Local Colorado and Regional History Collection

Collection

Identifier: MLHM

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Local Colorado and Regional History Collection consists of documents, maps, and photographs dated 1834 to 2021, with the bulk falling from 1945 to 1955. Materials include student class papers as well as papers written by local historians, correspondence, and reports. Subjects primarily include Fort Collins and Northern Colorado history, and irrigation and agricultural history of Colorado. Oversize aerial photographs of Horsetooth Reservoir and surrounding areas during construction of the reservoir are also included. The photographs are available in the Digital Repository as well.

Dates

Creation: 1834-2021
Creation: Majority of material found within 1945-1955

Creator

Colorado State University. Libraries (Organization)

Restrictions on Access

There are no access restrictions on this collection.

Restrictions on Use

Not all of the material in the collection is in the public domain. Researchers are responsible for addressing copyright issues.

History

The Local Colorado and Regional History Collection aggregates materials acquired from different sources.

Extent

0.5 linear feet (1 document case, 4 oversize photographs, 1.44 GB)

Language of Materials

English

Additional Description

Abstract

The Local Colorado and Regional History Collection is a collection of local and Colorado history documents, photographs, aerial photographs, and maps as well as a small amount of material that does not relate to Colorado. The collection was acquired over time and includes student class papers as well as papers written by local historians, correspondence, and reports. Subjects primarily include Fort Collins and Northern Colorado history, and irrigation and agricultural history of Colorado.

Arrangement

The collection has no direct provenance and was arranged by archives staff alphabetically in 1993. It retains that order. The aerial photographs are an accrual to the collection and are in order by identification numbers on the photographs.

The collection consists of 2 series in 1 document case and 4 oversize photographs:

Series 1: Subject files, 1834-2021 and undated

Series 2: Aerial photographs, circa 1950

Acquisition

The Local Colorado and Regional History Collection was acquired over a period of time from unknown donors, with the exception of correspondence and a contract between Mr. W.D.W. Taft and the Quartermaster of Camp Collins which was donated to the library by C.F. Osburn in 1945, five oversize aerial photographs donated by Marvin Criswell in 2012, and Peggy Malchow's oral history donated by Thomas Hasler in 2021.

Online Materials

Some materials have been scanned and are available through the Colorado State University Libraries website. In the electronic version of this document, direct links appear in context. For the entire collection see Mountain Scholar.

Related Collections

University collections that are related to the collection are the Papers of Ruth J. Wattles, the Papers of James R. Miller, and the Papers of the Washburn-Taylor Family. The Agricultural and Natural Resources Archive holds the Papers of Daniel W. Working, who provided research notes for Steinel's agricultural history, and the Records of the Great Western Sugar Company which provide context for Peggy Malchow's oral history interview.

Processing

Processing was completed in February 2017. Materials were housed in acid-free boxes and documents were refoldered in archival folders. Items were removed from binders and also placed in archival folders. One negative was inserted in an archival sleeve, and the five aerial photographs of Horsetooth Reservoir were housed in a oversize flat file. The aerial photographs were in extremely fragile condition and required conservation treatment from an outside conservator.