Collection Guide
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Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford
Research Files
SC1579
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Table of contents
Language of Material:
English
Contributing Institution:
Department of Special Collections and University Archives
Title: Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford Research
Files
Creator:
Chang, Gordon H.
Creator:
Fishkin, Shelley Fisher
Creator:
Obenzinger, Hilton
Creator:
Hsu, Roland
Creator:
Steiner, Erik
Creator:
Voss, Barbara
Creator:
Fong, Barre
Creator:
Yu, Connie Y.
Creator:
Hessel, Teri
Creator:
Hsu, Kevin
Creator:
Hu-Dehart, Evelyn
Creator:
Shao, Dongfang
Identifier/Call Number: SC1579
Physical Description:
6 Linear Feet
Date (inclusive): 2011-2019
Physical Location: Special Collections and University
Archives materials are stored offsite and must be paged 48 hours in advance. For more
information on paging collections, see the department's website:
http://library.stanford.edu/spc.
While University Archives is the owner of the physical and/or digital items, permission to
examine collection materials is not an authorization to publish. These materials are made
available for use in research, teaching, and private study. Any transmission or reproduction
beyond that allowed by fair use requires permission from the owners of rights, heir(s) or
assigns.
[identification of item] Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford
University Research Files (SC1579). Dept. of Special Collections and University Archives,
Stanford University Libraries, Stanford, Calif.
Materials are open for research use.
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Administrative transfer, 2021.
The Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford began in 2012 as the
first comprehensive effort to recover and interpret the work of the Chinese railroad workers
who built the first transcontinental railroad across the United States and other rail lines
throughout North America in the 1860s, with the objective of recapturing the lived
experience of the Chinese workers themselves. This endeavor to locate and examine primary
source materials ended on September 1, 2020, and was a multi-faceted collaboration from over
one hundred scholars in North America and Asia who represented a variety of disciplines
ranging from history to archaeology, American studies, cultural and literary studies, and
heritage studies, becoming the largest effort to study nineteenth-century Chinese American
history to date.
The Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford was originally convened
by Gordon H. Chang, Shelley Fishkin, and the following individuals:
Evelyn Hu-Dehart, Professor of History and Ethnic Studies, and Director, Center for the
Study of Race and Ethnicity in America at Brown University; and Dongfang Shao, Chief of the
Asian Division at the U.S. Library of Congress.
The Project Team consisted of the following members:
Gordon H. Chang, Co-Director Professor of History, Olive H. Palmer Professor in Humanities,
Stanford University
Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Co-Director Joseph S. Atha Professor of Humanities, Professor of
English, and Director of American Studies, Stanford University
Hilton Obenzinger, Associate Director Lecturer, American Studies and English, Stanford
University
Roland Hsu, Director of Research
Erik Steiner, Digital Media Creative Director Co-Director, Spatial History Project, Center
for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA), Stanford University
Barbara Voss, Director of Archaeology Associate Professor, Department of Anthropology,
Stanford University
Barre Fong, Independent Filmmaker and Graphic Designer
Connie Young Yu, Independent Scholar
Teri Hessel, Project Researcher
Kevin Hsu, Digital Media Researcher
The Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford yielded numerous research
publications, including The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental
Railroad edited by Gordon H. Chang and Shelley Fisher Fishkin, and Ghosts of Gold Mountain:
The Epic Story of the Chinese Who Built the Transcontinental Railroad by Gordon H. Chang.
The project also developed resources such as: oral histories from the descendents of the
railroad workers, an exhaustive bibliography of more than 850 references to a wide range of
primary- and secondary- source materials, a digital repository and online exhibit featuring
archival and research materials, and educational resources for K-12 teachers.
This collection contains the research files for The Chinese Railroad Workers in North
America Project at Stanford University. Included are the following: email correspondence,
flyers, pamphlets, brochures, images, book chapter and essay drafts, National Endowment for
the Humanities grant materials, exhibit and event information, participant lists and
resumes, and letters.
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Chinese -- California -- San Francisco.
Stanford University -- Faculty.
Railroads -- California.
Railroads -- San Francisco -- History
Immigrants -- U.S.
Railroad construction workers
Central Pacific Railroad Company