Collection context
Summary
- Title:
- Theodore D. Judah papers
- Dates:
- 1854-1877
- Creators:
- Judah, Theodore D. (Theodore Dehone), 1826-1863
- Abstract:
- Papers belonging to American engineer and railroad builder Theodore D. Judah.
- Extent:
- 5.25 Linear Feet (1 box, 2 oversize folders)
- Language:
- Materials are in English.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Theodore D. Judah papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
Background
- Scope and content:
-
Documents, from 1859 to 1877, and notebook, from 1854 and 1862, belonging to Theodore D. Judah, concerning the financing and construction of the California Eastern Extension Railroad. Also included is a pencil map by Judah plotting the route of the railroad, and a printed volume of First Annual of the Territorial Pioneers of California, 1877, with clippings and calling cards pasted inside. The notebook contains costs of iron and locomotives, an expense account, sketch maps and elevations, notes and observations on trips across the Sierra Nevada Mountains in 1862. It also includes distances, elevations, and temperatures measured on an 1854 trip across the Sierras taken with Collis P. Huntington and others.
- Biographical / historical:
-
Theodore Dehone Judah (1826-1863), American engineer and railroad builder, was born in March 1826 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. He attended the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, then began his career in railroads. Initially located in the East, in 1854 Judah moved to California as chief engineer of the Sacramento Valley Railroad, and in 1859 became involved in the construction of the California Eastern Extension Railroad in Placer County, California. Judah became convinced of the necessity of a transcontinental railroad. In 1860 he persuaded railroad tycoons Collis P. Huntington, Leland Stanford, Charles Crocker, and Mark Hopkins, Jr., to join him in the organization of the Central Pacific Railroad Company. Judah directed the railroad's construction in 1862. Judah married Anna Pierce Judah in May 1847; they had no children. He died in New York in November 1863, at the age of 37, of typhoid fever contracted while crossing the Isthmus of Panama.
- Acquisition information:
- Purchased from Benjamin Tighe, January 1971.
- Processing information:
-
Processed by Karen Kearns in October 1993. In May 2025, Brooke M. Black created a finding aid.
- Arrangement:
-
Arranged chronologically.
- Rules or conventions:
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Indexed terms
About this collection guide
- Date Encoded:
- This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2025-06-13 15:46:54 -0700 .
Access and use
- Restrictions:
-
Open for use by qualified researchers and by appointment. Please contact Reader Services at the Huntington Library for more information.
- Terms of access:
-
The Huntington Library does not require that researchers request permission to quote from or publish images of this material, nor does it charge fees for such activities. The responsibility for identifying the copyright holder, if there is one, and obtaining necessary permissions rests with the researcher.
- Preferred citation:
-
[Identification of item]. Theodore D. Judah papers, The Huntington Library, San Marino, California.
- Location of this collection:
-
1151 Oxford RoadSan Marino, CA 91108, US
- Contact:
- (626) 405-2191