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

Western History/Genealogy Newsletter

April 2009

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

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

Archives Collection

New Blog Coming in May

Begininning in May, this newsletter will change formats. The newsletter will still be sent via e-mail but now you can look forward to monthly updates and links directing you to new posts on the Western History & Genealogy News Blog. The blog will be updated regularly with the same content that you look forward to here but the variety of subjects and staff writers will be greatly expanded. You will also have the opportunity to participate in the blog by posting your comments, research and suggestions. Requests for information about or from our collections will still be sent to GenHist@denverlibrary.org.

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

Theodore Boal Architectural Records WH1524

Theodore Boal’s Architectural Records date from his return to Denver in 1898, when he leased an office in the Equitable Building, at 17th and Stout Street. He designed the residence of John Albert Ferguson to sit at the northeast corner of 7th Avenue and Grant Street. Completed in 1899 the house was occupied by the Ferguson family until 1918. In 1909, after Boal had left Denver, Ferguson contracted the architectural firm Fisher and Fisher to expand the house to what a 1948 newspaper article described as “an unrivaled grandeur that survives to this day.” A dozen years later it was demolished to make way for an apartment building.

Roland L. Linder Architectural Records WH1554

Roland L. Linder Architectural Records stem from when he was appointed City Architect in 1931. Linder was the chief draftsman responsible for the Denver Municipal (City and County) building design. Thereafter, he supervised the construction of the building. His Architectural Records comprise blueline and blueprint drawings of the Denver Municipal Stadium (later known as the Denver Coliseum) and the Denver City and County Building. The collection contains no original drawings. Many drawings are worn and in fragile condition.

Hidden Treasures

The Diary/Ledger of Mrs. Mary Lampland

Mrs. Mary Lampland, a farm wife living in Wild Horse, Colorado during the dust bowl days of 1935-1936 tracked the washing she took in and the expenses of running a household on the plains of Eastern, Colorado. As with most diaries of this type the weather is frequently noted. She also detailed to whom they mailed Christmas cards.

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.

Featured Donations

Margaret Coel Papers, 1950-2008

Colorado author Margaret Coel writes both fiction and nonfiction and is best known for her Wind River mystery series. The collection (13.5 boxes) contains manuscripts and research files for many of Coel’s books, including Chief Left Hand (1980), Eagle Catcher (1994), Ghost Walker (1996), Dream Stalker (1997), Lost Bird (1999), Spirit Woman (2000), Thunder Keeper (2001), Killing Raven (2003), and Blood Memory (2008). The collection also includes lectures, professional papers, historical research, correspondence, scrapbooks, interviews, audio/visual material, and promotional posters.

Sam Speas (1901-1981) Papers, 1886-1985

Samuel F. Speas, Margaret Coel’s father, was born in Colorado in 1901 and inherited a lifelong interest in railroads from his father. He worked as a fireman on the Colorado and Southern Railway in 1921 and went on to become an engineer in 1940 until his retirement in 1967. He was active in the Brotherhood of Locomotive Engineers. His collection (6 boxes) contains a sampling of family records (1886-1894), research materials and manuscript copies for Speas and Coel’s book Goin’ Railroading (1985), assorted railroad-related records from the Colorado and Southern Railway, general Colorado railroad research, and railroad maps.

Western History Donations

Gentlemen's Driving and Riding Club of Denver - Mark Reno donated a sterling silver loving cup
Highland United Neighborhood - Monique Elwell donated a partial box of records
Coalition to Save Civic Center Park - Nancy L. Widmann donated one box of the organizational records
Mile High Housing Association / South Dahlia Lane - Juanita Oppegard donated a partial box of records documenting the organization’s early years
Daughters of the American Revolution – Mount Rosa Chapter - Beverly J. Nelson donated one scrapbook
William S. Jackson Family - Bill Jackson donated a partial box of family papers
Noel, Tom - donated a partial box of materials documenting his recent projects
Colorado Deeds - donated by Grace Staller
Tabor, Horace A. - Sandra Dallas donated a mining certificate
Journal of Mrs. Wesley C. Brown Sister - Sandra Dallas donated a journal written by Sister
Denver Symphony Guild/ Colorado Symphony Guild - Joyce Kramer donated two boxes of records
Archuleta, Lena - donated a photograph to add to her archive
Kiwanis Club of Denver - David Webster donated a box of the organization’s records
Duke, H. Benjamin family - Ben Duke donated a partial box of material related to the Western Stock Show
International Society for British Genealogy and Family History - Ann Lisa Pearson donated two boxes of records

