Collection context
Summary
- Creators:
- Aitken, Harry C.
- Abstract:
- This collection contains 32 telegrams addressed to Central Pacific Railroad President and California Governor Leland Stanford between 1868 to 1869, expense bills and bills of lading from material shipped from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Francisco during the 1870s, early tickets along the route and guide books to the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads collected by Harry C. Aitken, Jr.
- Extent:
- .17 Linear Feet 1 manuscript half-box
- Language:
- English .
- Preferred citation:
-
Identification of item], Harry C. Aitken, Jr. Transcontinental Railroad Collection, MS 887, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
This collection contains 32 telegrams addressed to Central Pacific Railroad President and California Governor Leland Stanford between 1868 to 1869, expense bills and bills of lading from material shipped from Council Bluffs, Iowa to San Francisco during the 1870s, early tickets along the route and guide books to the Central Pacific and Union Pacific railroads collected by Harry C. Aitken, Jr.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Harry C. Aitken Jr. was born on August 11, 1931 in Berkeley, California. After attending grammar and high school in Berkeley and completing one year of study at the University of California, he graduated from Stanford University in 1953.
While at Stanford, Mr. Aitken completed ROTC training and when he graduated, he served as Lt. (JR) Communications Officer aboard the USS Kenneth Whiting in the Pacific. He continued his maritime career as a Junior Purser on American President and Matson Navigation Lines.
Following his maritime service, Mr. Aiken was a tour director for Travelworld, Inc. of Los Angeles. He also worked in Grahame Hardy's railroad bookstore and was a copy editor for Howell-North books in Berkeley. He also drove buses.
A charter member of the Bay Area Railroad Association, Mr. Aitken was the photo archivist for its Western Railway Museum in Rio Vista, California, where he organized over 150,000 images. He was co-author of NAPA VALLEY ROUTE: ELECTRIC TRAINS AND STEAMERS (Interurban Press Special No. 47, 1975). His final project was editing and revising the late Vernon Sapper's unfinished manuscript which was published in 2007 as KEY SYTEM STREETCARS.
The Western Railway Museum honored his contributions by naming their photograph archives the Harry C. Aitken, Jr. Photo Archive in 2015. Mr. Aitken died on April 13, 2020 at his home in Suisun City, California.
- Acquisition information:
- Transferred from the Bay Area Electric Railroad Association / Western Railway Museum per instructions from the Harry C. Aitken Jr. estate, 2020.
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged alphabetically by type of material, then chronologically.
- Physical location:
- Statewide Museum Collections Center
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Collection is open for research by appointment. Contact Library Staff for details.
- Terms of access:
-
Copyright has not been assigned to the California State Railroad Museum. All requests for permission to publish or quote from manuscripts must be submitted in writing to the CSRM Library & Archives. Permission for publication is given on behalf of the CSRM as the owner of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained by the reader.
- Preferred citation:
-
Identification of item], Harry C. Aitken, Jr. Transcontinental Railroad Collection, MS 887, California State Railroad Museum Library & Archives, Sacramento, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
111 I StreetSacramento, CA 95814, US
- Contact:
- (916) 323-8073