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

Western History/Genealogy Newsletter

February 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

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

Robert Roeschlaub Architectural Records WH1665

The State Historical Fund Grant from Colorado Historical Society awarded a grant to process several architectural drawing collections. The first finding aid to be available online is the Robert Roeschlaub Architectural Records. Roeschlaub designed the Central City Opera House, Trinity Methodist Church and many schools and commercial buildings in Colorado. The collection comprises the architectural drawings of a residence for Philip Feldhauser, Jr., but there is no evidence that it was ever constructed.

George B. Chittenden Papers WH283

Twenty-two letters, written by George B. Chittenden to his mother during Ferdinand Hayden's Geological and Geographical Survey of the Territories comprise the George B. Chittenden Papers. His letters primarily describe mountainous areas of Colorado Territory. In addition to geographic features, Chittenden provides observations of contemporary Colorado settlements such as Fairplay, Fort Collins, Del Norte, Idaho Springs, Central City and Black Hawk. He also describes the ancient ruins at Mesa Verde. Chittenden wrote the bulk of the correspondence during survey work in Colorado Territory from 1873 to 1875. He chronicles survey activities and comments on camp life, gear, clothing and occasionally his colleagues.

Hidden Treasures

Mining in Colorado from Gold Rush Days to Oil Shale

An interesting perspective on the history of mining in Colorado was recorded on August 8, 1974, in the Wyer Auditorium of the Denver Public Library. Featured on the “Do You Remember” program called “From Gold Rush to Oil Shale” was Norman Blake, the deputy commissioner of mines, Colorado Division of Mines, and Bill Russell, the Mayor of Central City. Blake’s observations about the area and especially the importance of the tourist visits and the value of preserving the mining history present in Central City and Black Hawk is ironic given the conditions there now as a result of the introduction of gambling in 1991. Russell’s stories and questions from the audience round out this tape approximately ninety minutes long.

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

John D. Anderson Architectural Records

John D. Anderson, a Denver-based architect, received his architecture degrees from Harvard University (1949, 1952) before founding the Anderson, Mason and Dale Architectural firm in 1976. The firm has received numerous awards and has designed many buildings in Colorado, Wyoming, Nebraska, and Nevada. Some of the firm’s designs include Colorado's Ocean Journey; the Riverwalk Performing Arts Center in Breckenridge, Colorado; the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, Denver, Colorado; and the Hudson-Meng Bonebed Site, Oglala, Nebraska. Since 1988, Anderson has been Chairman of the Lower Downtown District Review and is a former President of American Institute of Architects (AIA). He is active in AIA and also concentrates on issues concerning professional education and gender diversity in the architectural profession. Anderson donated his drawings and materials (33 boxes, 10 oversize folders, one oversize box) in 2006 and 2008.

Dwight Pitcaithley Papers

Dwight T. Pitcaithley was born in Carlsbad, New Mexico, in 1944. Between 1964 and 1967, he served in the United States Marine Corps in California, Hawaii, and Vietnam. Pitcaithley pursued undergraduate and graduate work in history at Eastern New Mexico University (1970, 1971) and received his Ph.D. from Texas Tech University (1976). Professionally, he has served as Chief Historian of the National Park Service (1995-2002); as adjunct professor at George Mason University, Fairfax, Virginia (1993-2004); and he is currently a Professor in the Department of History at New Mexico State University, Las Cruces, New Mexico (2005- ). Pitcaithley has published numerous articles on the history of the preservation movement and the National Park Service. The collection (five boxes) consists of correspondence and subject files related to Pitcaithley’s work with the National Park Service.

Betty Irene Neale Papers

Betty I. Overfield was born in Hiawatha, Kansas, in 1927. While attending the University of Kansas, she married Dory J. Neale, Jr. and worked in the accounting department of the Southwestern Bell Telephone Company. In 1974, Betty Neale was elected as a Republican to the Colorado House of Representatives for House District 10, an office she would hold for almost 30 years. During her tenure as a state representative she served on numerous house committees and in 1977 became the first female representative to serve on the House Joint Budget Committee. Neale sponsored legislation concerning issues such as workers' compensation, child support enforcement reform, and the omnibus prison package. The collection (one box, one oversize folio) includes clippings; correspondence; copies of acts, bills, and legislative enactments; awards; newsletters; press releases; and handwritten notes.

Western History Donations

Coel, Margaret, a writer – donated 13 boxes of professional records including her manuscripts and one box of taped interviews
Kopel, Jerry – donated one box of his professional papers and research records
Kopel, Dolores – donated two boxes of professional papers
Changing Scene Theater – photographs, papers and artwork documenting the theater donated by Glenn Giffin
Blood-Smyth, Liddon – scrapbooks and photographs donated by Grace Wanner, daughter

10th Mountain Division Donations

Evans, Hugh W. – donated one box of presidential papers and reunion planning materials

Conservation Collection Donations

The Nature Conservancy – donated three boxes of organizational records and publications

Photograph Collection Donations

Aspen, Colorado – photo donated by Judy Brown

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

Maps As Art

December 8, 2008 - February 28, 2009
Central Library, Level 5 - Western Art Gallery
Maps As Art is the current exhibit in the Level Five Western Art Gallery of the Denver Central Public Library, continuing through February. Maps As Art presents more than 80 maps and affords an opportunity to explore how we portray our world. Included are a map that shows the elevations of a lake, a city captured on cocktail napkin, and the iconic imagery of highway and street maps. A virtual adjunct to the exhibit includes slideshows, audio commentary, and a behind-the-scenes discussion of how the exhibit was created by the team involved in selection, digitization, and online presentation. One of the more eye-catching pieces on display is a map of the Mississippi River. The 1866 Colony and Fairchild ribbon map is a scroll ten feet long and about three inches wide. It is highly detailed and includes mile markers, ports and river towns with the states denoted along the sides of the map's length. A scan of this unique map can be viewed online. Maps As Art was made possible by the generous financial assistance of Wesley A. Brown.

