Monday, March 18, 2024

Castle Rock, Palmer Lake, Greeley, Estes Park and more ....

 


Thing of the past ...
Castle Rock on the D. & R.G.R.R.
Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957
Date: [1902-1908]
Denver & Rio Grande Railroad engine 4-6-0 number 1006 with passenger train heading south from station at Castle Rock, Colorado; Engine Class T-31, made by Baldwin in 1902, renumbered in 1908 to engine number 756, dismantled in March, 1926; "Castle Rock" sign on stone railroad station, wagon cart loaded with metal cannisters, man loading or unloading bicycle from railroad car; rock formation Castle Rock, background; wooden frame residences & buildings across standard gauge track with siding.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 9 x 11 cm (3 1/4 x 4 in.); 1 photonegative : glass ; 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.)
Original Material Found in Collection: WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers.
Notes: Glass plate retouched by photographer. Title and signature hand-lettered on glass plate.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.


Thing of the past ...
Military duty in the railroad yard at Fort Logan, Colorado
Creator: Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935
Railroad workers and soldiers in uniform pose near Denver and Rio Grande Western railroad passenger cars at the railroad yard at Fort Logan in Denver County, Colorado.
Format of Original Material: 1 photographic print ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Digital Version Created From Collection of Jackson Thode.
Type of Material: Photographic prints
Denver and Rio Grande Western Railroad Company; Fort Logan (Colo.); Railroad employees; Soldiers.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 
Thing of the past ...

Paradox Valley near Bedrock
Creator: Wolle, Muriel Sibell, 1898-1977
Date: 1940-1950
Donor: Muriel Sibell Wolle estate, 1977
Either Paradox Creek or the Dolores River as it runs through the Paradox Valley near Bedrock, in Montrose County, Colorado.
Format of Original Material: 1 photonegative : black-and-white ; 7 x 12 cm (2 3/4 x 4 1/2 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 6 x 11 cm (2 1/4 x 4 1/4 in.)
Original Material Found in Collection: WH906. Muriel Sibell Wolle papers
Type of Material: Film negatives; Black & white photographs; Photographic prints
Subject: Montrose County (Colo.); Paradox Valley (Colo.); Valleys--Colorado--Montrose County
 

Thing of the past ...
Palmer Lake, Colorado view of lake, D & RGW main tracks, depot, water tank, railroad cars, looking southwest.
Creator: Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935
Date: [1912-1925?]
Palmer Lake (also known as Palmer and Weissport), Colorado in El Paso County; shows tracks, depot and boxcars of Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Sign reads: "Palmer Lake."
Format of Original Material: 1 photonegative : nitrate ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.)
Original Material Found in Collection: James Ozment collection of George Beam photographs
Type of Material: Black & white photographs
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
Notes: Scanned image from loaned collection. Title supplied.
 

Thing of the past ...
Noland, Colo band
Date: 1892
A band poses in bowler hats with cornets, French horns, snare and bass drums in Noland, Boulder County, Colorado. They are identified as: (front row l to r) C. K. Hirschfeld, Charles Cheney, John Cheney; (back row l to r): Fred Aldinger, Charles Cox, Gus Samuelson, (?), Charles Anderson, Otto Auftehar, (?).
Format of Original Material 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 12 x 20 cm (4 1/2 x 8 in.)
Type of Material Film negatives; Group portraits; Photographic prints.
Notes: Stamped on back of photoprint: "The Musicians' Society of Denver Centennial Project 1958-1959."; Title inked on back of photoprint, with: "a stone quarry town about 2 mi northeast of Lyons, Colo.," and identification.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
Marking of Ute Pass Trail
Creator: Poley, H. S. (Horace Swartley)
Date: August 29, 1912
Native American (Ute) men sit in a convertible automobile as part of the marking ceremony for the Ute Pass Trail, El Paso County, Colorado. Some wear feather headdresses. One wears a fringed shirt. A house stands in the distance.
Format of Original Material: 1 photonegative : glass ; 8 x 11 cm (3 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 8 x 9 cm (3 x 3 1/2 in.)
Original Material Found in Collection: C Photo Collection 37. H. S. Poley collection.
Type of Material: Glass negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs
Notes: Condition: emulsion chipping on edge of glass negative. Title written on back of print. Vintage photographic print.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
Wiggins
Date: [1925-1935]
Main Street, in Wiggins, Morgan County, Colorado, has a columned town hall and signs: "Vance Hotel," "Cafe, Meals," "Kennish Cash Store," "Rooms," "Lunch," "Billiards," "Conoco," "Cremo," "Cash for cream," and "Produce, Ice." The town was first called Vallery, then Corona.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Digital Version Created From William E. Basham, through Donald L. Smith 12/11/75.
Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 
 

