Western History and Genealogy Blog

Weird Photo Wednesday, May 22nd, 2013

jrogers — Wed, 22 May 2013 10:29:45 PDT

The big question: Was the fire put out?

We don't know the full story about this fire truck and how it overturned. Was it on its way to a fire? Were the fire men showing off? If there was a fire, did someone else put it out? For today's Weird Photo Wednesday we have a wrecked fire truck surrounded by a bunch of curious onlookers. We're sure this doesn't happen everyday! Make sure and zoom in for more detail. For more information about this photograph, click here. For more weird, and not so weird photos, check out our Digital Collections.

Community Tuesday - "I-Do"

smcdonald — Tue, 21 May 2013 11:18:30 PDT

What is the old saying? In spring a young man’s fancy turns to thoughts of love.

Well, it’s spring and it’s time for wedding season. Coincidentally, Creating Communities just held an event celebrating the tradition of marriage for the members of Zion Baptist Church.

Zion Baptist Church has been a partner with the Creating Communities project for over two years. We have teamed up with them to help preserve a part of their history. For those of you who don’t know, Zion Baptist Church was the first, and is the oldest functioning African American Church in Denver. Established in 1865, Zion is a tight knit community. Some members of the congregation are fourth generation. Many of the members were kind enough to share their family, and even personal weddings with us.

On Saturday May 18, 2013, the “I-Do” event was held at Blair Caldwell African Research Library in Denver, Colorado. It was a fun day, full of stories, socializing, reception-like music, and even wedding cake. A slide show of donate images were presented, an exhibit of wedding dresses created, and a video produced by History Colorado on Dr. Justina Ford was shown.

What I liked most about the day was the community feeling that followed everyone that came. It was nice to see a community come together, one that has deep connections to one another. So much so, that there were many comments and discussions about the donated pictures and how the people have aged since their weddings. It was good to know that there are still groups out there who aren’t afraid to laugh at themselves, and who are still willing to cry with each other when needed.

It is my understanding that the wedding dress exhibit will be up for a few more weeks. If you are interested it is on the third floor of the Blair Caldwell Library. If you are interested in seeing the images donated to the Creating Communities website, or are a member of Zion and would like to add your own photos or stories click here. It you would like to create a similar site for your community and or church visit the Creating Communities website by clicking here.

Three Great Authors Left in the Scribes, Scholars & Storytellers Series

HEvans — Mon, 20 May 2013 14:11:50 PDT

If you have yet to join us for the Scribes, Scholars and Storytellers Series...Goodnews! There are three great authors left!!!

Check out our featured author tonight.

Monday May 20th @ 6:30pm Dana Myles In 2008 Dana self-published a thin volume of short, erotic pieces she had written over the years, Satin Sheet Memoirs, Volume 1. Her second book, Let There Be Life!, a romantic comedy about a woman’s pursuit of “life after divorce” was self-published while Dana was earning her Master of Professional Writing in 2011. Her latest published book, Hello Diva is a story of self-discovery and acceptance. http://satinsheet.nowatapress.com/

This week we will also have...

Wednesday May 22nd @ 6:30pm Charlene Porter with Special Guest, Councilman Christopher Herndon Charlene is the author of the #1 bestseller and NAACP Image Award finalist, Boldfaced Lies, “recommended” by Denver Public School Libraries as, “an important book about a shameful era of Colorado history.” Her first two sequels in this ongoing saga, featuring an achievement-oriented (mostly African American) family, companion books Eeny Meeny Miney Mo and If She Hollers, will be in book stores early 2014. The author will be selling copies of her book and donating the proceeds to the Denver Public Library. Prize drawing will be sponsored by the Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum. Light Refreshments. www.CharlenePorter.com

Councilman Christopher Herndon is from Kansas City, Missouri. A 1999 West Point graduate, he spent nearly seven years in the United States Army. He served three years in Germany where he led a peace keeping mission to Kosovo. He completed his military commitment stationed at Fort Sill, Oklahoma, assumed command of a 100 plus unit performing logistical missions in Iraq, and led a unit responsible for the training of newly commissioned lieutenants. While serving at Fort Sill, Chris earned his Master’s Degree in Management from Webster University.

And last but not least, Allison Cotton has been reschedule.

Monday June 3rd @ 6:30pm Allison M. Cotton, Ph.D. Dr. Cotton is an Associate Professor of Criminology at the Metropolitan State University of Denver. Dr. Cotton has published several papers on criminal justice topics, including but not limited to the death penalty, eye-witness identifications, lethal behavior, and expert witnesses. Her first book, Effigy: Images of Capital Defendants was released in the summer of 2008. Her latest book, co-authored with Gregg Barak and Paul Leighton; Class, Race, Gender & Crime: the Social Realities of Justice in America 4th edition is forthcoming. Dr. Cotton is a member of the Academy of Criminal Justice Sciences, the American Society of Criminology, and Coloradans for Alternatives to the Death Penalty.

