Art and Culture
Exhibit highlights construction of transcontinental railroad
Andrew J. Russell (American, 1830-1902), East and West Shaking Hands at Laying Last Rail, 1869, albumen print. The ceremony spotlighted Union Pacific locomotive No.
119 meeting Central Pacific locomotive Jupiter. From left, shaking hands, are Samuel S. Montague, chief engineer of the Central Pacific Railroad, and General Grenville M. Dodge, chief engineer of the Union Pacific Railroad. (Photo: Union Pacific Railroad Museum)
OMAHA, Neb. — A new exhibit of photographs and other artifacts has been assembled to celebrate the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
The exhibit featuring images from Union Pacific’s collection will debut in Omaha this fall before moving to museums in Utah and California next year.
When the exhibit is displayed at the Joslyn Art Museum from Oct. 6 through Jan. 6, all three commemorative railroad spikes that marked completion of the transcontinental railroad will be displayed.
The exhibit will then travel to the Utah Museum of Fine Arts in Salt Lake City. It will be displayed there next year from Feb. 1 to May 26.
The final planned display will be at the Crocker Art Museum in Sacramento, California next June 23 through Sept. 29.
