The next spring lecture at the Churchill County Museum focuses on rail transportation.
Photo by Steve Ranson.
The Churchill County Museum’s annual free spring lecture series continues Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. with speaker Chris De Witt.
This year’s “Wheels …” theme features the connections between people, transportation and history. De Witt, the restoration manager at the Nevada State Railroad Museum in Carson City, will present “Lumbering Through the Sagebrush: an overview of timber and firewood production for Virginia City with notes on the restoration of locomotive Glenbrook.”
Originally from New England, De Witt came west to attend the University of California, Davis to study materials science. After graduation, he worked in the San Francisco Bay Area until 1977 when he accepted a position at the new California State Railroad Museum. In 1981, he moved to the Nevada State Railroad Museum.
De Witt specializes in industrial fine arts, antebellum to 1900. He oversees the care of the rail collection and assists other state institutions with their large artifacts. Most notably, he has participated in maintaining the Nevada State Museum’s coin press, the State Parks Fort Churchill rifled field pieces, the Nevada Historical Society’s bullion scale and other artifacts.
De Witt is also a National Ski patroller, an avid sailor and the grandfather of nine.
All lectures in the series are free to the public and light refreshments will be served. The Churchill County Museum is located at 1050 S. Maine St.
For information, contact Education Curator Jennifer Jones at 775-423-3677, ext. 1224 or email jennifer.jones@churchillcountynv.gov.