Museletter Artus Van Briggle Workshop ca. 1903-1904 JULY 2019 IGNITE your curiosity. DISCOVER your story.
POTTERY in Colorado Springs All new, state-of the-art storage for the museum’s invaluable Van Briggle Pottery collection Annually, the nonprofit CSPM Board reviews unfunded strategic priorities to enhance the Museum’s mission. This year they allocated funds to ambitious and long-awaited storage projects. The staff of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum will be undertaking two compact shelving projects to help build storage quality and capacity for our collections. Thanks to the generosity of the Clock Tower Society for helping make these projects possible. The first project will create state-of-the-art and secure storage for the museum’s invaluable collection of Van Briggle Pottery. For the first time in the museum’s history, our collection of over 700 pieces will be stored together in a dedicated vault. Although over 150 Van Briggle pieces are currently on permanent exhibit in the From Paris to the Plains: The Artistry of Artus & Anne Van Briggle, the museum is the home to over seven hundred examples of the highly collectible Van Briggle Pottery. The CSPM collection includes early turn of the century pieces designed by Artus and Anne Van Briggle themselves, to more contemporary pieces made in the mid to late twentieth century produced under the Van Briggle trademark. The CSPM’s collection of Van Briggle pottery comes from two prominent sources. In 1904, examples of Van Briggle Pottery were shipped to St. Louis to be on exhibit during the World’s Fair. After returning them to Colorado Springs, the El Paso County Commissioners donated them to the museum. This donation provided the basis for our collection, and was first displayed in the El Paso County Courthouse, now the home of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. The second and largest gift of Van Briggle Pottery came from Dr. Winthrop and Lois Crouch. A native of Colorado Springs, Lois Crouch worked to preserve Van Briggle’s history and is responsible for revitalizing international interest in the study of this renowned Art Nouveau pottery. MUSELETTER JULY 2019| PG 2
Van Briggle Art Pottery Exhibit, Tile Fireplace Over the years, Lois collected, documented, and studied Van Briggle Pottery, eventually coauthoring two books. She later donated over 225 pieces of Van Briggle to the museum that today form the core of the CSPM Collection. New storage will ensure that these two donations as well as hundreds of other Van Briggle pieces can be preserved for years to come. Van Briggle Art Pottery Collection Storage The ceramics vault which will soon be home to the Van Briggle Pottery Collection currently contains fixed metal shelves storing a wide array of ceramics and glassware. Examples range from tea sets and champagne glasses to perfume and soda bottles. The new compact shelving will consist of high quality powder coated metal shelves on rails that allow rows of shelves (called carriages) to be positioned closely and moved when necessary to allow access. Rather than having five fixed shelves in the room, the new compact storage system allows seven movable shelves and one fixed shelf. As a result, storage capacity for the room will increase by approximately 35%. A crank at the end of each carriage allows staff to carefully shift the shelves by hand to allow safe access. Finally, a decking system and ramp will be placed on the floor to allow staff to safely move storage carts across the rails. Each shelf will have a lip along the front edge to allow access, but prevent accidental breakage when the carriages are moved. To further protect each piece, staff will utilize archival foam planks that are individually carved to securely hold the base of each piece with Tyvek (an inert packaging/storage material) placed as a barrier to prevent potential abrasions. All of these improved storage steps will provide further security for such important artifacts by protecting against vibrations as well as potential damage from moves. Because the design and dimensions of Van Briggle Pottery vary greatly, foam planks of different thicknesses will be used, and the height of each shelf is adjustable. The expected completion date for the Van Briggle Pottery Collection compact storage project is December 2019. We look forward to sharing photographs of the new storage facility with you – and are grateful to the CSPM Board and Clock Tower Society for making this important project possible! MUSELETTER JULY 2019| PG 3
