The Estes Park Museum

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Estes Park Museum director represents Colorado at Connecting to Collections: The National Conservation Summit

June, 2007 

Betty Kilsdonk, director of Museum/Senior Center Services for the Town of Estes Park, has been invited by the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), a federal agency, to attend Connecting to Collections: The National Conservation Summit on June 27 and 28 in Washington, DC. The gathering is intended to bring representatives of small- and medium-sized museums and libraries together with national leaders to identify strategies for preserving endangered collections, engaging the public in conservation and identifying new funding resources. The Institute of Museum and Library Services is hosting the summit in cooperation with Heritage Preservation and with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the National Endowment for the Humanities and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. The summit will be co-hosted by the Smithsonian American Art Museum.

The IMLS invited two museum representatives and two library or archives representatives from each state to participate in the summit. Kilsdonk was chosen to represent Colorado for her “personal and institutional commitment to collections care.” Kilsdonk, director of the Estes Park Museum since 1993, is a peer review surveyor with the American Association of Museums and previously participated in a panel review of the Conservation Assessment Program in Washington, DC. The Estes Park Museum has received several grants for collections preservation under her direction.  The department operates both the Estes Park Museum and the Historic Fall River Hydroplant, oversees the Birch Cabin and Ruins, and has coordinated several historic preservation efforts.  It has more than 23,000 catalogued objects relating to Estes Park history, including historic artifacts, works of art, and archival materials. 

The Archivist of the United States, Allen Weinstein, will give the summit’s keynote address. The closing address will be given by Francie Alexander, Senior Vice President and Chief Academic Officer of Scholastic, Inc.  Other individuals speaking during the two-day summit include the directors of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Getty Conservation Institute, and the chairs of the National Endowment for the Humanities, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities. 

The Estes Park Museum has been awarded a grant from the Colorado Humanities in support of a project entitled Estes Park:  A Study of Growth.  The grant award, for $999, will assist with the continuation of a community oral history program begun in 2005. 

Estes Park:  A Study of Growth is an oral history project to document the business history of Estes Park via professionally filmed interviews.  Project results will include ten new interviews, transcriptions of previously conducted interviews, panel presentations, a brochure, and a case display.  The project builds on recent oral history activities by the Museum including interviewing fourteen long-time residents regarding their civic, business and community activities in the 1970s and 1980s; and digitizing existing oral history tapes, some dating back to the 1960s. 

Museum director Betty Kilsdonk noted that "continuation of the oral history project is especially important now because people with first-hand knowledge of Estes Park's business growth in the twentieth century are still around.  I am particularly pleased that Dr. James Pickering has agreed to be a contributing humanities scholar for the project."  Dr. Pickering, a Professor of English at the University of Houston, has researched, published and lectured extensively on Estes Park history and was recently named the Town's historian laureate. 

       Thanks to the talents of ten graduate students and their instructors from Emporia State’s School of Library and Information Management, researchers can now utilize the Estes Park Museum’s collection of property tax records.  Photographs and property surveys trace the history and physical development of each property from the 1940s through the 1980s.  Looking for an old photograph of your cabin?  Searching for an old store on Elkhorn Avenue?  These records provide insight into the commercial and residential history of Estes Park, Glen Haven, Pinewood Springs, and homes throughout the Big Thompson Canyon.
        Properties in the Estes Park area are identified with ten-digit parcel numbers beginning with 14, 15, 24, 25, 34, or 35 that relate to section, township and range.  Regardless of how many owners a particular property has had, the property retains its parcel number.  This simple accounting system makes researching the ownership and physical development of a building or property quite straightforward.  To access the records, locate the parcel number of the property in question and arrange a research appointment with the curator.  Appointments may be made by calling 970.586.6256.

The Estes Park Museum has a vast collection of photographs, artifacts, artwork, and other objects. The Museum is happy to announce a new research tool that will allow searchers to digitally explore nearly 45 years worth of museum collections. Funded by a 2004 IMLS Museums for America Grant, the Estes Park Museum was able to transfer over 20,000 paper-based collections records to a searchable database.  By simply entering a key word, thousands of formally paper-based records can be instantly searched. Please contact curator Becky Latanich at 970-577-3761 to set up a research appointment and learn how to use this powerful new tool.

