Guide to the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford Research Files SC1579
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Subjects and Indexing Terms
Records Accession ARCH-2021-115
Email Correspondence between Shelley Fishkin, Gordon Chang, Evelyn Hu-Dehart, Dongfang Shao, Huang Ping, Xiao-huang Yin, and Keren He that led to the inception of the CRRW. 2011 February 07 - 2012 January 02
Flyer publicizing a talk being given by Evelyn Hu-Dehart, Professor of History and Ethnic Studies at Brown University on "Chinese Diasporic History in the Americas. 1560- 1880: Trans-Pacific, Trans-American Encounters and Asian American Studies at Stanford on 2/10/12. Fishkin and Chang invited her to not only speak but also to discuss the future of the CRRW project 2012 February 10
Letter to Acting Stanford President John Etchemendy proposing support from the University for the CRRW project sent by Gordon H. Chang, Shelly Fisher Fishkin, and Dongfang Shao with appendices. Apendix A lists departments, programs, and faculty at Stanford that have expressed interest in the project and individuals outside of Stanford who also expressed interest in the project. Appendix B lists a preliminary list of projected expenses that the project would likely incur 2012 March 12
A bilingual flyer that the Project developed in 2012 to encourage scholars and institutions to get involved in the Project 2012
Materials related to the "Chinese Workers in North America" Conference held at Stanford on 9/5/12-9/6/12. Includes schedule, participant names, Fishkin's opening remarks and powerpoint slides, and minutes of the conference 2012 September 06
A bilingual flyer requesting that anyone who has an ancestor that worked on the railroad in the US in the 1860s contact Wen Jin of Fudan University; it was distributed at a conference in Shanghai in 2012 where Wen Jin and playwright David Henry Hwang discussed the importance of recovering this chapter of the past 2012
List of participants from Stanford and from Guangdong, China at a Faculty Seminar at Stanford from 4/2/12-4/3/12. Email correspondence from Qincheng Li to Gordon Chang on the arrival of some of the participants from Guangdong. A tentative schedule of the Faculty Seminar. Also includes a collaboration agreement between academics and government officials of Guangdong and copies of "The Archaeology Network of the Chinese Railroad Worker in North America Project" that aim to learn more about the lives of Chinese railroad workers. Also includes the slides of Huang Annian's presentation titled "Commemorate the Silent Spikes Explore the Relics of Chinese Laborers" 2012 April 02 - 2012 April 03
Includes program from workshop held at Academia Sinica, Taipei, 9/1/13 - 9/2/13 organized by Gordon H. Chang, Pin-chia Feng (Academia Sinica), Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Evelyn Hu-DeHart, and Dongfang Shao, sponsored by the Dept. of Humanities and Social Sciences, National Science Council, Taiwan; Stanford University, USA; Dept. of Foreign Languages and Literatures, National Chiao Tung University, Taiwan; Institute. of European and American Studies, Academia Sinica, Taiwan, with support of American Council of Societies/CCK Foundation Grant. Also includes Fishkin's notes for her talk at the workshop. 2013 September 01 - 2013 September 02
Letter dated 10/09/13 from Fishkin and Huang to Prof. Hsinya Huang, National Sin Yat-sen University, supporting Prof. Huang's Collaborative Research Grant proposal to CCK foundation to jointly recover history of Chinese railroad workers in North America 2013 October 09
Directory for Archaeology Network of Chinese Railroad Worker History Project, assembled by Project Archaeology Director Barbara Voss 2013 February 18
Program for Archaeology Network Workshop of Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford 2012 October 10 - 2012 October 12
Program for the 10th Anniversary of the American Studies Network (USCET-ASN) Annual Conference: Transnational Currents of US-China Relations event held at the University of Hong Kong. Fishkin had given a keynote talk about the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford 2013 November 15 - 2013 November 17
Document detailing Denise Khor's on-site research for the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project 2013 January- 2013 June
