Photographs and artistic masterworks provide a visual treasure.
The late Argentine author and poet Jorge Luis Borges famously wrote, “I had always imagined Paradise as a kind of library.” His resounding words are fittingly inscribed on the wall of an institution that houses one of the most extensive Western history collections in the United States.
The Denver Public Library opened in 1889 in a wing of the newly constructed Denver High School. Initially known as the Colorado collection, the library’s Western history collection was primarily a compilation of books by Colorado authors. The unique archive also included pamphlets relating to the early history of Colorado, which became a territory on February 28, 1861, and the 38th state on August 1, 1876.
In 1910 the library moved into a new Andrew Carnegie–funded Greek Revival building, where nearly two decades later the Western history collection got a big boost. In 1929 City Librarian Malcolm Glenn Wyer reported to the Denver Public Library Commission that no institution in the Rocky Mountain region was collecting materials connected to the area; at the time the majority of material regarding Western history was going to Eastern institutions and book collectors. He further argued that the Colorado Historical Society did not have the funds to purchase the bulk of Western materials coming onto the market and thus specialized in collecting material related to the state. On Wyer’s prompting, that fall William McPhee, a member of the library commission, lobbied the Denver City Council for the funds to acquire a proper Western history collection. The council promptly granted $2,500 to the library, and the collection began to build.
By 1934 the Western history collection had grown so large as to warrant the formation of its own department within the library. The Western History Department opened in 1935 and has steadily expanded ever since. In 1995, when the library moved into its current building, the Western History and Genealogy departments merged. Today, the combined department houses one of the foremost Western Americana collections. The collection spans from 1718 to the present, with the bulk of the material addressing the last century and a half. It comprises more than 600,000 photographs, 1,500 pieces of original art, 4,000 manuscript collections, 5,000 maps and various artifacts that bear witness to the history, growth and development of Denver, the state of Colorado, the Rocky Mountain region and the trans-Mississippi West.
Photographic highlights include Edward S. Curtis (1868–1952) photogravures and William Henry Jackson (1843– 1942) photo albums, with selected prints and negatives of Colorado subjects, as well as the David Frances Barry (1854– 1934) collection of more than 1,900 images, including some of the best ever taken of Sioux (Lakota) Indians, U.S. Army officers, Indian life and William F. “Buffalo Bill” Cody.
The library regularly displays selections from its exquisite and extensive art collection. Represented artists include such Western masters as George Catlin (1796–1872), Alfred Jacob Miller (1810– 74), Albert Bierstadt (1830–1902), Frederic Remington (1861–1909) and Charles M. Russell (1864–1926). The collection also houses lithographic prints by Swiss artist Karl Bodmer (1809–93) that portray beautiful and romantic Old West scenes.
Among its manuscript holdings, the department owns the Western writings and publications of Eugene Field Sr. (1850–95), personal papers relating to Nathan C. Meeker (1817–79) and the agricultural Union Colony he established in 1870, the invaluable field notes of Walter Mason Camp (1867–1925) regarding the American Indian wars and the June 1876 Battle of the Little Bighorn, and one of the most complete collections of Denver & Rio Grande Western Railroad papers in the country. The institution also holds a sizable collection of letters, pamphlets, photographs, biographical books and descriptive articles relating to Cody’s Wild West, which started when the frontier was still going strong and ran until it was largely gone.
In 1950 an out-of-state researcher made perhaps the most poignant statement about the department when he suggested the motto, “All trails in Western history lead to the Denver Public Library.” More than 60 years later that statement still holds true.
The central branch of the Denver Public Library is at 10 W. 14th Ave. Parkway in downtown Denver. The Western History and Genealogy Department is on the fifth floor. For more information call 720-865-1821 or visit www .history.denverlibrary.org.
Originally published in the June 2014 issue of Wild West. To subscribe, click here.
