The Union Pacific Historical Society Endowment Fund supports the UPHS Archive Collection at the University of Wyoming – American Heritage Center. The UPHS Board of Directors voted in September 2020 to establish this new UPHS Endowment Fund through the University of Wyoming Foundation utilizing their 501(c)(3) non-profit standing. The University of Wyoming Foundation actively manages a portfolio of over 1,500 endowment funds that jointly support a wide range of activities at both the University of Wyoming and the adjoining American Heritage Center at Laramie. The University of Wyoming Foundation has existing staff well trained to handle any tax-deductible donations, plus will also generate and provide tax documentation to all donors. Utilizing the University of Wyoming Foundation staff ensures continuity of the management and specified use of the UPHS Endowment Fund should the UPHS cease to exist.

The targeted purpose of the UPHS Endowment Fund is to permanently fund archival preservation and management activities of the current (and future additions to the) UPHS Archive Collection now at American Heritage Center, as well as support other railroad-related transportation collections at AHC. From its founding, the American Heritage Center at Laramie has prided itself on being accessible to everyone – from the elementary school students learning about primary resources, to the college students researching their thesis, to the professional historians performing primary research for writing up their findings, to a broad cross-section of the public following their passions. The UPHS Archive Collection inside AHC in late 2020 measures more than 300 cubic feet of our physical collection and includes over 100 gigabytes of preserved digital materials. The primary eventual goal is to establish consistent funding for a full-time employee inside the American Heritage Center to manage the UPHS Archive Collection along with other railroad collections held at AHC. Details of the very specific permissible uses of the UPHS Endowment Fund are available on the UPHS.org website.

The strength of the Union Pacific Historical Society has always been the strong involvement and support of the membership. On behalf of the UPHS Board of Directors, as President I am now asking again for your support with contributing toward growing this new UPHS Endowment Fund.

Online Donation Instructions:

1. Go to: www.uwyo.edu/giveonline
2. Enter the amount you wish to donate.
3. Select “Single Payment,” “Multiple Payments,” or “Recurring Payments“
4. Select “View Individual UW Funds“
5. Select “Other Fund Not Listed (Please Specify)“
6. Click “Continue“
7. Enter “UPHS Fund” for the name of the fund.
8. Enter A21UPHS for the Appeal Code
9. Click “Next” and complete checkout

You may mail your donation for the newly-formed UPHS Endowment Fund:

View/Download Donation Form and View More Information (pdf file)

Mail To:
University of Wyoming Foundation
Attn: UPHS Endowment Fund
222 S. 22^nd St.
Laramie, WY 82070

Bank routing number and wire transfer information is available should you need it.  Contact 307 766-6300 or 888 831-7795 for this information. Make checks out to “University of Wyoming Foundation” with “UPHS Endowment Fund” in memo line.

Greg Gardner, President – Union Pacific Historical Society

Members Area – The Member’s Area on the UPHS web site is an “online archive” of Union Pacific documents provided as a service to our members. Documents include timetables, dispatcher sheets, Form 70s, train consists, and more! Log-in information will be emailed to members twice yearly in the Second Section newsletter. If you are not already a member, please visit the Company Store to join the UPHS!

To our loyal Members:  After 12 years of holding the line on dues, the Board of Directors has voted to increase the dues as shown on the table below.  They will be effective April 1, 2025 but current subscribers are welcome to renew and extend their subscriptions at the current rate until then.  Note that Canadian and International subscriptions will now referred to as Non-US Regular or Non-US Sustaining subscription.  Our new third party mailing service groups all foreign subscriptions regardless of destination into one “cost” bucket and UPHS pays a flat rate for foreign postage.

UPHS Commemorative Boxcar. Model Railroaders: Pacific Western Rail Systems offers 50-foot c5077 cubic-foot single-door UP boxcars emblazoned with the UPHS logo. The price is $41.95 (HO) and $29.98 (N) per car plus shipping and handling.  This price is subject to change in January account potential tariffs.  One hundred total were produced, 50 of each scale, so hurry if you want one! PWRS also offers this car without the UPHS logo. For HO scale go to Pacific Western Rail Systems to order.   For N scale go to Pacific Western Rail Systems to order.

New Book on Camas Prairie Railroad!  – Carefully researched from railroad papers and interviews with employees, this book tells the full story of the Camas Prairie Railroad. This history presents the origins of the unique cooperation between the parent companies Union Pacific Railroad and Northern Pacific Railway, and details the many routes surveyed to the railroad’s namesake Camas Prairie and to the logging camp at Headquarters, Idaho. Includes maps of the many surveyed lines considered in Lapwai Canyon, site of the famous Halfmoon bridge. This 320-page hardbound book is complete with information on operations and equipment, maps of the full railroad and key points, and over 350 illustrations and photographs. Now available at the company store!

UPHS Archives at the American Heritage Center of the University of Wyoming – The American Heritage Center is developing a digital library of the images and diagrams in the UPHS Collection at AHC. This is a long-term, gradual process; only a fraction of our images are digitized at this point. A long-run goal is to develop an indexed, searchable digital library of small scans of our images for the benefit of our membership and others. Some of the completed small scans have been posted on-line by AHC. You can take a look at https://digitalcollections.uwyo.edu/luna/servlet/uwydbuwy~107~107.