Primary Sources
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Primary Sources “Building the First Transcontinental Railroad.” History | DPLA, dp.la/exhibitions/transcontinental-railroad/history/hell-on-wheels?item=932 We used a variety of images from this source, from illustrations to newspaper cartoons to photocopied reports, to strengthen our project and more effectively put our readers in the setting we are trying to educate them on. We decided the images we utilized from this source should be considered a primary source, because they depict the rail and were made during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. “How We Built the Union Pacific Railway, and Other Railway Papers and Addresses.” The Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/resource/dcmsiabooks.howwebuiltunionp00dodg_1/?st=gallery We used this source to learn more about Native American attacks on the workers. It was especially useful due to the first-hand account being able to accurately portray a detailed picture of what happened between the workers and Native Americans. We decided this source belonged in the primary source section because most of these letters were written during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. Hutchinson, William. “Theodore D. Judah.” Northeastern California Historical Photograph Collection, archives.csuchico.edu/cdm/ref/collection/coll11/id/16144 This source was a picture of a Theodore Judah. We chose this source to create a more personal connection for the readers, allowing them to envision Theodore Judah as they read. We decided this source belongs to the primary source section because this photograph was one of Theodore Judah, a man directly involved with the railroad construction, and therefore from the same time period as the rail. Hyde, Louis H. “Ceremony Commemorating the Completion of the Transcontinental Railroad, Promontory, Utah.” Minnesota Historical Society, 2011, collections.mnhs.org/cms/display?irn=10799141 This source was a picture of the Golden Spike Ceremony to commemorate the ending of the railroad. We used this source to provide a visual representation of the ceremony and give the reader a sense of just how many people worked on and cared for the railroad. We delegated this source to the primary section because this was a real photograph from the same time period as the Transcontinental Railroad. Nast, Thomas. “The ‘Chinese Wall’ Around the United States of America.” Educational Technology Clearinghouse, 2004, etc.usf.edu/clipart/67300/67396/67396_chin_wall.htm This source gave us a high-quality image of the Chinese Wall cartoon. It also provided a clear description of the intent of the original cartoonist. We used this picture to demonstrate the cultural animosity towards Chinese immigrants at the time. We found this same cartoon on the Digital Public Library of America’s website, but this source provided us with a higher quality version. We decided this cartoon to be a primary source because it came from the same time period as the Transcontinental Railroad and directly related to it. Proper, Forrest. “Reports of Explorations and Surveys, to Ascertain the Most Practicable and Economical Route for a Railroad from the Mississippi River to the Pacific Ocean, Made under the Direction of the Secretary of War, in 1853-4. Volumes I-XII. .” Pacific Railroad Survey Reports, 1853-1854, in Twelve Volumes., 2002, htp://cprr.org/Museum/Pacific_RR_Surveys/index.htmcollections.mnhs.org/cms/display? irn=10799141.l These sources gave us a substantial library of first-hand accounts from the Transcontinental Railroad that we used to further our understanding on various points and to obtain different perspectives. These sources are considered primary because they contain directly relevant reports written just before the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad to determine its future location. Russel, Andrew J. “Golden Spike Ceremony by the National Park Service.” Golden Spike Ceremony by the National Park Service, 2019, www.nps.gov/gosp/planyourvisit/basicinfo.htm This image was a picture of one of the bridges built as part of the railroad during construction. We used this image as an accurate representation of what the railroad looked like and to capture the viewers’ interest. This image is a primary source because it is a picture of the Transcontinental Railroad taken the year it was completed. “Today in History - May 10.” The Library of Congress, 2019, www.loc.gov/item/today-in-history/may-10 This source was a commemoration of the 50th anniversary of the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. This source provided us another point of view on the Golden Spike Ceremony. This image is a primary source because it illustrates the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad. Secondary