UPCOMING EVENTS CHILDREN’S HISTORY HOUR Geology Rocks! Wednesday, July 17 10:00 – 11:00 am Explore how we use rocks to build! We’ll read Scavenger Scout: Rock Hound by Shelby Wilde and go on a tour around the museum to discover the types of rocks that are found in the building! Children ages 3-6 and their favorite adult are invited to explore regional history through story time, a family-friendly tour, activity, and craft. (Registration required) COLORADO GROWN FAMILY FUN DAY Saturday, July 27 10:00 am – 2:00 pm Show your Colorado pride and celebrate The Centennial State’s 143rd birthday! Join the museum for a day of food trucks, live music, birthday cake, and family-friendly activities. PIKES PEAK REGIONAL HISTORY LECTURE SERIES: Marshall Sprague: Controversial Feature-Writer “Historian” to Our Town, Our State, Our West Presented by Katherine Sturdevant Saturday, August 10 2:00 – 3:00 pm Journalist-author Marshall Sprague is a “colorful character” in the history of his own chosen town. His popular history of the town remains the book most likely offered to newcomers, to the discomfort of scholars. During most of his era here, it seems no popular or scholarly author superseded Marshall Sprague’s production of local/regional history books, articles, public lectures, or publicity generally about this place. Yet, researchers have not mobbed to his archives at PPLD or CC Tutt Library Special Collections. Viewing Sprague and his work anew might tell us as much about ourselves as it does about Sprague. (Registration required) About The Presenter: Katherine Scott Sturdevant, Pikes Peak Community College senior history professor, has long taught, presented, written, and practiced public history. This presentation expands and further interprets her talk and chapter for this year’s Regional History Series of the Pikes Peak Library District Special Collections. FOOD TRUCK TUESDAYS! Enjoy Every Tuesday through October 29 11:00 am – 1:30 pm Enjoy local food truck vendors and live music on the west lawn of CSPM every Tuesday. Drop in the museum at 12:00 or 12:30 pm for a free History in 10 short and informative storytelling session! Please RSVP for events at: www.cspm.org/rsvp-for-an-event or 719-385-5990 MUSELETTER JULY 2019| PG 4
DONOR SPOTLIGHT Clock Tower Society Barbara Bates Our Clock Tower Society represents a group of individuals who are passionate about local history and envision a future for the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum. We asked Barbara Bates to share her story about her passion for the CSPM. Why do you feel the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum is important to support? “I believe in supporting local organizations so I can see the difference they make in our community. The Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum preserves our community’s history. Colorado Springs has such a unique story, and I believe it is an important one to tell. Otherwise, how do we know as a community where we are going unless we know where we came from.” What are some of your favorite exhibits and/or artifacts in the CSPM? “It is hard for me to pick because I have many favorites. I love the Katherine Lee Bates Sculpture outside of the Museum, because of the name, of course! One of my favorite exhibits is the Helen Hunt Jackson House. It is neat that it is a part of her actual house inside the Museum.” Thank you Barbara for your passion and commitment to the CSPM! Interested in joining the Clock Tower Society? Contact: Diane Barber Stine at: (719) 385-5633 or email: diane.stine@coloradosprings.gov FEATURE EXHIBIT: [Dis]Information: American Indians Through the Lens of Roland Reed 10:00 am - 5:00 pm | Tuesday – Saturday (through March 28, 2020) [Dis]Information: American Indians Through the Lens of Roland Reed includes dozens of pictorialist photographs of American Indians taken by Roland Reed in the early twentieth century. Reed constructed romantic scenes that situated American Indians in an imagined past versus contemporary reality. The exhibit encourages visitors to examine the role “retrospective photography” plays in shaping our understanding of American Indians. CSPM is honored to work with Gregg Deal, Pyramid Lake Paiute, an extraordinary artist whose work challenges misconceptions of indigenous people and asks viewers to reexamine stereotypes. MUSELETTER JULY 2019| PG 5
SPEAK UP COLORADO SPRINGS! Did you know that the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum is responsible for the care and preservation of the City’s permanent collection of public art? Did you also know that PlanCOS, the new comprehensive plan that will guide Colorado Springs through 2040 includes an entire chapter on furthering Colorado Springs’ “Renowned Culture?” A key strategy listed in the plan was to “complete, update, and implement public art plans and to consider arts and culture in other city plans.” To that end, we want to know your thoughts and opinions on public art in Colorado Springs. We would appreciate your participation in a short survey that will be an important part of our planning process. We hope to gather at least 1,000 responses over the next month or so. Thank you! TAKE THE SURVEY: (CLICK HERE) You can get more information about the project at the city’s website: coloradosprings.gov/publicartcos Double Eagle Venetucci Purple Coneflowers, Chris Weed Spring Bouquet
