Want to learn more about Women's History in the Pikes Peak Region?
Start with these selections from the CSPM Archives!
Rose Lorig Collection (1941-1998): In 1940, Rose K. Lorig moved to Colorado Springs when she married Marx Lorig, Jr–proprietor of Lorig’s Western Wear. Both Rose and Marx were founding members of the Beth El Temple, and sat on the volunteer boards for the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, St. Francis Hospital, and the Taylor Museum of the CSFAC. Rose served as President of the regional board of The National Federation of Temple Sisterhoods in Colorado Springs.
This collection includes materials related to Rose’s personal and professional life. including Temple Beit Torah newsletters and membership cards. Also included are articles, business ephemera, advertisements, and newspaper clippings related the Lorig family and Lorig’s Western Wear. Extent: 2 cubic feet
Sara Cartwright Jackson Loomis Collection (1893-1970): Sara Cartwright (Jackson) Loomis attended Cutler Academy in the 1890s, married local physician Dr. Phillip Loomis, and raised two children, Barbara and Phillip Jr., in Colorado Springs. All the while, Loomis documented her daily life through photography and prolific diaries that record significant events and day-to-day happenings of the Loomis family, and the Colorado Springs community.
This collection includes photograph albums, diaries and voluminous correspondence between Sara Loomis and her friends and family. Also included are scrapbooks, travel accounts, ephemera and lantern slides. Extent: 40 cubic feet
Nellie Burgett Miller Collection, (1875-1952): In 1923 Nellie Burgett Miller was named Poet Laureate of Colorado, an office she held until her death in 1952. Fifteen years earlier, Burgett Miller had moved to Colorado Springs with her husband, Dr. Lucas A. Miller. The two had three children: Dorothy, Arnold and Muriel Imogene. Along with her Bachelor’s degree from Iowa University, Burgett Miller also received an honorary Master of Letters degree from the University of Colorado, and an honorary Doctorate of Literature from Upper Iowa University. She was active in a variety of clubs and service organizations and founded the Colorado Springs Poetry Fellowship in 1943.
This collection contains materials from Nellie Burgett Miller and her family; including Lucas, Dale and Muriel. The bulk of the collection includes papers and correspondence related to Burgett Miller’s personal life, and her roles as Poet Laureate, writer, and her involvement in various local clubs and organizations. This includes manuscripts, short stories, poetry and radio scripts, along with speeches, ephemera and publications. Extent: 14 cubic feet
Fannie Mae Duncan Collection (1945-1995): Fannie Mae (Bragg) Duncan was an entrepreneur and philanthropist in Colorado Springs. She is most well known as the proprietor of Duncan’s Cotton Club; a jazz club located on Colorado Avenue in downtown Colorado Springs (1948-1975).
The collection includes papers, ephemera, newspapers and clippings, photographs, and correspondence related to Fannie Mae Duncan’s life and career. Papers and photographs related to the Bragg Family of Colorado Springs are also included. Materials include business materials related to the Duncan’s rental property, photographs of family and the Cotton Club, personal legal documents, membership letters, programs for the Duncan’s philanthropic endeavors, newspaper clipping concerning Fannie Mae Duncan, photocopies of a scrapbook by Fannie Mae Duncan. Extent: 2 cubic feet
Vera Gang Scott Papers (1910-2001): In 1956 Vera Gang Scott was hired at West Junior High School as the second African American school teacher in Colorado Springs. She would later be hired as the first Black social worker, and at Garfield Elementary School as the first Black principal. After working for School District 11 for 20 years, Vera Gang Scott retired and began volunteering with troubled youth, among other community activities.
This collection includes ephemera, photographs, scrapbooks, letters, and yearbooks related to Vera Gang Scotts personal life, including her involvement with the Delta Sigma Theta sorority, and career- from her childhood through retirement. Extent: 4 cubic feet
Y.W.C.A. Business Women’s Club (1961-1972): The Y.W.C.A. Business Wormen’s Club was established as the Girl’s Business Club in 1919, with the mission to promote fellowship and cooperation among girls and women through programs and activities, and providing service to the YWCA.. Overtime, club membership and activities focused on comraderie among local business women.
This collection of three scrapbooks reflects the activities and programs of the Business Women’s Club from 1961 to 1972, as well as events and sentiment surrounding the merger of the Pikes Peak USO, YMCA and YWCA; and the resulting construction of a new building. Materials include minutes, newsclippings and ephemera. Extent: 1 cubic foot
Colorado Springs Monday Progress Club (1898-1977): The Colorado Springs Monday Progress Club was founded in 1895. The social and educational club joined the Colorado Federation of Women’ Clubs in 1898 and has since presented on a variety of topics relating to the arts and current events. Other local clubs supported by the MPC include the United Fund, Red Cross Boys Club, USO, Frontier Boys Ranch, Christian Home for Children, YWCA, and the Colorado Springs YMCA.