Thing of the past ...
Rio Grande Southern Hotel, Dolores, Colo.
Creator: Noel, Thomas J. (Thomas Jacob)
Date: 2011.
The Rio Grande Southern Hotel located at 101 South 5th Street, Dolores, Colo. Built in 1893 by E. L. Wilbur, the three-story, frame hotel was enlarged in 1902 and stuccoed in 1913 to comply with a local fire ordinance. Under the peak of the wood shingle roof, the third-story retains the original, decorative barge board. The hotel is listed on the National Register.
Format of Original Material: 1 slide : color
Original Material Found in Collection: Tom Noel photograph collection, notebook Montezuma County.
Digital Version Created From Source: Loan, Tom Noel, 2014.
Notes: Title and content derived from inventory prepared by Nicholas Wharton.; Scanned image from loaned collection.; Digitization sponsored by the Kenneth King Foundation.
Item Owned By: Auraria Library
 
 

Thing of the past ...
Part of the Irish potatoes being grown on the center farm
Creator:McClelland, Joe.
Date: 1943 June 4
Several Japanese internees squat or bend to inspect a row of Irish potato plants in a field on the project farm, Granada Relocation Center, Camp Amache, Prowers County, southeastern Colorado. A row of deciduous trees forms a windbreak at the side and end of the field.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.)
Digital Version Created From War Relocation Authority.
Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.
Notes: Title and photographer printed on back of photoprint; additional information: "War Relocation Authority, Midland Savings Bldg., No: E-596, Date 6/4/43; Photo Location: Granada Relocation Center, Amache, Colorado."
 

Thing of the past ...
Don Luis Maria Baca Ranch, San Luis Valley
Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957
Date: [1900-1920?]
Don Luis Maria Baca Ranch house, Baca Land Grant Number Four (4), San Luis Valley, Saguache County, Colorado, an adobe house with a loggia. Men and a boy ride a horse drawn wagon; mountains are in the background.
Format of Original Material: 1 photonegative : glass ; image 10 x 12 cm (3 3/4 x 4 1/4 in.) on glass plate 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 12 x 15 cm (4 3/4 x 6 in.)
Original Material Found in Collection WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers
Type of Material: Glass negatives; Photographic prints
Subject
Notes:Handwritten on verso of photographic print: "Luis Marie [sic] Blanca [sic] ranch."; One copy glass plate with four images. See also: MCC-3108. Signature & number "2257" hand-lettered on glass plate. Title supplied.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
The camp feast, Colo. Midland Ry.
Creator: McClure, Louis Charles, 1867-1957
Date:[1900-1919]
Two outdoorsmen soldiers seated at table in camp near Norrie, Colorado reached via Colorado Midland Railway; two men seated on makeshift benches eating meal; plates, bowls, cups, jar of Kuner pickles, bread slices, bucket & utensils on table; one bench made from slats labeled "The Quartermaster Recruit Depot, Fort Logan, Colo", wooden crated labeled "Sweet Candy Co., manufacturing confectioners, Salt Lake City, Utah"; cookstove, coffeepots, cooking pots, fishing poles, wicker creel, fishing net, waders, rifles, two dead grouse or pheasant tied to support post; partial view of open a-frame canvas shelter covering eating area.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative : black-and-white ; 9 x 11 cm (3 1/2 x 4 1/4 in.); 1 photonegative : glass, black-and-white ; 21 x 26 cm (8 x 10 in.); 1 photoprint ; 19 x 24 cm (7 1/2 x 9 1/2 in.)
Original Material Found in Collection: WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers
Digital Version Created From WH2300. Louis Charles McClure papers, album XI, 290
Type of Material: Film negatives; Glass negatives; Photographic prints
Geographic Area: Norrie (Colo.)
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
Palmer Lake, Colorado view of lake, D & RGW main tracks, depot, water tank, railroad cars, looking southwest.
Creator: Beam, George L. (George Lytle), 1868-1935
Date: [1912-1925?]
Palmer Lake (also known as Palmer and Weissport), Colorado in El Paso County; shows tracks, depot and boxcars of Denver & Rio Grande Railroad. Sign reads: "Palmer Lake."
Format of Original Material: 1 photonegative : nitrate ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.)
Original Material Found in Collection: James Ozment collection of George Beam photographs
Type of Material: Black & white photographs
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
Notes: Scanned image from loaned collection. Title supplied.
 

Thing of the past ...
Al S. Lamb and wife, Aspen, Colo.
Date: 1888
Al Lamb and his wife and two dogs and a puppy litter sit on the lawn near a small evergreen tree in front of a house. Mr. Lamb wears a pinstripe suit a white shirt, a striped tie with a tie tack, and a bowler hat. Mrs. Lamb wears a long sleeved, fitted, damask top with large black and white buttons, a long, black skirt, a hat shaped like a top hat with a large, black plume, and gloves. The six retriever puppies are mostly white with dark markings on their heads. They gather around their mother, who lies on the ground wearing a large, metal collar. Another large, black dog sits near them.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 20 x 25 cm (8 x 10 in.); 1 photoprint on cabinet card ; 15 x 24 cm (6 x 9 1/2 in.)
Notes: Title hand-written on back of photoprint.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
Ghost house
Creator: Berko-Henry Studio.
Date: 1951
Evening view of the dilapidated, snow-covered Henry Gillespie house in Aspen, Colorado; features a wood frame structure with towers with triangular dormers, pediments, numerous gables, finials, gingerbread ornamentation, and clapboard siding; panes of glass missing in many windows; window casing in the towers crumbling; overgrown weeds and vegetation in front yard; snow-covered split-rail fence in the foreground.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 25 x 20 cm (10 x 7 3/4 in.)
Digital Version Created From WHC - Caroline Bancroft Collection
Denver Public Library Special Collections
Notes: Photographer's stamp on verso. Photoprint is stained with red ink and has been altered with white paint. Printed on newsprint and attached to back of photoprint: "This historic "ghost house" in Aspen currently is the subject of a heated controversy. One element wishes to tear it down to make room for a school playground; another, somewhat more sentimental, would preserve it as a memory of earlier days."; Title hand-written on back of photoprint.
 
