Descriptive Summary
Access
Publication Rights
Preferred Citation
Acquisition Information
Biography/Administrative History
Scope and Content of Collection
Indexing Terms
Descriptive Summary
Title: Alan Charles Thomson papers
Dates: 1953-1987 (1969-1987 bulk)
Collection Number: MS 630
Creator/Collector:
Thomson (Alan Charles)
Extent: 1 box
Repository:
California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives
Sacramento, California 95814
Abstract: Papers documenting Alan C. Thomson's membership in the Sacramento Area Chapter of the Friends of the California State Railroad
Museum, a predecessor to the CSRM Foundation.
Language of Material: English
Access
This collection is open for research at our off-site storage facility with one week's notice. Contact Library & Archives
staff to arrange for access.
Publication Rights
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 Capital District Collections Manager. 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
Alan Charles Thomson papers. California State Railroad Museum Library and Archives
Acquisition Information
Gift of Judy Yates, 2006.
Biography/Administrative History
Alan Charles Thomson was born on April 1, 1917 in Oregon. He worked for the Southern Pacific Railroad as a local claims agent
in Sacramento. In 1969, he served as the Southern Pacific field representative for the Sacramento Gold Spike Centennial Committee.
He helped organize the ground breaking ceremony (April 25, 1969) for the Big Four Building in Old Sacramento State Historic
Park and traveled with the special Centennial Plaque train (May 1969). Alan C. Thomson was a member of the blue ribbon committee
of Sacramento civic and cultural leaders responsible for Railfair Sacramento 1981, which celebrated the grand opening of
the California State Railroad Museum's Museum of Railroad History on May 2, 1981. He also served as a board member of the
Sacramento Area Chapter of the Friends of the California State Railroad Museum from 1981 to 1987 until it was reconstituted
as the California Railroad Museum Foundation.
Alan Thomson died in Sacramento on April 7, 1997.
Scope and Content of Collection
This collections includes: correspondence, agendas, newsletters, minutes, reports, and notices documenting Alan C. Thomson's
membership in the Sacramento Area Chapter of the Friends of the California State Railroad Museum, a predecessor to the CSRM
Foundation.
Also includes clippings, promotional material and correspondence documenting Alan C. Thomson's contributions to the Golden
Spike Centennial Celebration Commission formed to recognize the 100th aninversary of the completion of the transcontinental
railroad at Promontory, Utah in 1869. There are photographs of various Golden Spike Centennial events, including the groundbreaking
for the Big Four Building in Old Sacramento (April 25, 1969) and the "Centennial Plaque Special" May 9, 1969, which traveled
from Sacramento to Truckee to dedicate placques at sites (Roseville, Rocklin, Newcastle, Auburn, Colfax and Truckee) along
the historic Central Pacific railroad route.
Arranged alphabetically by subject.
No online items