This collection includes Monday Progress Club yearbooks (1959 to 1978), a scrapbook, (1898-1977 a manuscript, “History of the Monday Progress Club” by a Mrs. Ruby. Extent: 1 cubic foot
Dorothy Heller Collection (1938-1996): Dorothy Heller was the first woman employed in the Colorado Springs Police Department as a social investigator, tasked with cases involving women and children. She helped establish the Juvenile Bureau and served as a major patron of local art. Her and her husband, Larry Heller, built and lived on the Yawn Valley Hunt property—now the Heller Center at UCCS—where Larry operated his art studio, and they raised beef cattle.
This collection of materials reflects the personal and professional lives of Dorothy Kempf Heller and her husband, local artist Lawrence “Larry” Heller. Included are photographs and scrapbooks documenting Larry’s work with Alexander Film, and Dorothy’s career at the Colorado Springs Police Department. Extent: 2 cubic feet
Women’s Christian Temperance Union (1896-1965): The Colorado Women’s Christian Temperance Union (WCTU) was founded by Mary Shields and Albina Washburn in 1880. Although the main goals of the Union were the prohibition of alcohol in the United States, the organization greatly contributed to the national woman’s suffrage movement with the right for women to vote in Colorado passing in 1893.
This collection includes notebooks, pamphlets, programs, certificates, records, and a ledger , reflecting activities and administration of the Colorado WCTU.
Hadassah Records (1945-2012): Colorado Springs Hadassah was founded in 1945 with mission of providing emergency care in pre-state Israel. The group continues to support medical care in the United States, Israel, and around the world, along with funding anti-hate and Holocaust education in schools. This collection includes Presidents Notebooks, materials and photographs from activities and events, board minutes, agendas and reports and annual scrapbooks.
Esther Geoffrey Collection (1960-2000): Esther Geoffrey led the Colorado College Children’s and Laymen’s Dance Program for 36 years and founded the Children’s Dance Theater through which thousands of local children were introduced to dance. As artistic advisor to the Colorado Springs Dance Theatre (CSDT), Geoffrey brought renowned dance companies to our community including Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, Alvin Ailey of New York, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Ballet de Montreal.
This collection includes programs, performance video-recordings, and oral history completed by Geoffrey and ephemera related to dance performances. Extent: 1 cubic foot
Virginia and Gilbert McClurg Collection (1889-1944): Virginia McClurg played an instrumental part in the establishment of Mesa Verde National Park. She moved to Colorado Springs with her husband, Gilber McClurg from Morristown, New Jersey, as a correspondent with the New York Daily Graphic. After her visit to the Mesa Verde cliff dwellings, she was devoted to preserving the structures, and establishing a National Park, and was an active member of the Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association.
This collection reflects the professional and primary interest of both Virginia and Gilbert McClurg. Two series are dedicated to Virginia McClurg. The first includes addresses, news clippings, ephemera and poetry, correspondence. The second contains scrapbooks, correspondence, speeches, publications and records related to the activities of the Colorado Cliff Dwellings Association and the ruins at Mesa Verde.
Florence Standish Collection (1912-1920): Registered Nurse Florence Standish opened Nob Hill Lodge, “A Home for Tuberculars” in 1912 after serving as Superintendent at National Deaconess Sanitarium and then later at Beth-El Hospital. After the United States entered WWI in 1917, Florence Standish and many other local nurses and physicians joined the military to help care for sick and wounded soldiers. On March 18, 1919 Standish returned to Colorado Springs to continue her work at Nob Hill, and in1920 she adopted a baby girl, Barbara Rose. Unfortunately, Standish contracted diphtheria in 1925, and although she eventually recovered, state health statutes prevented her from working as a registered nurse or operating Nob Hill Lodge.
This collection includes photographs, booklets and an illustration of the operation of Nob Hill Lodge Sanitorium, along with Standish’s WWI Army Nurse Corps logbook for General Hospital No. 19, outside of Asheville, North Carolina.
Helene Knapp Collection (1969-1972): On April 25, 1967, Helene Knapp was informed that that her husband Colonel Herman Knapp’s F-4 Phantom jet went down over North Vietnam. Helene began advocacy work on behalf of Vietnam War POWs and MIAs locally, and then was named National Coordinator for the Washington D.C. based National League of Families in 1972.
This collection of eight scrapbooks, photographs, news clippings and materials related to these activities. Scrapbooks include letters, news clippings, press releases, and ephemera related to the efforts and activities of Helene Knapp, and members of Colorado Springs for POWs, the National League of Families, and the River Rats– a fraternal organization formed around the Vietnam War with the mission to promote the importance of American airpower, raise awareness of POWs and MIAs, and provide scholarship support to children of airmen who did not return home from the war.
Contact CSPM Archivist, Hillary Mannion to make an appointment: hillary.mannion@coloradosprings.gov, or 719-385-5650