With sly wit, Utah Poet Laureate Paisley Rekdal has been commenting on social media throughout the year she was researching and writing “West,” a book-length poem about the Transcontinental Railroad. Jan. 20, 2018: “This week has been a series of some of the odder requests/assignments: writing for the Journal of Military History, poem solicitation for pamphlet on spiritual practices, a …
Above Image: Mrs Strobridge entertaining guest in her railroad car, circa 1868, Alfred A. Hart, photographer. Courtesy of Stanford University Libraries. Few women were present during the construction of the Transcontinental Railroad. This because of wilderness conditions, 19th-century gender roles and biases, economic forces, and state laws that prohibited or discouraged women and children from immigrating. The women and children …
On July 1, 1862 after decades of US congressional debate and disagreement on a Transcontinental Railroad and an appropriate route the road should take, President Lincoln brought the debate to a close and brought the enterprise to life, all with a stroke of his pen. On July 1, 1862, one year into America’s bloody Civil War, President Lincoln signed into …
Max Chang likes to joke — but he’s serious, too — about his claim as the state’s first Taiwanese-Utah native. He was born just a few months after his parents moved to Salt Lake City in 1969. In seventh-grade history class at Churchill Junior High, Chang learned about the completion of the Transcontinental Railroad at Utah’s Promontory Summit in 1869. …
What did the tapping of the “last spikes” into the final tie represent? The transcontinental railroad tells a story of human ingenuity and labor. Building the railroad not only required massive amounts of funding but human capital as well. The famous “champagne toast” image at Promontory Summit is one aspect of this story, while the reality is that the building …
With every viewing, the range of artworks keeps surprising me in “Transcontinental: People, Place, Impact,” the new Rio Gallery exhibition. By range, I’m referring to such contrasts as the printed stories and creative railroad interactivity of Stefanie Dykes and Amie Tullius’ well-travelled “Train Tracts,” paired with Gregg Deal’s “The Divinity of Inanimate Objects Omit their Sins,” a vivid collage painting …
Artist Beth Krensky’s eulogy for her mother, which she had embroidered on a kite (needlework by Jill Moyes) crafted from her mother’s nightgowns, undershirts, gloves and pajamas. I will release my last desperate grasp on you dearest Dotty, and allow you to float away. Loft upward and upward. Surely you will be welcomed through the gates of heaven. You have …
We asked bookmobile drivers about the preferences of Utah’s readers — and we weren’t exactly surprised to find out that the biggest demand came from kids. Kids’ books > Of course. The state’s public libraries, including bookmobile patrons, rank first in the nation for the number of children’s books borrowed per capita. That’s about 16 million children’s books checked out …
Stocking shelves, truck whispering and technical support are all part of a bookmobile driver’s job in the digitalage. By Ellen Fagg Weist | Photography by Faun Jackson Urban readers — that is, Utahns who live near city and county library branches — might consider bookmobiles a relic of their childhoods. Or maybe the setting for a “gentle reads” novel, the …
In the voices of the ambitious “West,” Utah Poet Laureate Paisley Rekdal is writing a soundtrack to a distinctively American story. By Ellen Fagg Weist | Photography by Austen Diamond If you know where to look, the ghosts of Chinese workers appear everywhere on Utah’s Transcontinental Railroad byway. On a warm November morning, I’m standing with poet Paisley Rekdal in …
It may have been the “Year of the Train” and tax reform for the Utah Legislature, but they also found the time (and money) to begin a significant change to cultural funding, push forward construction of a storage solution for the artifact and arts collections, and even add a seventh division to the Department of Heritage & Arts. Overall, the …
In the wake of the horrific attack at a New Zealand mosque, Governor Gary R. Herbert has called for all Utahns to rally around their Muslim neighbors. “We do not tolerate hatred in our communities,” Gov. Herbert said in his statement on Friday. “During this time of pain and mourning, I hope all Utahns will reach out in love to …