Credits

Thomas Hodge

Thomas Hodge, Professor of Russian, conceived, coordinated and directed the entire project. He secured funding and the reference materials necessary to build the virtual environment authentically and exactly.

Aubrey Simonson

Aubrey Simonson (Wellesley '19) was the first student involved with this project. Over the course of two years, he taught himself 3D modeling in Maya, virtual reality game development in Unity, and the art of squinting at antique Russian schematics in the process of creating the initial model of the train car, and tools for exploring it in VR. More on his contributions to the project, and the work he’s done since can be found at aubreysimonson.com.

Claire Cannatti

Claire Cannatti (Wellesley '20) continued where Aubrey left off, updating his work to be compatible with contemporary game engines, adding visual details, and converting the experience to the web-interactive version on this site. She also built and populated this site. You can check out more details on her contribution to this project and a selection of her other projects at clairecannatti.com.

Acknowledgements

Jordan Tynes

We would like to thank Jordan for all his technical expertise and help with the development of the experience.

Betsey Knapp and the The Knapp Media and Technology Center

We would not have been able to make this project happen, nor would we have been able to navigate the various challenges of digital fabrication as smoothly, without the Knapp staff.

The New York Public Library

We thank the New York Public Library for allowing us access to Professor Nabokov's original sketch of the train car, which was integral to the creation of the experience.

Sergei Kiselev

Many thanks to Sergei for his expert advice on nineteenth-century Russian railroad technology.