Notes on Chinese Railroad Workers Project work with the Spatial History Project; plans for collaborating with the Center for Spatial and Textual Analysis (CESTA). Agenda Comments by Fishkin 2013 October 17
Annotated bibliography prepared by student interns 2013 August
Letter from Stanford alumni Evelyn Hu-Dehart, Kristen Lee, Beth Lew, and Joseph Ng to fellow Stanford Asian/Asian-American Alumni detailing the work being done by the Chinese Railroad Workers Project. While outlining the desired outcomes of the Project, it also asks alumni to donate in support of the CRRW Project and its completion 2014 March 14
Program for the 23rd Annual Conference of Common Ground Conference in San Francisco 2014 April 25 - 2014 April 26
Program for Committee of 100's 2014 Award's Gala held on April 25, 2014 at which President Hennessy, with Gordon H. Chang and Shelley Fisher Fishkin, accepted an award from the committee for Stanford University's "Advancement of US-China Relations." The CRRW Project was recognized as an important contribution and a short firm about the Project was shown at the Gala 2014 April 25
Program (In Chinese) and itinerary for a workshop on "Representing Chinese Railroad Workers in North America" held at National Sun-Yat-sen University, Taiwan where the keynote address was given by Shelley Fishkin. Also includes the abstracts of each presentation (In English) 2014 December 06
Chinese-language article from World Journal noting the US Dept. of Labor's honoring of Chinese railroad workers and mentioning Stanford's Project 2016 May 10
Program for the International Symposium on "The North America Chinese Laborers and Guangdong Qiaoxiang Society" held in Guangzhou, China. Sponsord by the History Department of Sun Yat-sen University, History Department of Stanford University, Guangdong Overseas Chinese History Compilation Committee, and Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford 2014 September 08 - 2014 September 09
"Reimagining America: Sites of Trauma and Possibility in Cultural Memory." Talk by Shelley Fisher Fishkin delivered at Pacific Asia Museum, Pasadena, California on 4/6/15 in conjunction with the exhibit, "The Other Side: Chinese and Mexican Immigration to America." Discussed work of Zhi Lin and Hung Liu related to the railroad - in the context of the Chinese Railroad Workers Project - as well as Mexican artists' work related to the US-Mexico border. Also includes two different brochures for this exhibit produced by the museum 2015 April 06
Postcard advertising "The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental Railroad," program presented at Stanford 2016 July 06
Flyer for Li Ju exhibit "The Chinese Helped Build the Railroad. The Railroad Helped Build America-Chinese Workers and the Railroad Photo Exhibition, Stanford University. Organized by Guangxi Normal University Press Group Co., Ltd., China. Sponsored by Stanford Art Spaces (a part of System X Alliance at Stanford), Stanford's American Studies Program, Stanford's Center for East Asian Studies, Bill Lane Center for the American West, the Chinese Railroad Workers of North America Project at Stanford, and Adrian and Monica Yeung Arima. Also includes packet of images of dual photos by Li Ju handed out to visitors to the exhibit at its opening. Packard Engineering Building 2015 November 08 - 2015 November 18
Flyer for "Tracking a Lost Voice: The Chinese Workers on Governor Stanford's Transcontinental Railroad" Talk by Gordon H. Chang and Shelley Fisher Fishkin sponsored by Stanford Historical Society 2016 February 18
Draft Program for CRRW conference at Stanford. Summary of responses to invitation sent in September 2015 to April 2016 CRRW conference. Remarks by Shelley Fisher Fishkin at conference ["Seeing Absence, Listening to Silence: "The Challenge of Reconstructing Chinese Railroad Workers' Lives." See keynote address from folder 19] 2016 April 14 - 2016 April 16
Flyer for Li Ju photographic exhibit at Menlo College 2017 March 23 - 2017 May 05
Program for Book Launch at National Sun Yat-sen University, Kaohsiung, Taiwan, for Chinese Railroad Workers in North America: Recovery and Representation, edited by Hsinya Huang 2017 December 17
Program for national Stanford Research Conference sponsored by Stanford Undergraduate Research Association, featuring talk by Fishkin on CRRW Project 2019 April 05 - 2019 April 07
Brochure for 150th Anniversary event at Stanford sponsored by CRRW Project, "Chinese Railroad Workers and the Transcontinental Railroad:150th Anniversary of the Golden Spike." Tressider Union. Includes flyer, schedule, Fishkin's talk and name tag for the event 2019 April 11
