling exhibit from the Union Pacific Railroad Museum, “Hidden Histories of the Transcontinental Railroad,” will be available October 19 through November 4, 2022.
Most of the past is hidden. Countless individual and group perspectives have been excluded from the historical record both deliberately and accidentally. There are stories and perspectives from the past that we can never know and yet people are uncovering hidden histories every day, not always by discovering long lost documents and artifacts. Sometimes all it takes is asking new questions and looking at old sources from fresh perspectives. “Hidden Histories” explores the seldom heard stories of railroad industry workers on the way to Promontory Point and the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, challenging everyone to examine the hidden histories in their own lives.
Thousands of Chinese and Native Americans worked for Central Pacific as they created the railway east. To efficiently manage the sheer volume of men, materials and supplies, the Casement brothers created the “City on Wheels.” The rail cars were pushed along the tracks by a locomotive, each providing an essential function – sleeping berths, dining cars, kitchens, and all needed materials providing an always moving camp for the workers whose stories are now being told.
Golemon Library is at 1100 College Circle, Ranger Texas. The exhibition will be available at no charge to the public from October 19 through November 4. The display will be available during all regular library hours: Monday – Thursday 8:00 AM to 9:30 PM, Friday 8:00 AM to 1:00 PM, and Sunday 4:30 PM to 9:30 PM. For more information or to arrange group visits, contact Helen Cozart, Assistant Librarian, at 254-267-7022 or hcozart@rangercollege.edu or visit our webpage. Admission is always free.
To get to Ranger College, take Interstate 20 Exit 349 (at the Love’s). Head North one mile. Ranger College is on the right. Golemon Library is half-way around the loop.
This exhibit is funded by Humanities Texas, the state affiliate of the National Endowment for the Humanities.
About Union Pacific Railroad Museum
The Union Pacific Railroad Museum is housed in a historic Carnegie Library building in Council Bluffs, Iowa, where visitors will discover an extensive compilation of artifacts, photographs, documents, and equipment from more than 150 years of our nation’s most ambitious endeavors – including constructing the transcontinental railroad and settling the West. The Union Pacific Railroad Museum’s mission is to promote a sense of connectedness that’s shared by generations of people whose personal and family histories have been touched by the railroad. For more information on Union Pacific exhibits, visit www.uprrmuseum.org or call 712-329-8307.
