Past Events
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Join local historians Ed Horvat and Charles DiFerdinando for a walk up Main Avenue "Yesterday and Today" -- view the webinar here.
Portrait of Colorado at 150 Storytelling InitiativeSaturday. Join Kim Kennedy-White, the John W. Emery Family Associate Curator of Oral History at History Colorado, to learn about the, Portrait of Colorado at 150 Project and the resources available for oral history collection. View the recording here.
Watch local historian Charles DiFerdinando's talk about Durango's Street Railway here.
On the second Saturday in September, we officially opened History Colorado's traveling exhibit "Ute Knowledge" with a talk by research historian John Valdez on September 13th. View the recording here.
For our Second Saturday Seminar Series on August 9th, we discussed the effects of the end of World War II, eighty years ago, on La Plata County. Watch the recording here.
For our Second Saturday Seminar Series on July 12th at 1 p.m., local historians Charles DiFerdinando and Susan Jones spoke about the Hayden Survey of 1875. View the recording here.
For our Second Saturday Seminar Series on June 14th at 1 p.m., local historian Patty Joy talked about the history of our local chapter of the DAR. View the recording here.
For our Second Saturday Seminar Series on April 12th at 1 p.m., Ed Horvat and Charles DiFerdinando did a "John Fielder type" presentation called “La Plata County Then and Now” comparing historic photographs with images of the same sites taken today. View the recording at here.
On Saturday, March 29th, at 1 p.m., Fort Lewis College professor Dr. Ana Diaz-Collazos will be sharing a program centered around a rare corrido or traditional Hispano ballad from a community member's personal collection. Cosme Pachecho tells us the story in a unique music piece never performed after it was written by 1887. Catedra Garcia (black hat) and his friends took a long journey from Southwest Colorado up to Arlington, Washington soon after this portrait (courtesy of Sylvia Brandl) was taken in 1887. Come and get a glance of the past of Huefano County and the Spanish speaking heritage in Southwest Colorado. View the recording here.
On Saturday, March 8th, at 1 p.m., for our Second Saturday Seminar Series, Robert McDaniel will be talking about the history of pottery from the Zuni Pueblo in this fourth webinar in a series "From this Earth: The Timeless Beauty of Pueblo Pottery." View the webinar on YouTube.
Join us on Saturday, February 8th at 1pm for our Second Saturday Seminar Series honoring Black History Month. Composer Joseph C. Phillips will be discussing his latest work, an opera called “Till Paths Be Wrought Through Wilds” set in the mountains of southwestern Colorado (DURANGO!) which focuses on the nexus between Buffalo soldiers, the Southern Ute nation, Black, Mexican, Chinese, and white settlers of the region.
You can view the recording of this webinar here.
We will be kicking off the fourth season of our Second Saturday Seminar Series on Saturday, January 11th at 1pm with a talk by Bev Rich of the San Juan County Historical Society. She will be discussing the incredible story of how she led the effort to install a hydro-electric plant at the Mayflower Mill. With this plant, the San Juan County Historical Society became part of the history of the hydro-power industry in the San Juans the cradle of AC power history. You can view the recording here.
Join us on Saturday, December 14th, at 1 p.m., for our Second Saturday Seminar Series. We’ll be looking back at how La Plata County celebrated Christmas, 1944. That Christmas saw residents of La Plata County serving in the military and in civilian wartime jobs around the world. While there was a longing for peace and hope that families would soon be reunited, the holidays were still celebrated. Rationing may have changed the recipes, but cookies and fruitcakes were baked and children looked forward to a visit from Saint Nick. You can view the video here.
On November 9th at 1 p.m. the Animas Museum commemorated Silverton's 150th anniversary in conjunction with our friends and colleagues at the San Juan County Colorado Historical Society. The early history of Silverton will be the topic of our Second Saturday Seminar Series, presented by local historians Charles DiFerdinando and Susan Jones. We hope this will be the first of many collaborations. View the webinar here.
On Saturday, October 12, Pam and Jim Dyer talked with Susan Jones about the Power of Place and Sheep. View the recording here.
BACK TO SCHOOL!
We celebrated 120 years of the Animas City School with a reunion for former students, an open house for educators, and various programs on Saturday, September 21st. View the webinar on the history of the Animas City School here.
On Saturday, August 24th at 1 p.m., local historians Charles DiFerdinando and Ed Horvat remembered the fire that devastated the west side of the 800 block of Main Avenue fifty years ago today. You can view the webinar here.
Catalog number: 14.01.17, by Ed Horvat
On Saturday, August 10th, Charles DiFerdinando talked about the history of the Joy Cabin. View the recording here.
On Saturday, July 13th at 1 p.m., Ed Horvat, the author of Images of America: La Plata County spoke about his new book containing over 200 images of the County. Ed writes the popular column And The West is History that appears in The Durango Herald every week. View the recording here.
