Abstract
This thesis expounds on the process and ways in which I worked as a historical advisor and museum professional to conceptualize, plan, and design an exhibit for the California State Railroad Museum. Crossing Lines: Women of the American Railroad, is a permanent exhibit that spotlights the women who have worked on or contributed to American Railroads. This thesis examines and reviews the scholarly work of women of the American railroads, museum best practices, and exhibit design which I used to conduct work for this project. In developing this exhibit, I orchestrated both primary and secondary source research, formed narratives, generated label copy and interpretive panels, conducted oral histories, facilitated workshop meetings, visited archives, libraries, and other repositories for photographs and the like, and selected artifacts from the CSRM collections for display.