 

Thing of the past ...
The Brown Palace Hotel bar, Denver
Date: 1910-1920
The interior of a saloon in the Brown Palace Hotel in Denver, Colorado. Men stand at a marble bar with a wooden top. The men wear suits and straw boaters or felt hats. Bartenders are behind the bar; mirrors, bottles, and glassware are behind them. An arch with electric light bulbs is over the bar. The saloon has a tile floor, a rounded column, and gas light fixtures.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy negative ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.
Notes: "Brown Palace Hotel, Denver ca 1911 F10455" printed on original and reproduced in copy negative. Formerly F10455; Title supplied. Library owns additional iterations of this image in various formats: 1 photographic print ; 12 x 17 cm. (4 1/2 x 6 1/2 in.). Denver Public Library Western History.
 
 

Thing of the past ...
Lunch en route Estes Park
Date: 1907, August 17
Women and men pose in and near a convertible automobile at a picnic in Larimer County, Colorado. The basket is on a nearby table.
Format of Original Material: 1 photoprint on album page : black and white ; 7 x 11 cm (3 1/2 x 4 in.)
Original Material Found in Collection: C Photo Album 113. Denver, Overland Park and Woodland
Type of Material: Photographic prints
Notes: Condition: print is faded. Mounted on album page with: Title hand-written on album page.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

Thing of the past ...
Prohibition, seizure of still near Greeley, Colo.
Date: [1925-1933?]
Law enforcement officers wearing suits and hats stand among barrels of liquor and a still in Greeley (Weld County), Colorado. Shows the front section of an automobile.
Format of Original Material: 1 photographic print ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.).
Digital Version Created From Hazel E. Johnson.
Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.
Notes: Condition: original negative faded. Formerly F23238; Number inked on front of print: "F23238."; Penciled on back of print: "Lawmen seizing still near Greeley, Colo."; Title inked on front of print. Library owns additional iterations of this image in various formats: 1 copy negative ; 10 x 13 cm.(5 x 7 in.).
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 
 
 
 

Friday, March 15, 2024

Troubled Texas troubadour pines for Colorado

 

 Van Zandt in 'Heartworn Highways' (1975)

My home is ColoradoWith their proud mountains tallWhere the rivers like gypsiesDown her black canyons fallI'm a long, long way from DenverWith a long way to goSo lend an ear to my singing'Cause I'll be back no more
 
__ Townes Van Zandt  
 
 
  Album photo of Townes Van Zandt
 

 Saddened singer suffers for the sake of the song

 By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
 
Born in Fort Worth, Texas, his father was corporate lawyer in the petroleum industry and his family moved around following the business to Montana, Colorado and Texas. Much of John Townes Van Zandt's later life was spent touring various bars, music clubs, colleges, and folk venues and festivals, often lodging in motel rooms or the homes of friends. He suffered from drug addiction and alcoholism, and was diagnosed with bipolar disorder.

"He was a reckless drunk and a hopeless idealist, but he was also the best Texas songwriter of our time. Just ask Willie Nelson, Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, and countless others who knew him well," wrote Michael Hall. in Texas Monthly, after Van Zandt's death on New Year's Day in 1997.

 
Rocky Mountain News File Photo

In 1958, the family moved to Boulder, Colorado. Van Zandt remembered his time in Colorado fondly and often visited it as an adult. He later referred to Colorado in "My Proud Mountains,""Colorado Girl," and "Snowin' on Raton." Townes was a good student and active in team sports. In grade school, he was found to have a high IQ, and his parents began grooming him to become a lawyer or senator. Fearing that his family would move again, he willingly decided to attend the Shattuck School in Faribault, Minnesota. He received a score of 1170 when he took the SAT in January 1962. His family soon moved to Houston, Texas. 

 In 1962, he enrolled at the University of Colorado Boulder, wrote poetry, and listened to records by Lightnin' Hopkins and Hank Williams. In the spring of his second year, his parents flew to Boulder to bring Townes back to Houston, worried about his binge drinking and episodes of depression. They admitted him to the University of Texas Medical Branch in Galveston, where he was diagnosed with manic depression. He received three months of insulin shock therapy, which erased much of his long-term memory.
 
