California State Railroad Museum joins Smithsonian Affiliates network

SACRAMENTO — The California State Railroad Museum is now officially recognized as a Smithsonian affiliate.

“We are delighted to officially begin our affiliate partnership with the California State Railroad Museum, an organization which has previously worked alongside the Smithsonian in scholarship and historic preservation,” said Myriam Springuel, interim director of Smithsonian Affiliations.

Located in Old Sacramento, the Railroad Museum joins a network of 216 organizations throughout the nation that are committed to serving the public through educational outreach, artifact loans, traveling exhibitions and collaborative research with the Smithsonian.

Smithsonian Affiliations help to build a bridge between local experiences preserved around the U.S. with the national heritage preserved and displayed at the Smithsonian.

“The story of railroading is very much the story of building the foundation of the United States and we are proud to partner with this museum which tells this national story from its beginnings in California,” Springuel said.

Staff at the California State Railroad Museum are thrilled with the new partnership and proud to have made the cut.

“Aligning the Railroad Museum with the Smithsonian Institution will help us further our mission of connecting people to California’s railroad heritage,” said Ty Smith, director of the museum. “This partnership is both intellectual and material.”

Widely recognized as one of North America’s top rail museums, the California State Railroad Museum showcases more than 150 years of railroad history in 225,000 square feet of space.

Each year, approximately 600,000 guests from all over the world visit the Railroad Museum.