Conservation Collection Donations

West Arapahoe Soil Conservation, Plains Conservation Center - Tudi Arneill donated four boxes of organizational records
Student Conservation Association - donated a file of records
Zahniser, Howard - Ed Zahniser donated one box of papers
The Wilderness Society - Ben Beach donated two boxes of records

Photograph Collection Donations

Cheesman Memorial photograph - donated by Nancy Ann Obenaus
French, Captain Thomas - Helen Gioia donated the portrait photograph
Chamberland, W.C. - nine stereoscopes donated by Wes Brown
Woody Photographs - Lois Woody donated two photographs

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.

Exhibits

Jane Silverstein Ries (1909-2005): Retrospective of a Colorado Landscape Architect

February 6 - May 20, 2009
Central Library, Level 7 - Vida Ellison Gallery
The exhibition features original landscape architecture plans and photographs of gardens designed by Jane Silverstein Ries, Colorado’s first licensed female landscape architect.

These evocative and sensual landscape designs will highlight Jane Silverstein Ries’ creative and innovative architecture landscape career, which spanned over 60 years. The exhibit includes landscape renderings, plans and designs along with photographs of the gardens created for clients. She created more than 1,500 landscapes in the Colorado region and specialized in city gardens, parks, hospitals, museums, churches, schools, city halls, and grand homes, including the Executive Residence of the Governor. The exhibit also includes ephemera from Ries’ professional and personal life, including drawings and photographs from her childhood and her years as a student at Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture for Women.

Julia Jane Silverstein was born in Denver, Colorado on March 10, 1909. From a young age, Jane eschewed traditional women’s roles and was determined to have a career. In 1929, she graduated from Lowthorpe School of Landscape Architecture for Women in Groton, Massachusetts. She returned to Denver to take a job at the Denver landscape architecture firm McCrary, Culley and Carhart. A few months later, Silverstein started her own firm, to which she would dedicate her professional life for more than 60 years.

In 1966, Ries worked to support a bill establishing the Colorado State Board of Landscape Architecture. The group authored the Landscape Architect Registration Act, which limited the use of the term “landscape architect” to only qualified professionals. In 1968, Ries was granted the third certificate ever issued by the Colorado Board of Examiners of Landscape Architects, making her Colorado’s first licensed female landscape architect. She was the first president of the Rocky Mountain Chapter of the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA). In 1994, the Colorado Chapter of ASLA established the Jane Silverstein Ries Award to recognize those who demonstrate a pioneering sense of awareness and stewardship of land use values in the Rocky Mountain region. Ries was an American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) Fellow, and in 2005, she was awarded the prestigious American Society of Landscape Architects Medal in honor of her lifetime achievement in the profession.

Jane Silverstein Ries lived at 737 Franklin Street in Denver, and used the studio above the garage as her office for more than 60 years. The house was designated a Historic Landmark by the Denver Landmark Preservation Commission in 1992. Jane Silverstein Ries died in Denver in 2005. A species of boxwood, a shrub, Buxus mycrophylla “Julia Jane,” is named in her honor.

Otto Kuhler

Central Library, Level 5 - Western History & Genealogy
Otto Kuhler paintings are on display in the Western History area of the Denver Public Library. Palmer Hoyt, editor of The Denver Post, described him this way: “Otto Kuhler was fortunate to be born in and become an active part of one of the most exciting periods of world history.” He was an industrial designer turned rancher and we have just a small sample of his work done during a long and distinguished career. Kuhler has been closely associated with steel and steam from childhood, and played a major role in the refinement of steam locomotive design. For further information consult his 1967 work My Iron Journey: An Autobiography of a Life with Steam and Steel. The 2009 Rail Annual No. 29, Black Smoke and White Iron, is the first detailed study of Colorado's coke and ore smelting industries and their importance to the state's mountain railroads and contains five full color, full page reproductions of Otto Kuhler paintings.