Interested in learning about how you can participate in the next Scribes, Scholars and Storytellers Series please contact the Blair-Caldwell Library at 720-865-2401 or email blairstaff@denverlibrary.org

Life on Colorado Rails: The American Passenger Car Era, 1930 to 1970

jrogers — Mon, 20 May 2013 12:03:02 PDT

Check out the wonderful new exhibit at the Colorado Railroad Museum!

Today's blog post is by Lauren Giebler, Curator of the Colorado Railroad Museum. She describes a great new exhibit at the museum that gives you a window on what it was like to work and ride in passenger cars and trains in the 20th century. For more information about the blog photograph, click here. The Colorado Railroad Museum has a vast amount of photographs and other materials in their library. And remember, we have a large collection of railroad photographs in the Digital Collections.

Life on Colorado Rails: The American Passenger Car Era, 1930 to 1970 By Lauren Giebler

Opening May 18, 2013, Life on Colorado Rails 1930 to 1970 is the second of three exhibits celebrating the work and lives of railroadmen and women in Colorado. From sleeping car porters to carmen; courier nurses to conductors; engineers to yard officers, this exhibit highlights the modernization and glamour of Colorado railroads from 1930 to 1970.

The modern American Passenger Car Era began in the 1930s when railroad companies transitioned from steam to diesel locomotives, and changed to look of their trains in an effort to attract more passengers. Inspired by the Art Deco movement, railroads applied clean, unbroken lines, rounded corners, and gleaming metal bodies to trains and locomotives. Projecting an image of speed and power, the new trains symbolized the modernization of America.

Trains like Atchison Topeka & Santa Fe’s diesel-electric Super Chief ran faster than ever. In 1937, the Super Chief cut the average travel time between Chicago and Los Angeles from 55 hours to 39 ¾ hours, and became known for its first-class service and fashionable clientele. Employees had to have many years of experience before they could work on that train. As Sam Turner, a second cook remembers,

“[The Super Chief] was Santa Fe’s crack train, and you was proud to work on that train. You worked hard on there, but you learn how to cook many different things ‘cause they had the most fanciest things in the world. All those filet mignons, those sirloin steaks. You had a lot of turkeys to cook, and dressing. Prime ribs. Cornish hens. You had those trouts, and you had to bone those fishes out. You learned a lot on there. You didn’t have no canned goods or nothin’. No, you had to bring it up from the nub. If you had string beans, you had to take a knife and French-cut ‘em and then put your almonds in there and cook it up. You just had so much to do, but you had to do it from the nub”.

Sam was proud to work for the railroads, and for good reason. The Passenger Car Era marked the zenith of American railroading not just because the rolling stock was modern and luxurious, but because many railroad employees enjoyed their working experience. Strong wages, standardized working hours, health insurance, pensions, and respect from surrounding community members created desirable and satisfying jobs. It was not uncommon for employees to work thirty, forty, or even fifty years for the same railroad company.

Join us this coming May as we celebrate the men and women who kept the railroads running during the American Passenger Car Era! View photographs of porters, cooks, stewards, courier nurses, engineers and more. Explore a three-quarter sized Navajo round-end observation car complete with a sleeping berth and check out new Museum objects on display. We hope to see you there!

Photo Archive Friday

cgehrig — Fri, 17 May 2013 08:22:18 PDT

Something fishy is going on here. Can you imagine the fish story this man told. It might have been one of the few that was actually correct!

This is one majorly large fish, too bad the Sturgeon isn’t an eating fish. I wonder how many people this one could feed. Bet they cleaned up on the caviar market though.

Interesting fact: In England, the Sturgeon is a royal fish and every one caught in England is the property of the Crown.

Photo by Bisbee 1908 Nahma 632 ponds 10’11 inches long One of the giant Sturgeon found in the Lakes of Southern Idaho Kelker Studio, Twin Falls, Idaho

Weird Macabre Wednesday, May 15th, 2013

jrogers — Wed, 15 May 2013 11:30:43 PDT

Another macabre episode from the dark side of Denver's history!

Today's photograph shows a murder scene. The photograph was taken by Harry Mellon Rhoads, a prolific photographer of crime scenes. Harry was a newspaper photographer whose work encompassed the time period from 1900 to his retirement in 1968. We'll show you more of his photographs soon. For more information and to see this photograph, click here. For more weird, strange, macabre photographs, visit our Digital Collections. We have everything from the beautiful to the weird!

