Golden Spike Centennial scrapbooks
Collection
Identifier: ACCN 0441
Scope and Contents
The Golden Spike Centennial scrapbooks (1969) document the celebration of the linking of the Transcontinental Railroad. The celebration took place at Promontory Summit in Utah.
Dates
- 1969
Creator
- Mazer, Nathan (Person)
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
Conditions Governing Access
Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.
Conditions Governing Use
The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.
History
The driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Summit in Northern Utah marked the completion of a railroad that spanned the continental United States. After the driving of the Golden Spike (which was soon replaced by a real railroad spike), the junction between the two railroads, the Union Pacific and the Central Pacific, soon moved to Ogden. Very quickly, the Promontory Summit site fell into obscurity. This obscurity turned into confusion in 1904 when Central Pacific's successor, Southern Pacific, built a shorter route across the Great Salt Lake which crossed Promontory Point- thirty-seven miles south of where the railroads joined. A confusion of where the railroads joined has persisted ever since as many textbooks refer to the driving of the Golden Spike at Promontory Point. The site reached its lowest point when the demand for steel during World War II caused the unused rails to be pulled up and scrapped. A movement to restore the site began as early as the 1920s when area resident Bernice Gibbs Anderson sought to have a national monument established at Promontory Summit. It was not until the 1950s that her efforts were taken seriously and after several years of disagreement and opposition, a historic site was established in 1965. Four years later, a grand centennial celebration was held at the site and two historic steam engines were borrowed from the east to give an authentic feel. 1969 demonstrated Promontory Summit's emergence from obscurity and its beginning as an important historical site for railroads. In 1979, two replicas of the original engines that met at Promontory Summit were shipped to the site. A small distance of track allows the two engines to back up and re-enact the events of 1869. A visitor center has also been built and offers exhibits and films.
Extent
4 Box (10 linear feet)
Abstract
The Golden Spike Centennial scrapbooks (1969) contain clippings regarding the celebration of the centennial of the 1869 completion of the transcontinental railroad at Promontory, Utah.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Gift of Nathan H. Mazer in 1974.
Processing Information
Processed by Mark Jensen in 1996.
Creator
- Mazer, Nathan (Person)
- Title
- Inventory of the Golden Spike Centennial scrapbooks, 1969
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Mark Jensen
- Date
- © 1996 (last modified: 2018)
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid encoded in English in Latin script.
Repository Details
Part of the J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections Repository
Contact:
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
801-581-8863
special@library.utah.edu
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
801-581-8863
special@library.utah.edu