 
 

"Townes Van Zandt, an influential songwriter whose dark and tragic country and folk ballads mirrored his own life, died on Wednesday at his home in Smyrna, Tex. He was 52," according the New York Times obit on January 3, 1997.

"The cause was apparently a heart attack, said Beverly Paul, a spokeswoman for Sugar Hill, the music label for which he recorded. Mr. Van Zandt broke his hip last week and had just returned home after undergoing surgery, she said.

"Mr. Van Zandt's powerfully written songs and spare, haunting delivery influenced many country, folk and rock performers, including Neil Young, Rosanne Cash, Emmylou Harris, Steve Earle, the Cowboy Junkies and the grunge band Mudhoney. Willie Nelson and Merle Haggard topped the country charts in 1983 with a version of Mr. Van Zandt's song ''Pancho and Lefty.'' But Mr. Van Zandt never achieved mainstream success himself, in part because of his proclivity for living out his songs of drinking, gambling, rambling and depression.

''All that I've said/All that I've done/Means nothing to me,'' he sang on his most recent album, ''No Deeper Blue.'' ''I'd as soon be dead/All of this world be forgotten.''

"Mr. Van Zandt was born on March 7, 1944, in Fort Worth, into a wealthy oil family that had been prominent in Texas for four generations. Van Zandt County in West Texas was named for his forebears. He spent his childhood moving around the country with his family, and many of his teen-age years in a mental institution, diagnosed as a manic-depressive with schizophrenic tendencies.

"Influenced by the songs of Hank Williams, the guitar-playing of Lightnin' Hopkins and the lyrics of Bob Dylan, as well as by Elvis Presley's success, he moved to Houston in the early 1960's to try a career as a musician. Eventually he became so poor that he ate dog food and slept on concert stages. He tried to join the Air Force during the Vietnam War but was rejected because of his psychiatric history.

In 1968, Mr. Van Zandt moved to Nashville to record his first album, ''For the Sake of the Song,'' with the producer and songwriter Jack Clement, best known for his work with Johnny Cash. The album mixed humorous barroom songs with the tales of poverty, desperation and bleakness (''Waiting Round to Die,'' ''Tecumseh Valley'') that would make him, along with Guy Clark, a beacon to a generation of songwriters.

"He had since recorded nearly a dozen records and toured virtually nonstop, driven, his friends said, by inner demons that neither he nor they could account for. Sometimes his performances, like his last show in New York City, at the Bottom Line in 1995, movingly mixed minor-key tear-jerkers with a fatalistic sense of humor. Sometimes his shows were meandering, ending with him collapsing onstage.

At the time of his death, Mr. Van Zandt was working on a boxed set of his music. He had assembled a group of well-known musicians including Willie Nelson and Freddy Fender to record new versions of his songs.

Van Zandt was addicted to heroin and alcohol throughout his adult life. At times, he became drunk on stage and forgot the lyrics to his songs. At one point, his heroin habit was so intense that he offered Kevin Eggers the publishing rights to all of the songs on each of his first four albums for $20.At various points, his friends saw him shoot up not just heroin, but also cocaine, vodka, as well as a mixture of rum and Coke. On at least one occasion, he shot up heroin in the presence of his son J.T., who was only eight years old at the time, according to the Dallas Observer in 2002 in "The Way of the Gun – Living up to his famous father is a tall order for J.T. Van Zandt"

"Some of the best golden-era Colorado anthems came from the late Townes Van Zandt, whose spare, largely acoustic recordings have only recently built a sizable national following," writes Steven Rozen in his blog about the "Golden Age of Colorado songs."

"He was a Texas troubadour and Colorado devotee whose introspective, often-pining compositions like “If I Needed You” and “Waiting Round to Die” serve as the archetype for today’s Americana (or alternative-country) music.

"Earle — today a bard of contemporary Americana himself — released a tribute album called “Townes.” On it, Earle covers Van Zandt’s 1969 “Colorado Girl.” Van Zandt briefly attended the University of Colorado at Boulder in the 1960s, and during the 1970s he spent summers in the state, writing such other songs about it as “Snowin’ on Raton,” “Our Mother the Mountain” and “My Proud Mountains.”

“Townes used to say there are two kinds of music — blues and zip-a- dee-doo-dah, and a lot of songs written about Colorado tend to be zip-a-dee-doo-dah,” Earle says. “But Townes’ stuff is not that.”

Friday, March 8, 2024

Face on the floor story appears all over state and country


By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com

Like many good Colorado stories, "The Face on the Barroom Floor" paints a beautiful picture of a snap shot in time, and gets told over and over again, until no one is really sure who told it first.  All that is remembered then, and remains — is to point out the very best, or a favorite version of such a story.

It is true in the case of Herndon Davis' painting on the floor of Tabor House Bar, near the Central City Opera House. Other versions of the story pop up around the state, and indeed, the whole country.

