Tuesday, March 13, 2012

Railroad exhibit coming to the Huntington April 21

Drawing on the unparalleled manuscripts collection on the topic held by The Huntington Library, Art Collections, and Botanical Gardens, a major exhibition opening in April will illuminate the remarkable changes wrought in the United States by the planning, construction, and completion of the transcontinental railroad. “Visions of Empire: The Quest for a Railroad Across America, 1840–1880” coincides with the 150th anniversary of the 1862 Pacific Railroad Act, which led to the rail connection between the Missouri River and the Pacific Ocean. The exhibition will feature some 200 items, the vast majority from The Huntington—including maps, photographs, illustrations, newspapers, magazines, letters, and diaries, most of which have never before been on public display. It will be on view April 21 through July 23 in the MaryLou and George Boone Gallery.

“‘Visions of Empire’ will be our first large-scale effort to share with the public The Huntington’s trove of materials relating to the history of the American railroad,” said David Zeidberg, Avery Director of the Library. “With his purchase of a few major collections early in the 20th century, Henry Huntington brought together hundreds upon hundreds of the most significant books and pamphlets on the trans-Mississippi West. Those materials, combined with the scores of invaluable manuscript, photographic, and ephemera collections on the West acquired over the succeeding decades, form a massive foundation for what we hope will be an extraordinary exhibition.”

Peter Blodgett, H. Russell Smith Foundation Curator of Western Historical Manuscripts at The Huntington and curator of the exhibition, has chosen to tell a couple of stories. “As much as the exhibition will cover the technological marvels, engineering feats, and entrepreneurial audacity of the railroad age, it also tells the story of how the vision of American continental expansion evolved through a range of historical contexts—from the age of Andrew Jackson through the Gold Rush, Civil War, and Gilded Age of the late 19th century,” says Blodgett.

Beginning with the handful of passionate and obstinate dreamers before the Civil War who first imagined a railroad stretching to the Pacific Ocean, “Visions of Empire” portrays the drive to move westward in the face of unrelenting geographic obstacles.

Structured chronologically, the exhibition consists of six sections, beginning with a prologue called “Early Visions (and Visionaries), 1830­–50.” From there, visitors will follow the narrative through four major sections: “Charting the Course, 1850–62”; “Launching the Enterprise, 1862–65”; “Spanning the Continent, 1865–69”; and “Creating a New Country, 1869–80.” An epilogue will take visitors to the cusp of the 20th century: “Iron Horse America, 1880–93.”

While the development of California and the West provided the allure for a transcontinental railroad, “Visions of Empire” tells an even broader, national story—one tied to the railroad’s place in American aspirations to dominate international trade and commerce with Asia, in the evolving role of the federal government in the life of the nation, and in the efforts to preserve the Union during the American Civil War.

“Visions of Empire” depicts the monumental challenges faced by this great enterprise, as captured in survey reports, engineering sketches, treaties with Indians, photographs and engravings of toiling construction crews, and correspondence highlighting the triumphs and travails of the so-called Big Four—Mark Hopkins, Charles Crocker, Leland Stanford, and Collis P. Huntington (uncle to Henry E. Huntington, founder of The Huntington).



Visitor Information

The Huntington is located at 1151 Oxford Rd., San Marino, Calif., 12 miles from downtown Los Angeles. It is open to the public Monday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from noon to 4:30 p.m.; and Saturday, Sunday, and Monday holidays from 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Summer hours (Memorial Day through Labor Day) are 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. Closed Tuesdays and major holidays. Admission on weekdays: $15 adults, $12 seniors (65+), $10 students (ages 12–18 or with fulltime student I.D.), $6 youth (ages 5–11), free for children under 5. Group rate $11 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. Admission on weekends and Monday holidays: $20 adults, $15 seniors, $10 students, $6 youth, free for children under 5. Group rate $14 per person for groups of 15 or more. Members are admitted free. Admission is free to all visitors on the first Thursday of each month with advance tickets. Information: 626-405-2100 or www.huntington.org

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