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The Legacy of the Transcontinental Railroad

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The Legacy of the Transcontinental Railroad at Rosecliff has closed.

America’s first transcontinental railroad was completed in 1869. The ramifications would be seen and felt in American industry, art and migration. In this panel, Dr. Betsy Fahlman, Professor of Art History at Arizona State University and Adjunct Curator of American Art at the Phoenix Art Museum, will introduce the technological arc that spanned from coast to coast, and will discuss works of art and objects collected by American railroad museums and the Center for Railroad Photography & Art. Dr. Manu Karuka, Assistant Professor of American Studies at Barnard College, will present themes from his book, “Empire’s Tracks,” and examine the construction of the first transcontinental railroad in an international context, focusing on sovereignty and imperialism.

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