Davis had been commissioned by the Central City Opera Association to paint a series of paintings for the Central City Opera House; he was also requested to do some work at the Teller House. One afternoon at the bar he became embroiled in a heated argument with Ann Evans, the project director, about the manner in which his work should be executed. The upshot of the fight was that Davis was told to quit, or else he would be fired.

According to one version of the story, the painting was the suggestion of a busboy named Joe Libby; knowing that Davis would soon be fired, he suggested that the artist "give them something to remember him by."


In Davis' own words,

"The Central City Opera House Association hired me to do a series of paintings and sketches of the famous mining town, which they were then rejuvenating as an opera center and tourist attraction. I stayed at the Teller House while working up there, and the whim struck me to paint a face on the floor of the old Teller House barroom. In its mining boom heyday it was just such a floor as the ragged artist used in d’Arcy's famous old poem. But the hotel manager and the bartender would have none of such tomfoolery. They refused me permission to paint the face. Still the idea haunted me, and in my last night in Central City, I persuaded the bellboy Jimmy Libby to give me a hand. After midnight, when the coast was clear, we slipped down there. Jimmy held a candle for me and I painted as fast as I could. Yet it was 3 AM when I finished."

Whatever the inspiration, Davis did not sign his work, and soon the bar's owners chose to capitalize on it. They advertised the painting as that from the poem "The Face on the Barroom Floor" by Hugh Antoine D'Arcy. The actual subject of the painting is Davis' wife, Edna Juanita (Cotter) Davis "Nita." She lived with Herndon at 1323 Kalamath St,  in Denver, Co

 "The Herndon Davis Collection in our Western History and Genealogy Department is one of our most prized treasures. Anyone dealing with major characters and/or notable buildings in Colorado should check into Davis’s portraits and paintings of notable sites. In some cases Davis provides the only extant image of certain people and places. In hundreds of colorful paintings and drawings he adds impressively to our portrait gallery. The Denver Public Library is pleased to be a collaborator on this overdue book on one of our most popular and prolific artists.”
—James X. Kroll, Manager, Western History and Genealogy Department, Denver Public Library

Herndon Davis, an artist and journalist, dedicated his life to depicting the major landmarks and personalities of Colorado in watercolor, oil, and pen and pencil. Best known for the Face on the Barroom Floor, the portrait of an alluring woman on the floor of the Teller House Hotel barroom in Central City, Colorado, Davis was a prolific artist whose murals, sketches, and portraits can be found all over the state, from the Sage Room of the Oxford Hotel on Seventeenth Street to the Denver Press Club poker room. Despite his numerous contributions, his work was never showcased or exhibited in the traditional manner.

In this biography and first-ever collection featuring most of his life’s work, authors Craig Leavitt and Thomas J. Noel provide a detailed look into Davis’s life and career and include a catalog of almost 200 photographs of his work from Colorado and around the country. They also put his work into the broader context of the time through comparison with such contemporary Colorado artists as Muriel Sibell Wolle, Allen Tupper True, Charles Waldo Love, and Juan Menchaca.

Published to coincide with the Denver Public Library’s 2016 exhibition—the only public display of Davis’s work to date—and bringing deserved attention to this overlooked figure, Herndon Davis: Painting Colorado History, 1901-1962 is an important contribution to Colorado’s cultural history.

Among my favorite Davis works of art however, is the Poker Room Mural at the Denver Press Club. When I worked next door, (we shared a rear parking lot between the two buildings at the time) at Colorado Press Association years ago, I tried to make it to the basement any time I was in the nearby building.

"The Denver Press Club at 1330 Glenarm Place still treasures Davis’s work on its basement poker room walls," writes Craig Leavitt  and Thomas J. Noel in Herndon Davis: Painting Colorado History, 1901-1962.

"That large mural depicts the 1940s Press Room of the Rocky Mountain News, a place Davis frequented and where he worked. Among the immortals whose heads Davis painted on the outer edges of the mural are longtime favorite Rocky Mountain News columnist Lew Casey (editor of the book Denver Murders) and News photographer Harry Rhoads (the most famous and ribald of the press photographers, whose work is preserved in a biography and in the Western History and Genealogy Department of the Denver Public Library). On that same Denver Press Club mural, look for Gene Fowler, the Denver Post reporter who graduated to the big time and national fame in New York City. Among Fowler’s many books is one of the liveliest accounts in Denver literature, Timberline: A Story of Bonfils and Tammen. More than just a history of the founders of the Denver Post, this is a colorful, if not always factual, history of Colorado. It portrays in print the wild, funny, vividly colorful good old days that much of Herndon Davis’s work captures. Presumably, the Denver Press Club Davis murals are safe. That fortress claims to be the oldest continuous surviving press club in America and is a designated Denver landmark. And its inner sanctum’s most treasured relic is the Herndon Davis mural."