The Art Of Henry: 25 Years of Scenery and Costume Design

January 21 - March 29, 2009
Central Library, Level 5 - Gates Reading Room Gallery
The Denver Public Library is hosting an exhibition of more than 50 design renderings from one of Denver's cultural pioneers, Henry Lowenstein. These scenic and costume designs demonstrate Lowenstein's remarkable creative output. Most of the renderings were for Bonfils Theatre Main Stage Theatre and Children's Theatre productions from 1956 to 1975. Lowenstein designed hundreds of plays, operas, and ballets, and in 1967 became general manager of the Bonfils Theater until retiring in 1986. He then created the Denver Civic Theatre where he designed and produced more than 90 shows of all types until again retiring in 1995. Lowenstein presented quality and innovative arts from the emerging Native American, African, and Latino cultures; including Cleo Parker Robinson Dancers, the Covillo Parker Ballet Company (which evolved into the Colorado Ballet), and the National Chicano Dance Theatre. He was involved in more than 800 productions over his entire career.

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

February 6 - May 2, 2009
Central Library, Level 7 - Vida Ellison Gallery
The upcoming exhibition will feature 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.

New Books in Western History Collection

Whenever conversation stalls, what else is there to do but talk about the weather? This month, four books about weather in the American West, each of which explores how we experience weather events, the circumstances that occasion them, and their significance in the context of local and regional climate.

Tye W. Parzybok’s Weather Extremes of the West (Mountain Press Publications, 2005) presents an accessible, illustrated account of extraordinary weather events characteristic of the Western United States. Parzybok, a trained meteorologist, provides an engaging tour of specific regions of the West and their extremes of temperature, precipitation, and winds, as well as the consequences of weather events. Readers will find chapters devoted to such regions as the Cascades, the Desert Southwest, and the Northern, Central, and Southern Rocky Mountains and Colorado Plateau, and learn of blue holes, rime ice, sloshers, zephyrs, and northern invasions. Most chapters include an account of extraordinary weather events, and provide readers with ready anecdote when casual conversation next turns to the weather. Weather Extremes of the West is found in the Western History collection. Request it at our department’s reference desk, or check out one of the two circulating copies also available at the Central Library.

Still more specific in its regional focus, and more concerned with the science of weather events and the shape of climate, is Cliff Mass' The Weather of the Pacific Northwest (University of Washington Press, 2008). This is a truly gorgeous book, lavishly illustrated with photographs, maps, and charts, all working in harmony with a clear and detailed account of a region’s climate and weather. Mass begins with a background on the exceptional nature of Pacific Northwest weather and a primer on weather and climate. He proceeds in successive chapters to address different facets of the region’s weather. A last chapter addresses how to read the weather with a glance at the skies, and what telltale cloud formations reveal. The Weather of the Pacific Northwest is one of the most visually compelling works of the past year. Don’t miss it. A copy is found in the Western History collection, and it may be requested at our department’s reference desk.

Finally, two more works provide an account of weather and climate in specific states. Raymond R. Hatton’s slightly older work, The Oregon Weather Book: A State of Extremes (Oregon State University, 1999) addresses much of the same ground as The Weather of the Pacific Northwest, but delves into other themes, including the difficulties of prediction and where to explore weather and climate information online. Hatton, a historical climatologist and student of Central Oregon’s high country, also offers digressions on past perception of Oregon’s weather and climate, weather archives, and reporting and recording weather data. A copy of The Oregon Weather Book: A State of Extremes is found in the Western History collection, and it may be found in the open stacks surrounding Gates Reading Room. Several other works by Hatton are also available in our collection.

Martha Shulski and Gerd Wendler’s The Climate of Alaska (University of Alaska Press, 2007) explores the always surprising and varied climate and weather of the 49th state, a place literally and figuratively apart from the Lower 48. Shulski and Wendler’s introduction to the different regional climates of a vast state is supplemented with extended presentations on what one experiences each season in specific Alaska towns, maps, charts, and photographs. Request our department’s copy of The Climate of Alaska at the Western History & Genealogy reference desk.

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

View Slide Show

Set design by Henry Lowenstein for the 1965 production of "La Boheme" at The Denver Auditorium Theater

Henry Lowenstein’s design set the stage for the 1970 Denver Post Opera production of "Hello Dolly!" at Cheesman Park

"Showboat" was produced at the University of Northern Colorado in 1988 using Henry Lowenstein’s designs

Henry Lowenstein’s design: You Can Get It If You Want It

"You Can Get It If You Want It" was produced in 1965 at Bonfils/Lowenstein Theater using sets designed by Henry Lowenstein

Publicity poster for the Henry Lowenstein exhibit

July 1873 letter from J.B. McClure to his mother and father telling of his group horseback ride to the top of Pikes Peak

Envelope mailed from Colorado Springs by J.B. McClure to his folks in Bloomington, Illinois containing his letter describing his ride up Pikes Peak on horseback

The exhibit “Maps As Art” features this 1866 ribbon map of the Mississippi River