New Books in Western History Collection

This month, a brief look at the work of Timothy Egan, reporter, historian, and student of the American West, and this year’s recipient of the Evil Companions Literary Award. Egan will receive the award in a ceremony at the Oxford Hotel on Thursday, April 16, 2009. Tickets for the event are available online. Proceeds benefit the Denver Public Library.

The Evil Companions Literary Award is presented annually to a writer whose work embodies the spirit of the American West. It was founded by Joyce Meskis (Tattered Cover Book Store), Dana Crawford (Oxford Hotel), and David Milofsky (Professor of English, Colorado State University), to support regional writing and celebrate Denver’s place as a literary center. The award also commemorates its namesake group of Denver writers of the 1950s and 1960s who met to drink and discuss literature.

Timothy Egan’s most recent book, The Worst Hard Time: The Untold Story of Those Who Survived the Great American Dust Bowl (Houghton Mifflin, 2006), chronicles the lives of peoples of the Plains during the Great Depression. In the minds and memories of many, the Dust Bowl was a tragic event that brought together years of drought with the despair of economic depression. But, as Egan demonstrates, much of the disaster of the Dust Bowl was man-made, the result of irresponsible and unsustainable agricultural practices, a brazen indifference to the realities of aridity, and the wheat bonanza that drove farmers to break more ground to create arable lands. The Worst Hard Time won the 2006 National Book Award and Denver Public Library holds three-dozen copies of the book, and the only copy available as this column was written is the non-circulating copy in the Western History & Genealogy Department. Reserve a circulating copy online, or ask a department librarian for our department’s copy, and enjoy Egan’s work in the Gates Reading Room.

Egan’s other non-fiction works also examine western places and peoples. Lasso the Wind: Away to the New West (Knopf, 1998) presents Egan’s exploration of the contemporary Mountain West, and considers the relationship between myth and reality that has shaped and bedeviled the region for centuries. Breaking Blue (Knopf, 1992) explores the history of Spokane, Washington, during the Great Depression, and weaves together a past story of crime, corruption, and the murder of George Conniff, a Pend Oreille County marshal, with the contemporary research of Sheriff Tony Bamonte. The Good Rain: Across Time and Terrain in the Pacific Northwest (Knopf, 1990) explores the region, taking the reader on a tour of representative places and personalities. Circulating copies of each title are available at the Denver Public Library. Copies of Lasso the Wind and The Good Rain are also available in the Western History and Genealogy Department, and a copy of Breaking Blue has been ordered for the department’s collection. Timothy Egan is also author of a work of fiction, The Winemakers Daughter: A Novel (Knopf, 2004), also available from the Denver Public Library.

Finally, Egan’s blog for The New York Times, Outposts, examines the politics and people of the West, and deserves to be read by anyone interested in the region’s present and future. Likewise, Egan’s feature articles, opinion pieces, and book reviews appear regularly in the Times. Sample his writing using the Denver Public Library’s subscriptions to ProQuest’s New York Times and New York Times: Historical Backfile.

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. Class is followed by a tour of the genealogy collection. There will be a 30-minute lunch break. Each all day session begins promptly at 10 a.m. 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, November/December 2008, January 2009, February 2009, March 2009

View Slide Show

View from Colfax Avenue of the home of Captain William Decatur Bethel and family

View from Colfax Avenue of the three-story, stone-block residence of Captain William Decatur Bethel and family, located at Colfax Avenue and Marion Street in Denver, Colorado; designed by architect Theodore Boal.

The Grant-Humphreys Mansion designed by Theodore Boal and Frederick Harnois

The Grant-Humphreys Mansion, at 770 Pennsylvania Street, was designed by Theodore Boal and Frederick Harnois as the residence for Colorado Governor James B. Grant. The Neoclassical style house has a portico, Corinthian columns, arched windows and balconies.

View of a huge dark cloud of dust possibly in Walsh, Baca County, or Holly, Prowers County, southeastern Colorado. A house and line of trees is barely visible. The devasting dust bowl carried top soil for miles.

Selection of books by Timothy Egan, reporter, historian, and student of the American West, and this year’s recipient of the Evil Companions Literary Award.