May 11th and June 8th, Second Saturday Seminar Series. As we prepare for this year’s edition of History La Plata, Front Lines to Home Front – La Plata County and WW II, we are finding too much fascinating information to fit in one publication. View the recordings of "Front Lines" and "Home Front"here.
Local historian Charles DiFerdinando taught us about the history of one of our favorite watering holes, the El Moro Saloon on April 13th. View the recording here.
March is Women's History Month and our Second Saturday Seminar Series on March 9th was a talk on the women in La Plata County from the beginning. View the recording here.
It's live, Buffalo Soldiers: Return to Animas City The Video! If you missed the event or want to hear the story of the Buffalo Soldiers again, you can watch it now on our Youtube channel here.
February 10th, 2024 was La Plata County's 150th birthday! Our Second Saturday Seminar Series was a talk about the beginnings of the county with local historians Charles DiFerdinando and Susan Jones. View the recording here.
View a recording of Robert McDaniel's talk on Polychrome Pottery from the Zia Pueblo given on January 13, 2024 at the Animas Museum here.
On Saturday, December 9, as part of our Second Saturday Seminar Series, we had a virtual book signing with the authors of “Women of the Colorado Gold Rush Era”, Julie VanLaanen Bell and Jan Gunia. Their recently published book includes a chapter on Mary Nye Hall who was a member of the Baker Party. (Hint: this book would be a great holiday gift for a history buff! Maria's Bookshop also has copies for sale.)
View the recording here.
On Veteran’s Day, November 11, we honor all veterans, especially those from La Plata County. You can view a recording of this webinar (with speaker notes!) here.
With apologies to Willa Cather, our October webinar program "Death Comes to Durango" featured local historian Charles DiFerdinando talking about how people dealt with death in early Durango. View the recording here.
To prepare for our Buffalo Soldiers event, local historian Charles DiFerdinando talked about the history of the Fort Lewis military establishment through 1890. You can view a recording of the webinar here.
Second Saturday Series Seminar, on Zoom and in person at the Animas Museum, Saturday, August 12th at 1 p.m. Local historian Charles DiFerdinando told us about the history of electricity in Durango. You can view the recording here.
Second Saturday Series Seminar, Saturday July 8th at 1 p.m. Archeologist Mona Charles will be joined us as we wrapped up our grant project analyzing the Ancestral Puebloan pottery in the Museum's collections. You can view the recording here.
Second Saturday Series Seminar, recorded Saturday June 10th at 2 p.m. Historian John Steinle joined us on Zoom to discuss his newest book "Colorado in the Civil War." View the recording here.
Second Saturday Series Seminar, recorded Saturday, May 13th at 1 p.m. Durango's Citizen of the Year Gaige Sippy joined us on Zoom only for a history of the Ironhorse Bicycle Classic. You can view the recording here.
If you missed our presentation to the San Juan Basin Archeology Society on May 10, 2023, you can view the recording here.
Second Saturday Seminar Series, April 8th at 1 p.m. on Zoom only. Join local historians Charles DiFerdinando, Gay Kiene, and Susan Jones as we set the stage for the publication of History La Plata. This year, History La Plata will focus on the 1920s and will be inserted in The Durango Herald the weekend of May 20th. We will be discussing topics that we found in our research above and beyond what we have room to print. View the recording here.
In honor of Women's History Month, Let's Talk Little. Olga Little that is. Olga Schaaf Little was a renowned jack packer. She saved animals, mines and men. For thirty years she led her burro team with much needed supplies into the La Plata Mountain mines and brought out silver and gold ore, often where men dared not go. Gay Kiene from the Animas Museum shared Olga’s adventurous story. You can view the recording here.
Local legend Dolph Kuss came to Durango in the early 1950s and created the recreation programs that Durango is now known for, from fishing to swimming to tennis to skiing and beyond. This webinar introduced a "podcast" series you can download to hear Robert McDaniel's interview of Dolph. View the webinar and download the podcasts here.
Image, colorized version of catalog number 92.06.1.31.44 of Dolph Kuss, left, with the ski team around 1955.
Second Saturday Webinar Series recorded on Saturday, Januiary 14th with founding director Robert McDaniel talking about our recent pop-up exhibit featuring an incredible San Ildefonso pot in our collection. You can view the talk here.
Second Saturday Webinar Series, recorded December 10th, local historian Charles DiFerdinando talks about worship in early Durango. (Catalog number 00.09.16.9 from a postcard series circa 1910.) The recording is available here.