DID YOU KNOW? By: Leah Davis Witherow, Curator of History After four years with the CSPM, Archivist Stephanie Prochaska has resigned to take on a challenging new role with the Colorado Department of Transportation here in Colorado Springs. Working in Electronic Resources, Stephanie will design a new database for environmental planning documents which will serve as a model for other divisions within CDOT. Before coming to the museum, Stephanie worked as an electronic records archivist with the Sierra Nevada Corporation in Denver. Starting as the Assistant Archivist in February 2015, Stephanie has been an invaluable member of our exhibits, collections and programs team. She helped research and customize our new Past Perfect collections database, was responsible for the successful digitization of dozens of CSPM oral history interviews, and oversaw the integration of thousands of archival records into the collections database. She worked with the City of Colorado Springs IT Department to create a special preservation drive to house the museum’s collection of digital images, and helped create numerous Story of Us digital themes. Stephanie has worked with hundreds of researchers in the past four years and will be greatly missed by the team of volunteers and interns she supervised in the Museum’s Archives. During her tenure with the Museum, Stephanie was promoted to the position of Archivist and received certification through the Academy of Certified Archivists in the fall of 2018. She has been a fantastic colleague, consummate team player and an important part of the museum’s success in fulfilling our mission. Stephanie herself stated, “I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunities I’ve been provided working for the Museum. It’s been a wonderful experience to work for such a great and professional group of individuals.” We will miss Stephanie tremendously – but wish her great success in her new position. MUSEUM STORE Alida’s Peach Salsa from Palisade, CO ($8.00) A Child’s Introduction to the Night Sky by: Michael Driscoll’s ($19.99) Includes a star wheel guide and glowin-the-dark stickers of the star system THE PEAK OF RACING—Pikes Peak Through the Racers’ Eye by Chris Lennon ($50.00) MUSELETTER JULY 2019| PG 7
VOLUNTEER OF THE MONTH SARAH GONZALES Sarah Gonzales joined the museum board at the beginning of this year and now serves as the Chair of the Fundraising Committee. Development Director, Diane Stine, shared “Sarah has been a wonderful addition to the Board and Fundraising Committee. She has so much passion for the Museum and enjoys spreading the word about everything we do. We look forward to working with her more as she takes on the role as the Fundraising Committee Chair.” Sarah’s interest in the museum started through her children, “The museum has been a wonderful safe haven for my children. It’s a place where they can learn and foster their imagination. It’s because of this that I choose to dedicate my time to the museum and work towards further engagement of future generations in our community.” One of her favorite experiences was attending a field trip with her son’s class. She was so proud that he was eager to share his knowledge of the museum with his classmates. “The museum has been a wonderful safe haven for my children. It’s a place where they can learn and foster their imagination. It’s because of this that I choose to dedicate my time to the museum and work towards further engagement of future generations in our community.” In her time with the museum, Sarah has grown fascinated and inspired by the work of African American entrepreneur, philanthropist, and community activist Fannie Mae Duncan, “I love to see and hear stories of diversity here in Colorado Springs. It helps me see where we came from and what we need to remember in order to become more inclusive.” Outside of her work with the museum Sarah shared, “I spend most of my time with my kids outdoors. We love to attend museums of all kind, try new foods, and new experiences especially in the Downtown Colorado Springs area.” Sarah works with U.S. Bank on Tejon Street and volunteers with many non-profit organizations. We are so fortunate to have Sarah as a member of our Board and Fundraising Committee! Thank you! MUSELETTER JULY 2019| PG 8
You ’ r e In v it e d The Gift of History Breakfast AUGUST 21 Please join us for a free breakfast and learn about the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum and its programs! Your support will be requested, but there is no obligation to give. Antlers Hotel 7 a.m. Doors Open 7:30 - 8:30 a.m. Program Please RSVP now to attend. Or do you want to serve as a table captain and invite your friends and neighbors? Call 719-385-5633 or email Diane.Barber@coloradosprings.gov Diane.Stine@coloradosprings.gov MUSELETTER JULY 2019| PG 9
HAPPENINGS Museum volunteers took a field trip in June to learn more about our community - The Space Foundation Discovery Center. Judy Arndt Sharon Dixon, Tanja Britton, Frances Worthington, Isabelle Couture Makaela Worden, Annelise Kelley, Jessica Leach, Linnea Wuorenmaa, Sarah Cummings, Emily Sharp Follow CSPM on social media! Larry Schaefer and Tom Lake MUSELETTER JULY 2019| PG 10
HAPPENINGS Colorado Farm & Art Market Begins Every Wednesday until October 9 3 – 7:30 pm at Nevada & Vermijo Christian Palma winding the E. Howard & Co. Street Clock on the museum grounds weekly to keep it in good time MUSELETTER JULY 2019| PG 11
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