Sources American Lumberman. [McGiffert Log Loader], photograph, 1907; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth204354/m1/1/: accessed April 14, 2020), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting The History Center. This source gave us a photograph of a machine used to deforest land in the late 1800s-early 1900s. This source will hopefully paint a vivid image in our viewer’s mind of the mass deforestation taking place. We decided to place this photo in the secondary source section because it wasn’t from the exact time period of the railroad, but instead from 40 years after. “BEFORE THE TRANSCONTINENTAL RAILROAD: TIME-TRAVEL TO CALIFORNIA.” The Free Library, www.thefreelibrary.com/BEFORE+THE+TRANSCONTINENTAL+RAILROAD%3a+ TIME-TRAVEL+TO+CALIFORNIA.-a071200330 This source provided information on the coast-to-coast transportation options before the railroad. It contains information about the risks and rewards of each major option. We used this for our background section to emphasize the impact the railroad had on travel. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Central Pacific Railroad.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 28 Aug. 2019, www.britannica.com/topic/Central-Pacific-Railroad#ref112701 We used this source to provide a general overview of the government involvement and political perspectives of the railroad. It enriched our understanding of the impact of the railroad. Britannica, The Editors of Encyclopaedia. “Pacific Railway Acts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc., 2 July 2019, www.britannica.com/event/Pacific-Railway-Acts This source provided a summary of the First and Second Pacific Railway Acts. We used this summary to supplement our Construction section and add padding to it. Without this extra information, we lose a lot of intricacy and nuance of the difficulties of building a transcontinental railroad. “Building the First Transcontinental Railroad.” History | DPLA, dp.la/exhibitions/transcontinental-railroad/history/hell-on-wheels?item=932 This exhibition provides a good summary of each company's work and the later impact of the railroad. We used this source to supplement our negative physical impact section in terms of both the environment and subpar construction work. “Building the Transcontinental Railroad.” Digital History, 2019, www.digitalhistory.uh.edu/disp_textbook.cfm?smtID=2&psid=3147 This source was a chronologically ordered set of facts on the Transcontinental Railroad. This source gave us specific details to fill gaps in our information that other sources only briefly addressed and quoted in a misleading manner. Dubofsky, Melvyn. “The Oxford Encyclopedia of American Business, Labor, and Economic History.” Google Books, Google, 2013, books.google.com/books?id=D-NMAgAAQBAJ&pg=RA1-PA110&lpg=RA1-PA110&d q=transcontinental%2Brailroad%2Bshoddy%2Bconstruction&source=bl&ots=7HLXCQ 0EyS&sig=ACfU3U0YUyDPSLnFWsMB44n8i8D2WglfiA&hl=en&sa=X&ved=2ahUK Ewja19Ssj7LpAhVPrJ4KHUk6CskQ6AEwEXoECAoQAQ#v=onepage&q=shoddy&f=f alse This source explained the economic motivations of workers and their supervisors in deciding to sacrifice quality when building the Transcontinental Railroad. The author further goes on to detail the innovation American railroad engineers displayed to overcome challenges that manifested from the shoddy construction work on the Transcontinental Railroad. We used this source to demonstrate the impact of the substandard construction of the railroad, in an effort to comprehensively educate the reader on all of the effects of the Transcontinental Railroad, even ones that may not be very orthodox. Duran, X. (2013). The first U.S. Transcontinental Railroad: Expected profits and government intervention. The Journal of Economic History, 73(1), 177-200. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0022050713000065 This excerpt from the Journal of Economic History gave an economic overview of the time period when the Transcontinental Railroad was being built. We used it to add more nuance to our section on the motivations for building a transcontinental railroad. Encyclopedia.com, Encyclopedia.com, 2019, www.encyclopedia.com/places/united-states-and-canada/canadian-political-geography/tra nscontinental-railroad This source helped us to gain a foundational knowledge of the overall project. It explained basic details of the importance of the Transcontinental Railroad, which helped us to establish a base set of knowledge before we delved into the more detailed aspects of the railroad's history and effect. Endsley, Courtney, et al. “How the Transcontinental Railroad Changed America.” GTG Technology Group, 4 Nov. 2016, gtgtechnologygroup.com/transcontinental-railroad/ This source provided us with information on the different social and economic impacts of the