 
The original poem was written by the poet John Henry Titus in 1872. 
A later version was adapted from the Titus poem by Hugh Antoine d'Arcy in 1887 and first published in the New York Dispatch.
Twas a balmy summer's evening and a goodly crowd was there,
Which well-nigh filled Joe's barroom on the corner of the square,
And as songs and witty stories came through the open door
A vagabond crept slowly in and posed upon the floor.
“Where did it come from?” someone said, “The wind has blown it in.”
“What does it want?” another cried, “Some whiskey, rum or gin?”
“Here Toby, sic him, if your stomach is equal to the work —
I wouldn't touch him with a fork, he’s as filthy as a Turk.”
This badinage the poor wretch took with stoical good grace;
In fact, he smiled as though he thought he'd struck the proper place.
“Come boys, I know there's kindly heart among so good a crowd —
To be in such good company would make a deacon proud.”
“Give me a drink — that’s what I want — I'm out of funds you know;
When I had cash to treat the gang, this hand was never slow.
What? You laugh as though you thought this pocket never held a sou:
I once was fixed as well my boys, as anyone of you.”
“There thanks, that’s braced me nicely; God Bless you one and all;
Next time I pass this good saloon, I'll make another call.
Give you a song? No, I can't do that, my singing days are past;
My voice is cracked, my throat's worn out, and my lungs are going fast.
“Say, give me another whiskey, and I'll tell you what I'll do —
I'll tell you a funny story and a fact I promise too.
That I was ever a decent man, not one of you would think;
But I was, some four or five years back. Say, give me another drink.
“Fill 'er up, Joe, I want to put some life into my frame —
Such little drinks, to a bum like me are miserably tame;
Five fingers! — there, that's the scheme — and corking whiskey too.
Well, here's luck, boys; and landlord, my best regards to you.
“You’ve treated me pretty kindly, and I'd like to tell you how
I came to be the dirty sot, you see before you now.
As I told you once, was a man with muscle, frame and health,
And, but for a blunder, ought to have made considerable wealth.
“I was a painter — not one that daubed on bricks or wood,
But an artist, and for my age I was rated pretty good,
I worked hard at my canvas and was bidding fair to rise,
For gradually I saw the star of fame before my eyes.
“I made a picture, perhaps you've seen, 'tis called the 'Chase of Fame.'
It brought me fifteen hundred pounds and added to my name.
And then I met a woman — now comes the funny part —
With eyes that petrified my brain, and sunk into my heart.
“Why don't you laugh? 'Tis funny, that the vagabond you see
Could ever love a woman and expect her love for me;
But 'twas so, and for a month or two, her smiles were freely given,
And when her loving lips touched mine it carried me to heaven.
“Did you ever see a woman for whom your soul you'd give,
With a form like the Milo Venus, too beautiful to live;
With eyes that would beat the Koh-i-noor, and a wealth of chestnut hair?
If so, 'twas she, for there never was another half so fair.
“I was working on a portrait, one afternoon in May,
Of a fair haired boy, a friend of mine, who lived across the way.
And Madeline admired it, and much to my surprise,
Said she'd like to know the man that had such dreamy eyes.
“It didn't take long to know him, and before the month had flown
My friend had stolen my darling, and I was left alone.
And, ere a year of misery had passed above my head.
The jewel I had treasured so had tarnished, and was dead.
“That's why I took to drink, boys. Why, I never saw you smile,
I thought you'd be amused, and laughing all the while.
Why, what's the matter friend? There's a teardrop in your eye.
Come, laugh like me; 'tis only babes and women that should cry.
“Say boys, if you give me just another whiskey, I'll be glad,
And I'll draw right here a picture, of the face that drove me mad.
Give me that piece of chalk with which you mark the baseball score —
And you shall see the lovely Madeline upon the barroom floor.
Another drink, and with chalk in hand, the vagabond began,
To sketch a face that well might buy the soul of any man.
Then, as he placed another lock upon that shapely head,
With a fearful shriek, he leaped and fell across the picture — dead!

Wednesday, February 28, 2024

Take a picture, it lasts longer.

 


Thing of the past ...
Kuhlman-Periman Ranch, Barn, County Route 28, Dolores, Montezuma County, CO
Contributor Names
Historic American Buildings Survey, creator
Lowe, Jet, photographer
Insinga, David J, delineator
Created / Published
Documentation compiled after 1933
Notes
- Unprocessed Field note material exists for this structure: FN-11
- Survey number: HABS CO-39-A
 

 
 
By Rob Carrigan, robcarrigan1@gmail.com
 
The thing is, I have a photographic memory.
That is not exactly what you think, however.
I remember things as images, and quotes, and snap shots of time.
Sometimes that memory is accurate. Other times, not so much.
 
 Depends on which lens I see things through. What chemistry I use to process. Focus, and lighting, camera and enlarger, paper and vacuum board, resolution and file storage, pixel depth and display material, image software, exposure time, and color saturation. And about a million other variables.

For as long as I can remember, I have looked at the world that way.
My first trip to an emergency room was the result of sticking my thumb through a blown Speed Graphic flash bulb. I have photographed probably everything from space shuttles and U.S. presidents, to pets of the week and my own thumb.
I love the old photographs and the new ones. Positive and negative. Color and black and white. Big cameras and small.