"Listening to Silence, Seeing Absence: The Challenge of Recovering Chinese Railroad Workers' Lives" a talk by Shelley Fisher Fishkin at Ogden Union Station, sponsored by Union Station, Ogden, Utah and Weber University. Talk given as part of Golden Spike Centennial Celebration, along with Powerpoint that accompanied talk 2019 May 07
Program for "China and America - Unity in Music" featuring debut of "From the Middle Kingdom to the Wild West: A Symphonic Concert" at Bard College, Carnegie Hall, and Stanford University 9/25/10 - 10/6/19. Orchestra Now conducted by Jindong Cai with the Silicon Valley Chorale and Soloists. 10/6/19 Stanford University, Bing Concert Hall. Includes "Men of Iron and the Golden Spike," by Su Wei and Zhou Long. CRRW Project and Center for East Asian Studies were Stanford sponsors 2019 September 25 - 2019 October 06
Program for 2019 California Preservation Awards, Intercontinental Mark Hopkins Hotel, San Francisco. CRRW Project was awarded a Trustees Award for Excellence. Accepted by Fishkin, Obenzinger, Voss, and Monica Arima. Includes Fishkin name tag for event 2019 October 18
Descendant questionnaires
Documents collected at National Archives in San Bruno pertaining to descendants of railroad worker Chin Lin Sou
Images of exhibit Project curated and produced in collaboration with Chinese Historical Society of America
Material written for CRRW website, including key questions, participants, press, and resources
Various email correspondence between Barbara Voss, Hilton Obenzinger, Gordon Chang, Shelley Fishkin, and Rebecca Allen regarding input on a public volume included in this folder. Also includes notes and emails on planning a workshop the Archaeology Network for Chinese Railroad Worker History project would hold from October 10-12, 2013 at Stanford University. Also includes email templates to be sent to engage other archaeologists in the workshop and a keepsake from the event 2013 April - 2016 January
Grant Application material for the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) as well as guidelines for application. Includes a letter from the Society for Historical Archaeology (SHA) to Hilton Obenzinger regarding publication acceptance 2013 November- 2014 July
Includes more on the NEH Grant application guidelines
Includes the NEH Grant Proposal submitted to the panel. It provides the overview of the Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project. Includes budget proposal and budget revisions
The Stanford Railroad Workers in North America Project's application for the Community Engagement Grants for Faculty in the Arts and Humanities. It focuses on the goal of funding the oral history component of the project. Also includes the guidelines for the application 2013 November
Includes copies of a document titled "Friends of Stanford's Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project" that outlines the goals of the project and the needed funds. It also details the work being done by the archaeologists involved in the project
A letter from the Orr Family Foundation that notifies the Project that they had received a grant of $2,500 to go toward the work being done 2013 May 08
Email correspondence between Fishkin, Chang, and Obenzinger relaying that she had received private funding from Donald Atha after having written to him 2013 April 07
Third draft of David N. Anderson's "A brief review of the Chinese, their customs and their work during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Also includes email correspondence between Gordon Chang, Wesley Yee, John Wheaton, and Kyle Wyatt regarding some photos and about working together on the Project 2013 February- 2013 April
Includes the work of Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Barbara Voss, and Gordon Chang titled "Transnational American Studies Today: The U.S. and China," "The Historical Experience of Labor: Archaeological Contributions to Interdisciplinary Research on Chinese Railroad Workers," and "China and the Pursuit of America's Destiny Nineteenth-Century Imagining and Why Immigration Restriction Took So Long"
Includes the book The Silent Spikes Chinese Laborers and the Construction of North American Railroads compiled and edited by Huang Annian 2006 January 01