This Doc Didn’t Make House Calls

kcutsfor — Wed, 15 May 2013 10:24:31 PDT

Most people today define the term “cowboy” as an animal herder who tends to horses and cattle, does a myriad of ranch related tasks, and perhaps has something to do with the modern day rodeo. But in reality, for a period of time, the term referred to a gangster who rustled cattle; robbed trains and stage coaches; smuggled alcohol and tobacco; and murdered anyone who got in their way. This description fits James M. Riley, better known as Doc Middleton, to a tee. Born in 1851, this bloodthirsty cutthroat stole his first horse at the tender age of 14, was later convicted of murder in 1870, and sentenced to life in prison in Huntsville, Texas. After serving four years of that sentence, Doc craftily escaped from his confinement and traveled north to Iowa where he was captured and convicted for stealing horses. After serving 18 months, like a good member of society, Middleton received parole and traveled west to Nebraska where he promptly gunned down a soldier in a bar fight at Fort Sidney. He narrowly escaped a lynch mob that was hot on his heels and made a break for Wyoming. In the late 1870s, Middleton had bounties placed on his head by two of the largest corporations in the entire country, the Wyoming Stock Growers Association and the Union Pacific Railroad. Army officer William H.H. Llewellyn, who was trying to protect pony herds on the Pine Ridge Reservation from the crazed outlaw, took an Army detachment and lured Middleton into a meeting in Cheyenne, Wyoming. Llewellyn told Doc he would receive a governor’s pardon if he showed. Doc, after arriving with members of his gang, realized it was an ambush and shot it out with the military officers. The gun battle ended with Doc in irons and two of his gang lying dead in pools of their own blood. After toiling just shy of four years in prison, Middleton received parole. Doc eventually settled in Orin Junction, Wyoming where he died at the age of 62 in 1913 from a bacterial infection. Middleton contracted the infection after being incarcerated in a filthy jail for his involvement in a knife fight and illegally selling liquor in a saloon he owned. Along with his outlaw enterprises and a rap sheet as long as his beard; Middleton also married three times, fathered at least two children, had six different aliases, worked as a deputy sheriff, and rode with Buffalo Bill’s Wild West show. Checkout history.denverlibrary.org for more information Doc Middleton and outlaws like him.

Memorial Day Photo Shop Sale

cgehrig — Mon, 13 May 2013 14:37:36 PDT

The Photo Shop here at Denver Public Library, Level 5, Western History/Genealogy Department is having a photo sale.

Items on sale are:

Preprinted 5x7's for 6.00; 8x10 for 8.50, copies of Pasado, Presente, Futuro By Carlota EspinoZa signed by artiste for 15.00; Albert Bierstadt "Estes Park" Posters for 5.00.

Sale is good from now until May 25, 2013

A History of Latino Gangs in Denver

Noel — Fri, 10 May 2013 13:52:41 PDT

Did you know that Mexican-American gangs in Denver first formed in the 1940’s? Latino gangs attracted young men who struggled to find employment and who saw their parents struggle through low-wage, dead end jobs. Such young men saw little to no chance of fulfillment in the working world. Yet early gangs were not, by and large, profit driven. While an occasional gang member might sell drugs, the gang as a whole did not. Sociological studies seem to indicate that gang members joined for other reasons. As with New York’s Irish, Italian, Puerto Rican and African-American gangs of the time, gangs in Denver formed for protection from other communities and out of ethnic pride. In his new book Gang Life in Two Cities, Robert J. Durán discusses the role that Colorado’s early Twentieth Century infatuation with the Ku Klux Klan had in segregating Latinos into marginal neighborhoods and keeping them from desirable jobs. The city and police often ignored the needs of such neighborhoods. Gangs then formed to provide young men with protection and close-knit community networks where none existed. Gangs also gave kids an identity to set up against a society that they thought rejected them (Interestingly, at the height of the Chicano movement in the 1970’s, gang membership dwindled as youths who might otherwise join gangs followed activists like Corky Gonzales. When this movement ended, gang membership went up again). While the majority culture in the early Twentieth Century thought of boys who joined gangs and “rumbled” with other gangs as engaging in understandable and virile tests of manhood (here's a photo), the 1940’s marked the “criminalization” of gangs, with gangs seen as criminal enterprises little different than the mafia. This stigmatization of all gangs and gang members as criminal has continued to this day. Though Durán admits that gangs do engage in activities that alienate them from their own communities, he also argues that continued economic and social marginalization, along with factors such as police brutality, show that gangs still arise from a fundamental need to belong, and that they give young men (and some young women) a strong and valuable sense of identity and community. Whether or not you agree with Durán, his book is interesting, and you can find it in Western History and Genealogy along with other histories of Denver, its people and neighborhoods.

Photo Archive Friday

cgehrig — Fri, 10 May 2013 07:48:17 PDT

This was the future in 1982, you have to give the teachers credit it must have been fun for the kids! When else could you get kids to look forward to a spelling test.

Rocky Mountain News Archive

Photo by Frank Murray - December 15, 1982

Caption on back of photo: F.A.M.E. (Fully Automated Mechanical Entertainer), the robot, gives spelling quiz to Cory Elementary School Students. Students are: James Grisby and Christian Gore. The Children at Cory Elementary School are so fascinated that they don’t notice the man, Al McKittrick, in the corner, talking into his hand. He has a tiny microphone up his sleeve and controls the robot with a small remote device in a canvas bag. Owners Al McKittrick and David French usually entertain at parties, trade shows and grand openings. McKittrick believes it may be the first time any robot has given a spelling test.