I think the smallest camera I have ever operated was one of those microscopic surgical jobs they sometimes check your heart valves with, and the largest — was a process camera for shooting newspaper page negs and had a room of its own, and was on rails.
Cameras are my best friends.

Yes, I have favorites. But they might not be what you think.
An old two and quarter, two and quarter, Dualflex III Kodak with a Kodet lens, (amazing depth of field), the range of Speed Graphics, a Nikon FG 35 mm I bought in J-school, a Kodak Easy Share 195 14 megapixel with 5 x Aspheric lens ($60), Canon EOS 60 D (I shoot most stuff with now) and the first camera I probably ever snapped, a Spartucus "35 F" 400.
Some of my best friends and heroes are behind cameras.
Hector, Pleasants, Oguz Nayman, Jimmy, Perry, Ansel, Jackson, Yousuf, Capa, Dorthea, Ulesman, Gyula, Liebovitz, Duffy, Cartier-Bresson, Maisel, Poley, Chione. 
 
My enemies take photos, and try to capture my soul.
Eidetic memory is the ability to recall images in great detail for several minutes. It is found in early childhood (between 2% and 10% of that age group) and is unconnected with the person's intelligence level. The ability usually begins to fade after the age of six years, perhaps as growing verbal skills alter the memory process.

Perhaps I have never progressed beyond that six years, but some of my most vivid images are nearly 60 years old now.
"It is difficult to disentangle memory abilities that appear early from those cultivated through interest and training. Most people who have exhibited truly extraordinary memories in some domain have seemed to possess them all their lives and honed them further through practice," says Barry Gordon, a professor of neurology and cognitive science at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, in a recent Scientific American article.

Regardless, I need to keep up my image.

“I am not an angel,' I asserted; 'and I will not be one till I die: I will be myself. Mr. Rochester, you must neither expect nor exact anything celestial of me - for you will not get it, any more than I shall get it of you: which I do not at all anticipate,” wrote Charlotte Bronte in "Jane Eyre."

My memories are photographic, but that is not exactly what you think.
 
 

Thing of the past ...
Fort Morgan switchboard
Mountain States Telephone and Telegraph Company exchange in Fort Morgan (Morgan County), Colorado; operators with headsets sit at a switchboard with a clock and kerosene lamp. Women's outfits include a shawl and upswept hair styles.
Date: 1914
Notes: Penciled on negative envelope: "C-Ft. Morgan-Exchange Equipment."; Title penciled on negative envelope.
Type of Material: Glass negatives.; Imaged.; Image
Format-Medium: Photograph.
History Colorado.
 

Thing of the past ...
Town group in front of the old Wood's Hotel in Walden, Colorado
Date: 1895
Men, boys, a dog, and burro in Walden, Jackson County, Colorado, by Wood's Hotel. They are (l to r): K. J. Mac Callum, Bill Wells, Dave Semple, Harold Semple, John Davis, Jack Mckee, Ed Anderson, Mr. Clapper, ?, Oliver Allard, Ben Mosman behind Ray Mosman, Chas. Bock, Bill Pine, Vern Loucks, Geo. Winterburn, and Chester Loucks.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 26 x 21 cm (10 x 8 in.); 1 photoprint on mat board ; 17 x 22 cm (6 1/2 x 8 1/2 in.)
Digital Version Created From Presented to the Denver Public Library by George J. Bailey, Walden, Colorado.
Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints.
Notes: Photoprint has a section torn out. Stamps on back read: "Pay to First National Bank, Laramie Wyo. or order, Irene Mosman."; Title, "#41," and identification hand-written on front of mat.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
City waterworks, Akron, Colo.
Creator: Calvert.
Date: [1886-1890]
Two-story native stone structure with a windmill on its hipped roof and a tall cylindrical water tank (standpipe) in Akron, Washington County, Colorado. Building once housed city offices, jail, and the water well. Windmill and watertank no longer stand. Building later used as a museum.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 13 x 10 cm (5 x 4 in.); 1 photoprint ; 26 x 21 cm (10 x 8 in.)
Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.
Notes: Hand-written on paper label on back of photoprint: Akron, Colorado, 9. The original Town Hall - & fire engine house also the town pump and stand pipe. This building was built in 1886 & 87 is now the Museum building - The standpipe and windmill have long since been taken down. It was in this building the first commissioner met until the newly acquired court house was available. It was used as a court house for only a short time in 1887. This building is made of native rock. Title and photographer hand-lettered on original.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
Tracklayer on the Moffat RR extension from Steamboat Springs to Craig, Colo
Date: 1913
Donor: Mary B. Wenzlick, December 9, 1978.
Denver and Salt Lake Railroad construction near Hayden (Routt County), Colorado. Men work with track, ties, and hoists on a work car. Summer, 1913.
Format of Original Material: 1 photographic print (postcard) ; 6 x 11 cm (2 1/2 x 4 1/2 in.)
Type of Material: Photographic postcards
Notes: Condition: postcard cropped. Postcard edges cropped. Title inked on verso, with "They were working west of Hayden Colo."
Denver Public Library Special Collections.
 