The Estes Park Public Library Foundation and the Estes Park Museum are pleased to announce they have received a $2,000 grant from the Colorado Endowment for the Humanities which is funded by the National Endowment for the Humanities. This grant will enable the Library Foundation and the Museum to present a free 5-month program series starting in February 2005 and running through June. The program series, entitled, “First People: Native American Voices,” will address the clash of cultural values between the first residents and the persons who moved in to take their lands and settle the West. 

On February 24, Robert Munkres will kick off the series with “When Cultures Collide.” On March 24, Sally McBeth will talk about a current research project based on the Ute and the Arapaho’s historical and current uses of Rocky Mountain National Park. On April 28, best-selling author Margaret Coel will present “Ledgerbooks of the Plains Indians.” On May 12, meet the fur trader Iron Thumb. On June 9, Craig Moore of the Sand Creek National Historic Site will discuss “Sand Creek Then and Now.” All talks in the series will take place at the Estes Park Museum, 200 4^th Street. More details about each talk will follow in the months to come.

Thanks to a grant from the federal Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS), the Town of Estes Park’s Estes Park Museum will be able to transfer its card-based record keeping system to a computer database in 1995.  The Museum has over 24,000 objects in its collection. Starting in 1999, and as time permitted, Museum staff, with volunteer assistance, have been able to enter records for only 9,000 of them into an electronic database.  The grant money will allow the Museum to hire a temporary data technician to complete the records transfer, and to purchase a dedicated computer and printer. The timely conversion of the remaining records will greatly enhance intellectual access to collections information for staff and researchers. In addition, it will help the Museum to better care for and protect the objects entrusted to it for safekeeping.

In the first year of this new, highly competitive national grant program, 829 museums applied for awards. Through a field review and panel process, 190 projects were selected for funding.  The Estes Park Museum will receive $24,555. Only three other Colorado Museums, all located in the Denver Metro area, received awards: the Buffalo Bill Museum and Grave in Golden; the Denver Art Museum; and the Denver Firefighters Museum.

“Because of our recently completed expansion, the Estes Park Museum is in an ideal position to take advantage of an electronic collections management system,” explained Betty Kilsdonk, Director of Museum/Senior Center Services for the Town of Estes Park. “The expansion included a new research station and multipurpose room. The research station will allow comfortable access to the collections database.  In the multipurpose room, we expect to hold onsite training workshops for area professionals and the general public, once the work is complete in 2006.”

As IMLS’ largest grant program, Museums for America provides more than $16 million in grants to support the role of museums in American society. The grants build the capacity of museums to sustain our cultural heritage, support lifelong learning, and serve as centers of community engagement.

Museums for America grants strengthen the ability of museums to serve the public more effectively by supporting high-priority activities that advance the institution’s mission and strategic goals. The flexible grants can be used by a museum for ongoing activities, research, planning and behind-the-scenes work, new programs, the purchase of equipment or services, or technology upgrades and integration to improve overall institutional effectiveness.

“With their rich collections, museums enable visitors to physically connect with history, science, and the creative process,” said IMLS Director Dr. Robert S. Martin. “The Museums for America grants will help museums advance their role as trusted resources that serve communities by creating and sustaining a nation of learners."

Effective immediately, the Estes Park Area Historical Museum has changed its name to the Estes Park Museum. Shortening the name from “Estes Park Area Historical Museum” to “Estes Park Museum” is in keeping with the Museum’s expanded mission statement, which allows for art and science exhibits and programs as well as history. The name change was recommended by the Museum’s Advisory Board after polling the membership of the Museum at their annual meeting in October 2003. The Town Board approved the name change at their February 10, 2004 meeting. The decision to shorten the name of the Museum is timely, since the Museum is undergoing an expansion project that will include new signage for the facility.