Denver Public Library: Western History Genealogy: News, Exhibits and Classes

Western History/Genealogy Newsletter

November/December 2008

Welcome to The Denver Public Library's Western History/Genealogy News. This page is updated monthly and includes:

Archives Collection News
New Books in the Western History Collection
Genealogy News

Archives Collection

A note about the Archives Collection: all Archives Collections are cataloged and a brief record is available through the Library catalog. Only a portion of the Archives Collection has extensive online guides found in the Archives Finding Aids that contain detailed descriptive information and lists of contents including the following new materials.

New Archives Finding Aids

Carl M. Williams Papers WH2045

The Carl M. Williams Papers reflect his interest in politics. He earned a small fortune as one of the first cable television entrepreneurs. In 1968, Williams was elected to office for one term as a Republican in the Colorado State Senate. Following his stint as an elected official, he became a behind the scenes worker on various campaigns, but mostly as a donor of funds to candidates for all levels of government offices. His collection includes direct correspondence with presidents, their staffs, and many members of Congress. Their signatures, on some notes and letters to him, are sprinkled throughout this collection.

Betty Neale Papers WH2044

The bulk of Betty Neale's papers consist of clippings, proposed bills and correspondence she received as a representative to the Colorado House of Representatives from 1974 to 1992. Some clippings trace her activities in high school, her marriage and the birth of her children in Kansas. Election materials for her campaigns also form a part of the collection along with certificates and awards she received from various organizations. She was the first woman named to the legislature’s Joint Budget Committee, and was named outstanding legislator numerous times by various groups.

Lucius Morris Beebe Papers WH33

We have just added a spectacular collection of steam locomotive photographs to the Lucius Beebe Papers. The collection includes approximately 650 photographic prints, which Lucius Beebe acquired from Fred Jukes of Blaine, Washington, a noted railroad photographer active from 1900 to 1940. The Jukes material includes both original Fred Jukes photographs and photographic prints that Jukes received from other sources. Also included within the collection are photographs that Beebe obtained from unknown sources. Photographers represented in the collection include Charles Clegg, Lucius Beebe, Philip R. Hastings, H. Reid, Jim Shaughnessy and Fred Jukes. The photographs span the 1860s to the 1950s and include both American and international railroad subjects. All of the images comprise black and white photographic prints. Most images depict individual steam locomotives in static poses. Many images are builder's photographs, which are generally full, side views of locomotives taken under special lighting and with special care in order to portray locomotive details as delivered from the manufacturer. A photograph album, presented by Lucius Beebe, which depicts twenty-nine interior and exterior views of various luxury parlor cars completes the series. All image descriptions are searchable through the EAD finding aid, Lucius Morris Beebe Papers (WH33).

Hidden Treasures

Oral Histories

The archive has oral history collections available on a number of topics, and featuring a wide variety of individuals available to listen to in the Mullen Manuscript Reading Room, but some are also available online. Transcripts of many of the tapes are also available. Topics ranging from the Ku Klux Klan, the Federal Art Programs in Colorado, The 10th Mountain Division, Denver Theater, and the Women’s Outdoor Club are a few of the topics on more than 400 tapes. Some have been digitized to allow customers to listen to them online; many of the 10th Mountain stories have been digitized. To locate a tape perform a catalog search using the term which interests you, for example “Ku Klux Klan” followed by “oral histories” and select one of the titles to listen to. Each side of the tape has a separate URL.

Archives Donations

The Western History and Genealogy Department is home to over 4,000 Archival Collections having to do with the history of Colorado and the states west of the Mississippi. We have countless families, individuals, businesses, and organizations to thank for our Archival Collections, which contain original materials such as correspondence, business records, meeting minutes, speeches, legislative files, scrapbooks, journals, diaries, and photographs. The generosity of our donors has allowed countless researchers to glean one-of-a-kind information about Colorado and the West, and it has enabled generations of family members to visit the Library and learn about their ancestors. We consider our archival collections to be treasures of the Library, and we are grateful for the opportunity to preserve and provide access to them.