Thing of the past ...
The first automobile in Meeker
Creator: Wildhack, H. A.
Date: April 12, 1904
Donor: Gordon A. Weller, Meeker, Colo.
A crowd gathers around the first automobile in town, in front of Meeker Stables, Harp's Livery, Main Street, Meeker, Colorado. The automobile owned by Horace Simpson Harp, partner in the Harp Stage Line that operated between Grand Junction, Rifle, and Meeker.
Format of Original Material: 1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint : black-and-white ; 13 x 18 cm (5 x 7 in.)
Type of Material Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.
Notes: Title and description typed on label on back photoprint; additional information: photo from the Wildhack collection Meeker Chamber of Commerce.
Denver Public Library Special Collections
 

Thing of the past ...
Main St. Grand Junction, Colo.
Creator: Dean, Frank E., photographer.
Trolley number "2" on Main Street in Grand Junction (Mesa County), Colorado. Shows the round dome, finial and American flag of the Canon Block at the corner of 4th (Fourth) and Main Street. Horse-drawn wagons, buggies and people are near brick or stone commercial buildings. Utility poles and electric wires are over the dirt street, buildings have awnings, and signs read: "Un[cl]e Sam Loan Office," and "The Crown Furniture."
Date: 1910
Notes History Colorado.; Condition: worn.; Date inked on verso.; Handwritten on envelope: "C-Grand Junction"; Masking and fading on original negative reproduced in photographic print.; Title and attribution inked on original negative and reproduced in photographic print.; R7200044501
Physical Description: 1 photographic print ; 13 x 17 cm. (5 x 7 in.)
Is Part Of: History Colorado, Original photographs collection.
 

Thing of the past ...
Colorado State College of Education buildings
Creator: Calvin, Skeets.
Date: 1949 March 12
A somber Helen Langworthy, Theater Director, appraises the damage done by the fire in Cranford Hall in March, 1949, on the campus of the Colorado State College of Education (now the University of Northern Colorado and formerly the State Normal School, the Colorado Teachers College, and Colorado State College) in Greeley, Colorado, in Weld County. Charred boards and debris litter the ground. The roof of the building has burned away, and the sky is visible.
Format of Original Material: 1 photoprint ; 24 x 19 cm (9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.)
Digital Version Created From Max 17.
Type of Material: Photographic prints
Notes: Photoprint has been altered with gray and black paint. Photoprint is warped and has tack holes in the corners. Printed on newsprint and attached to back of photoprint: "Fire unexpectedly stole the show as a student theater group at Colorado State College laid plans for a play production at Greeley. Two days after the group held its dress rehearsal for "The Male Animal" the theater was destroyed in a fire which razed the east end of historic Cranford Hall on the campus. Helen Langworthy, theater director, surveys the wreckage (above). Despite the loss of costumes and props, the play went on - at a downtown Greeley theater."; Title hand-written on back of photoprint.
 

Thing of the past ...
Original Crocker/Culbertson's ranch house and Mount Olympus, Estes Park
Date:[1885-1910?]
A group of three men, six women, and three children pose in front a two-story gable-roofed log building in Estes Park, Colorado, probably built in 1885 and owned by Lester Stuyvesant, Alfred Rowe, Culbertson, and/or Crocker. Scene includes antlers over the doorway, Victorian chairs, a man holding a rifle, and several people with long thin poles (possibly fishing poles). Mount Olympus is behind the house.
Format of Original Material:1 copy photonegative ; 10 x 13 cm (4 x 5 in.); 1 photoprint ; 12 x 12 cm (4 1/2 x 4 1/4 in.)
Type of Material: Film negatives; Photographic prints; Black & white photographs.
Notes: Image has rounded top corners, and may have been originally part of a stereo card. Photoprint has writing in red ink, black ink, and pencil on back. "Culbertson's" in black ink has been marked out and supplanted with "Original Crocker." Other red ink reads: "Built circa 1885 before any other of the log cabins on the property by Lester Stuyvesant ? Original Crocker, house. Crocker bought from Lester ? Stuyvesant - No one has any memory of a Culbertson among old timers in Estes in 1963." In pencil: "Owned by Alfred Rowe, first homesteader. " In black ink: Culbertson's Ranch and Mount Olympus, Estes Park, Colorado."; Title hand-written on back of photoprint.
Denver Public Library Special Collections.

 

Thing of the past ...
Cage scene, Ajax Mine, flashlight
Creator: Masters, O. E.
Interior view of a group of miners who pose near the cage lifts at Ajax Mine near Cripple Creek in Teller County, Colorado. The men wear work clothes, boots, and hats. Some men hold candles in their hands.
Date: [between 1890 and 1900?]
Notes: History Colorado.; Formerly F1135; Handwritten on envelope: "C-Mines-Ajax Mine."; Title inked on original negative and reproduced in print.
Physical Description: 1 photographic print ; 24 x 20 cm. (9 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.)
Is Part Of: History Colorado, original photographs collection.