Summary of Khor's on-site research from January to June 2013, what she had accessed in the Bancroft Library of Berkeley and Green Library of Stanford, notes on summer research, and notes on a working agenda
Letters to Professor Zhang Guoxiong, Vice President, Wuyi University from Gordon H. Chang, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, Dr. Qi Qiu, and Dr. Dongfang Shao 2012 October 22
Script draft for Donner State Park Video 1: The Chinese Build the Central Pacific Railroad, list of historic landmarks in the Pacific West Region, and a Cultural Landscape Report 2014 June
Notes from the event at Guangdong Overseas Chinese Research Center, Wuyi University where Professor Zhang Guoxiong signs the Intention of Collaboration with Stanford University 2012 November 05
Includes the resume of Denise Khor who applied for the research director position of the CRRW. Also includes email correspondence between Gordon H. Chang, Shelley Fisher Fishkin, and Hilton Obenzinger
Includes various chapters from an unnamed work. Chapter nine is titled "Chinese-American Railroad Builder History on the Stage: David Hwang's The Dance and the Railroad," ten is "Chinese Railroad Builders in History Books for Children and Adolescents," eleven is "Cantonese-American Railroad Builders as Contructed by Lau Yin Shan," and twelve is "Quot Erat Demonstrandum and the Road Forward"
Includes various chapters from an unnamed work. Chapter six is titled "Cantonese Immigrant Railroad Builders in General Chinese-American Historiography," seven is titled "Historiographically Flawed Literary Exploitation of the Railroad Builders: Maxine Hong Kingston and Frank Chin," and eight is titled "Laurence Yep's Dragon's Gate"
Includes various chapters from an unnamed work. Chapter three is titled "Acknowledgements of the Chinese Contribution during the 1860s," four is titled "Exploiting the Contribution of the Chinese Railroad Builders in the Anti-Immigration Debate," and chapter five is about "The Chinese Railroad Builders in Historical Writing by Euro-Americans after 1900"
Includes various chapters from an unnamed work. Chapter one is titled "Introduction Assertions That the Railroad Builders Have Been Neglected" and chapter two is titled "What is Empirically Demonstrable about the Cantonese-American Contribution to the Construction of the Transcontinental Railroad?"
Includes Dissertation submission of Barry Patrick McCarron M.A. titled "The Global Irish and Chinese: Migration, Exclusion, and Foreign Relations Among Empires, 1784-1904. Also includes portions of "The Filth of Progress" by Ryan Dearinger and questions posed for Phil Sexton about the railroad and its consctruction
Photos of various archival material from the Asian American Studies Archives, UC Berkeley
Email correspondence between Gordon H. Chang, Christopher White, Hilton Obenzinger, and Phillip Sexton 2017 October - 2017 November
Various material recording the existence of Chinese people in the U.S. and their contribution to the completion of the railroad, namely at Promontory Summit. Includes records of cemeteries as well as newsletters/publications that wrote about Chinese people or were created for Chinese people. Also includes a timeline that details businesses and burials
Includes CRRW Project budget, program, notes, and email correspondence on the Archaeology Workshop and scheduling for a thematic issue of Historical Archaeology
Obenzinger folder including the Archaeology workshop program, table outlining Chinese population in certain states, and a paper on the Chinese population in states such as Montana and Idaho 2013 October
A piece written by Russell N. Low titled "The Story of Hung Lai Woh Chinese Railroad Worker on the transcontinental Railroad" 2003
U.S. Camel Corps.
Email Correspondence between Fishkin, Hilton, Teri, and Gordon regarding some sources she had found. 2014 December 04
Final Copy of Hilton Obenzinger's The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental, a study of Cape Horn Construction on the Central Pacific Railroad by Jack E. Duncan, an article titled "The Central Pacific Railroad and the Legend of Cape Horn by Edson T. Strobridge, an informational article from Placer Sierra Railroad Heritage Society on Cape Horn, Barbara L. Voss's submission into the journal of Historical Archaeology "The Historical Experience of Labor: Archaeological Contributions to Interdisciplinary Research on Chinese Railroad Workers," and Philip Chin's piece titled "Chinese Americans and the Trancontinental Railroad" with a draft.