Second Saturday Webinar Series, recorded November 12th, local historians Charles DiFerdinando and Susan Jones provided a short history of Durango’s other narrow-gauge railroad, the Rio Grande Southern. (Catalog number 00.48.21, photo of an RGS train over the Lightner Creek Trestle taken by Robert Heinich.) You can view the recording here. Apologies for the sound issues!
Second Saturday Webinar Series, recorded October 8th at 1:30 p.m. "Early Photographers of Durango." The great-granddaughter of photographer Frank Gonner, Kathy Gibson joined us to share the stories of several other photographers who documented the landscape and the people who lived here. You can view the video here.
"No Crown of Thorns!" Reenactment of Senator Henry Teller's whistlestop tour in 1896. Part of the Southwest Colorado Humanities Roundtable History Live! series. View the video on our Youtube channel.
Second Saturday Webinar Series, recorded Saturday September 10 at 1pm on Zoom, "Coal: The Other Black Gold." Join local historian Charles DiFerdinando to learn about the importance of coal in the development of Durango and La Plata County. A link to the recording may be found here.
Join local historians Susan Jones and Charles DiFerdinando for a virtual tour of the Animas City Cemetery. A link to the recording may be found here.
Join local historian Charles DiFerdinando to learn about the July fire that changed Durango's history. A link to the recording may be found here.
History La Plata 2022 is here! Pickup a copy at the Museum or online here. View the recording of our webinar about it here.
If you missed Danny Pierce's talk about his father Thomas Guthrie Pierce at the Museum on April 30, you can watch it here on Youtube.
In conjunction with the 50th "golden" anniversary of the La Plata County Historical Society, Charles DiFerdinando explored the early Gold Rush to the La Plata Mountains in a two part webinar.
The videos of part 1 and 2 can be viewed here.
The video for "Quilts: 1885 - 1920" with Patricia Joy is available here.
Dr. John Boyd, historian for St. Mark's Episcopal Church presented his talk "The Banker's of St. Mark's Church" in two parts. The video is available here.
For our November webinar, Judith Reynolds told the story of Gustaf Nordenski⍥ld, the young Swedish scientist who in 1893 published the first serious study of "The Cliff Dwellings of Mesa Verde" and who was erroneously referred to as a 'Baron' in the controversial summer of 1891. Watch the video here.
The graphic above is a double portrait of Gustaf Nordenski⍥ld: Left 1895 (Stockholm) and 1891 (Durango, CO, by Frank Gonner) with GN's letter of July 23, 1891 superimposed. Graphic by J. Reynolds.
Take a virtual tour of Animas City, the topic of our October webinar. View the video here.
Scenes from our Live! event on September 25th.
If you missed Dr. Andrew Gulliford's talk about his book The Woolly West at our Animas Museum Live! event, you can listen to it here The Sheep and Cattle Wars.
Our September webinar took a look at the photography of Frank Gonner told by his granddaughter Kathy Gibson. The recording can be viewed here.
Historian John Steinle, author of a new book on the 1893 Silver Panic spoke about how the crash affected Colorado and La Plata County. Watch a video of the talk here.
Durango Police, members and locals including Bear dropped by the Museum for social distancing and ice cream on National Night Out.
Learn about the Great Fire of 1889
Download a device friendly copy of the walking tour here or a printable version of the pdf here. You can also pick up a copy at the Durango Welcome Center (Main Ave. & 8th St.) or the Durango & Silverton Railroad Museum.
Our first in-person event was held at the Museum on June 12. It was a Members Only event to celebrate the June 1901 wedding of Zaidee Rockwood to Clayton Perkins. Learn more about Zaidee's dress here.
The Animas Museum Team at the Durango Chamber of Commerce's Girls Gone Golfing event, May 2021.
Our May webinar featured Police Historian Sharon Greve telling stories from the 140 year history of the Durango Police Department. You can view that here.
If you missed our April webinar on Tom Graden, you can view that here.
If you missed our March webinar on Hattie Mashburn and Bessie Rivers, you can view that video here.
If you missed "A Little Bit of History and Valentine's Fun" you can watch the video here.
Robert McDaniel tells the story of Durango skiing in his talk "Long Boards and Rope Tows." You can watch the video here.
If you missed our first Second Saturday Seminar on Zoom, A Log Cabin Christmas, you can watch the video here.
You can still visit our Virtual Halloween Party! Click on the image below:
Jerry Day speaking about the history of the K-36 locomotives at the Animas Museum.
Charles DiFerdinando speaking about the Buffalo Soldiers at Ft. Lewis. Durango Craft Spirits Distillery Tour
The Joy Cabin at night, during the Christmas Bazaar.
Shane Voss, principal of Mountain Middle Schools, rings the Animas Museum's bell at 11am on Veteran's Day as the school's students look on.
Dedication of National Register Plaque, October 30.
Loisa Bass headstone, installed October 8, 2019.