Western History Donations

Denver Children’s Museum – donated one box of photos documenting events at the Museum
Colorado White Water Association – Clyde Jones donated one folder of articles on rafting in Colorado
Colorado Author’s League – Robert Root donated one box of the organization’s records
Noel, Tom – donated a partial box of papers that document his recent publications and articles and his travels
Interstate Commerce Commission Bureau of Valuation – Harris County Archives located in Houston, Texas donated two boxes and an oversize folio of records documenting the railroads in the early 20th century
Curfman, Robert – donated three boxes of family genealogy and personal papers
Harden, Lois Harter – Judy Winder donated several scrapbooks and a photograph album
Walton, Roger – donated 6 boxes of his professional papers that include his work as a Colorado lobbyist
Abstracts of Title – donated by Donald F. Wood
Gerhardt/Lowary Family – eight family photographs donated by Patricia Klinestiver

Conservation Collection Donations

Zahniser, Howard – Ed Zahniser donated one box of his father’s personal and professional papers

10th Mountain Division Donations

Haack, Eleanor – photographs, orders and correspondence donated by Deanna Carlson
Litchfield, John – donated photographs, notes, CD-ROMS and working papers from his Commemorative Book
Craig, Gordon A. – photographs and correspondence were donated by Charles Craig
Evans, Hugh – donated photographs and newspaper clippings

Information for Donors

Individuals, businesses, and organizations are welcome to contact the Library to discuss donating materials having to do with the history of Colorado and the West. Such materials may include, but are not limited to, original personal and professional correspondence, organizational and business records, meeting minutes, memos, speeches, legislative files, subject files, scrapbooks, journals/diaries, and photographs.

We are particularly interested in locating archival materials that document the following areas of state and regional history:

Colorado legislators and political figures
Ethnic groups, such as the Hispanic and Japanese American communities
Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender communities
Sports history and industry
Cultural and non-profit organizations
Native Americans
Notable historical families or individuals
Societies, clubs, and organizations

If you are interested in donating materials to the Library, please contact Erin Edwards, Acquisitions Specialist, 720-865-1810, eedwards@denverlibrary.org or check here for donation guidelines.

Volunteering

Volunteers are always welcome to assist with the processing of the Archives Collections and processing the related photographs. If you are interested in volunteering to help process Archives Collections, contact the volunteer office.

New Books in Western History Collection

Since 1988, the Western History and Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library has recognized outstanding contributions to Western history through its Caroline Bancroft History Prize. The Caroline Bancroft Trust funds the award, and the department’s staff selects the prize-winning book.

The winner of this year’s Bancroft Prize is Sterling Evans, Bound in Twine: The History and Ecology of the Henequen-Wheat Complex for Mexico and the American and Canadian Plains, 1880-1950. By examining a single, otherwise innocuous item, Evans has brought together an absolutely fascinating story of the impact of technology, one with profound consequences for an entire continent. Popular and scholarly works on specific objects or commodities have been in vogue for more than a decade, producing many fine works -- such as Mark Kurlansky's Cod: A Biography of the Fish that Changed the World and Salt: A World History, Richard Klein's Cigarettes are Sublime, or John Ellis' older The Social History of the Machine Gun -- but this is easily one of the most sophisticated and surprising of these histories.

During the second half of the nineteenth century, the mechanization of agriculture produced stunning increases in productivity, but perhaps nowhere more so than in wheat cultivation. Before the advent of combines, binders tied cut wheat into sheaves for subsequent threshing. Sheaves required a strong, supple twine to create tight ties and resist insects. Metal ties were ineffective and a threat to animals. Natural fibers were preferable. But finding the right natural fibers to produce the best twine proved elusive, until a blend of fibers, sisal and henequen, both cultivated in Mexico's Yucatan, became the binder twine of choice for decades.

And what arose from that? As Evans demonstrates, much consequence: he explores the implications of this demand for binder twine, including the role of henequen in the social, economic, and environmental development of Yucatan and its place in the volatile Mexican politics of the day; the displacement of Yaqui Indians from Sonora to Yucatan to meet the demand for labor, their effective enslavement in the fields and subsequent diaspora, and the bitterly ironic transformation of the Yaqui's Sonoran homelands into wheat fields; twine and international affairs, including the threat of gunboat diplomacy to secure fiber supplies; twine production and prison labor in Canada and the United States; and the decline of binder twine and its consequences in three countries.