Herman Chiu's PhD dissertation titledd "When 1,000 words are worth a picture: How Newspapers Portrayed the Chinese And Irish Who Build The First Transcontinental Railroad" 2004 December
Barbara L. Voss's "Toward a Transpacific Archaeology of the Modern World" with notes, Adam McKeown's submission into the Journal of Global History titled "Chinese emigration in global context, 1850-1940," an oral history done by John Eldridge titled "James William Hefferson Bad Eye last of the. CP Chinese workers left in Elko, Nevada," and a letter to the colleagues of the CRRW Project on the production of work related to the Project and a database with work colleagues would have access to
Work on "Race, Ethnicity, and Gender in the Railroad Work Force: The Case of the Far Northwest, 1883-1918" with annotations, notes on "Contexts and Comparisons," as well as notes on loose leaf paper
A senior thesis written by Justine Koo Drennan titled "Strangers Who Built the Railroad Chinese and Irish Workers on America's First Transcontinental." Includes two copies, one with some annotations
Includes Lewis M. Clement's Statement to the U.S. Pacific Railway Commission, 1887, a paper written by John Debo Galloway on "THe Trist Transcontinental Railroad," and an informational article on "How many died building the Central Pacific Railroad?" with notes
Notes regarding the Sacramento groundbreaking that occurred on January 9, 1863
"A New Look at Russell H. Conwell's Why and How: Why the Chinese Emigrate and The Means the [sic] Adopt for Reaching America (1870)" by Shelley Fisher Fishkin
Central Pacific Railroad, Southern Pacific Railroad, and Transcontinental Railroad
Conferences including Computational Social Science
Chinese Labor and the Pacific Railroad
The Chinese Railroad Workers in North America
150th Anniversary Celebration - Chinese Building the US Transcontinental Railroad
Email Correspondences from Hilton Obenzinger, Associate Director of Stanford Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project
Chinese Railroad Workers in North America Project at Stanford University, including Conferences and Trip Itinerary
Remarks on the Chinese Workers at the University of California San Diego
The Chinese and the Iron Road: Building the Transcontinental
How the Chinese worked on the Railroad
Includes a list of potentially useful articles in American's Historical Newspapers that mentions Promontory Point/The Golden Spike event on May 10, 1869 and also denotes whether or not those articles mention Chinese workers. Includes a document on the railroad record and a directory for newsletters that mention Chinese workers. Also includes sources found using a Google Search, email correspondence, and an annotated bibliography
Letters from the Central Pacific Railroad office
Miscellaneous
Includes an unpublished essay titled "Chinese in Placer County," seventeen newsletters (of various issues) from "The Donner Summit Historical Society," excerpts from Marilou West Ficklin's "Early Truckee Records," and an article published in the Journal of Global Environment
Includes letters written in Auburn, a death certificate for a Chinese man, census information for Placer County, a newspaper article in the Placer Herald on "The Chinese Theatricals," and email correspondence on the said census counting
Wallace Clay or "Pappy Clay" recounts his time around Chinese railroad workers from 1889 to 1892 in a letter titled "Personal Life of a Chinese Coolie." Clay speaks to his experience with getting to know some of the Chinamen and learning about their culture after long days at work. His letter also includes specific experiences with Chinese cooks and that with Chinese opium usage/addiction 1969 March 01
Includes email correspondence between Preston James Carlson, Gordon Chang, Roland Hsu, and James Thieu about the Central Pacific Railroad and the pay workers received. Also includes memos from Preston James Charles about how he went on to calculate the payroll 2018 April - 2018 June
Diary of Stephen Allen Curry (1834-1865) who worked on the Central Pacific Railroad. It also includes some annotations from Fishkin. The diary details his ocean voyage from New York to San Francisco via Panama on the Ocean Queen. Also outlines his experience working on the Central Pacific Railroad in northern Calif., in the foothills of the Sierra 1864 November - 1865 June 16