A product of staggering research, including sources in Canada, Mexico, and the United States, as well as in English and Spanish, Evans presents a lively, fascinating, and important account of how interconnected and important are even the seemingly smallest of ties. Quite simply, this is what many scholars working in the field have hoped Western history would become.

Our 2008 Bancroft honor book is Christian W. McMillen’s Making Indian Law: The Hualapai Land Case and the Birth of Ethnohistory. McMillen examines the origins and implications of United States v. Santa Fe Pacific Railroad Co., a case decided by the Supreme Court in 1941 and thereafter simply known as "the Hualapai case." After decades of dispute between railroad and the Hualapai of northern Arizona, the Court decided that the Hualapai had demonstrated their presence on the land prior to the establishment of the reservation, and had a prior right to the land based on historic occupation.

Now, that might not sound like a shattering decision, save that the development of Indian law in the United States after the early nineteenth century decisions penned by Chief Justice John Marshall (especially Johnson v. M'Intosh [1823], Cherokee Nation v. Georgia [1831], and Worcester v. Georgia [1832]), saw the Court largely refuse to acknowledge any prior Indian claim to lands, whether by simply ignoring Indian presence or dismissing Indian claims as inconsequential or insignificant. As McMillen notes, the Court, policymakers, and politicians largely dismissed the Indian past, effectively rendering the continent void of prior claims, a so-called "terra nullius." But Indian peoples, including the Hualapai, simply did not accept this, and they went about asserting their claims, working to mount legal cases, and systematically building an account of their respective pasts.

McMillen's book chronicles this effort for the Hualapais, and especially those tribal leaders, like Fred Mahone, who worked relentlessly to retain tribal lands, and the long struggle to have their stories heard. Making Indian Law brings together a history of an Indian people actively engaged in making their own lives, the political and legal context with which they struggled, and the lawyers and politicians who sought to create (or resist) fundamental changes in Indian law. McMillen does not overstate the significance of the Hualapai case in noting its consequence for Indian law in the United States, and its significance in landmark cases in Australia (Mabo and Others v. the State of Queensland (No.2) [1992]) and Canada (Delgamuukw v. British Columbia [1997]). Clear, fluid, and well researched, this book is recommended for anyone interested in Indian history or the history of the West.

Genealogy News

Monthly Beginning Genealogy classes have resumed. These classes are free and held on the second Saturday of each month with no reservation required. They meet in the Central Library as a joint project of the Colorado Genealogical Society and the Western History/Genealogy Department of the Library.

Beginning Genealogy: by the Colorado Genealogical Society

Saturday, November 8, 10 a.m. - 3 p.m.
Central Library, Gates Conference Room - Level 5
Attendees will be introduced to thinking genealogically through the exploration of the following:

Stacks of Paper: How to Organize
Home Sources, Paper, People
Pedigree Charts and Family Group Sheets
W5 - Be a Detective
Beginning Internet Sources
Six Major Record Groups

There will be a 30-minute lunch break. Class is followed by a tour of the genealogy collection. This all day session begins promptly at 10 a.m. and ends at approximately 3 p.m.

Denver Public Library Genealogical News and Events Calendar

Colorado Genealogical Society Classes and Events

Previous Newsletters

March 2007, April 2007, May/June 2007, July 2007, August 2007, September 2007, October 2007, December 2007, January 2008, February 2008, March 2008, April 2008, May 2008, June 2008, July 2008, August 2008, September 2008, October 2008

View Slide Show

Betty Neale’s campaign flyer for her 1972 campaign for the Colorado House

One of the images from the Lucius Beebe Papers shows an engine bearing the Brooklyn Bath and Coney Island

Another image from the Lucius Beebe Papers shows engine 14

Bound in Twine, the 2008 winner of the Bancroft Award presented annually by the Western History & Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library to the author of the best book on the history of the trans-Mississippi West published during the previous year

Making Indian Law was selected by the Western History & Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library as the Honor Book for this year's Bancroft Award