Video Trailer for "Turn It Up: Golden's Musical Memories"

Here's the first view of our video trailer for one of the multimedia portions of "Turn It Up: Golden's Musical Memories," which will open June 3, 2011. Let us know what you think!




Read more on our website, and stay tuned for updates.

Museum Advisory Board Seeks Community Input

In April, it will be one year since the Golden City Council adopted Resolution #2052 bringing Golden History Museums under city administration. The resolution also recognized a new relationship between the City and the non-profit organization that had been managing the three museums. Now known as “Friends of Golden History Museums,” the organization exists to help coordinate events, raise funds, and host events that help support the museums.

In addition, City Council passed Ordinance #1872 establishing a Cultural Services and Museum Advisory Board.  The board was charged “to promote cultural preservation, to advise the City Council concerning museum programming, and to recommend and plan events for the Golden community that promote an interest in and appreciation for the preservation of Golden’s history and culture.”

The ordinance also states, “the initial purpose of the board, at least through the end of 2011, and longer if necessary, is to assist the City with the transition of the management of the City’s museums to the City, advising the City with respect to strategic planning, transition issues, and museum best practices, and to act as “ambassadors to the community” for the City’s museums.”

Now that the transition is complete, the board is at a crossroads. They must prepare a recommendation for Council stating that, as of the end of 2011, the board with either: 1) continue on in perpetuity as stated; 2) be absorbed into another advisory board (i.e. the Parks Board); or 3) disband. 

In order to make an informed recommendation to City Council, the members of the Cultural Services and Museum Advisory Board is seeking community input on the board’s future. They are inviting interested citizens to attend the board’s next public meeting on Wednesday, April 13 at 7:00pm in City Council Chambers to give their feedback to the board members.

If you are unable to attend the meeting but would still like to provide your thoughts to the board members, please email the board chair, Liz Cook at lcook898@gmail.com or contact Nathan Richie at nrichie@GoldenHistoryMuseums.org.

A Real One of a Kind



Nancy Mason and Chuck Howes discuss
 the piano’s unique qualities.

 Upright pianos became popular in America during the late 1800s. We, however, have a real one-of-a-kind, and not just because it's covered in orange velvet.

Last December Michael and Nancy Mason, of Golden donated this beauty to the museum. Like all of our artifacts, this one has a story behind it too. Long before it came to the museum it was exhibited at the World Columbian Exposition of 1893.


Coincidentally, Adolf Coors was showing his beers at the same Exposition alongside the products of over two dozen other breweries. Coors won an award for “brilliancy, flavor, chemical analysis and commercial flavor.” He was also the only winner west of the Mississippi.


Anyhow, after seeing the piano at the Columbia Exhibition, a man named Clinton O. Heath purchased the piano as a gift for the woman he loved and intended to marry, a Miss Mattie Williamson. It was shipped to Ft. Morgan, CO, where Clint and Mattie lived on spacious property they called “the farm.” They later moved to Denver and lived in the Congress Park district until Clint’s death.


The Masons are aware of only one other similar piano, but it was a rose color. Oddly, it was found in a bar in Woodland Park, Colorado. Its condition was very poor because someone tried to wash it.


Specifically, our piano is a Regal #1908 with a patent date of August 20, 1889 made by the New England Piano Company of Boston. The donation also includes a piano stool of dark wood claw feet grasping glass balls.


The piano was regularly played in the Heath home until Mattie's death in 1964 when it was moved to the home of her daughter, Camille Heath Conine. She lived only a few blocks away from her mother on Garfield Street in Congress Park. The house at 720 Garfield was one of the first houses to be built in the block. Upon Camille's death in 1994, the piano was moved to her grandson Michael's home in Golden. And now, it’s the newest item in the Golden History Museums’s growing collection.


See our newest addition with your very own eyes in Turn it Up: Golden’s Musical Memories, opening June 3rd at the Golden History Center.

Tickling the Ivories

Today marked the first day in a long series of work sessions which will involve several unique musical instruments in the City of Golden collection. Dan Holstein, of Dan’s Piano Service in Arvada, began removing all the wires, hammers, and other internal workings from our J.M. Pelton square grand piano. The wires will be sent to a specialty fabricator in Illinois where each one will be meticulously recreated to fit our instrument. Similarly, other piano parts will be rebuilt over the coming months to bring the square grand to its former musical glory. (When Dan tickled the ivories this morning before beginning to dismantle the 1200-pounder, it didn’t sound like a showroom piece.)

Dan’s Piano Service is the lead sponsor for the upcoming music exhibit, slated to open on June 3, 2011 at the Golden History Center. Dan Holstein, a 16-year veteran of the piano-repair business, started working as an auto mechanic before growing to appreciate the fine inner workings of player pianos, pump organs and similar instruments.

In future weeks we’ll continue to watch Dan’s progress on the J.M. Pelton, as well as one of our player pianos, a pump organ, and a melodeon. Enjoy the following pictorial overview of today's work.

Dan holds the damper assembly.

The bass strings have been removed.

The old tuning pins after removal.

Dan removes the action from the square grand.

Dan holds the hammer, shank, and flange assembly.



Hammer, shank, and flange assemblies after removal.



A beautiful day to move a piano or two

Three big guys from Keyboard Carriers arrived at 1:30 on Thursday to prep our J. M. Pelton square grand piano for a move from the Astor House Museum to the Golden History Center. Dating from 1860-1880, this 1600-pound mass of cherry and gumwood was one of the first major donations to the Astor House Museum in 1972, where it has remained ever since.  

Back when Mr. and Mrs. Keith Simmons from Littleton donated the piano, Mrs. Simmons recalled that Colorado Territorial Governor John Evans bought the instrument around 1859 for his youngest daughter. She died later at age 15. The piano was later sold, only to reside in Central City until 1910, when it was purchased by Mrs. Simmon’s family.

This was back before Golden had a train, so the story goes that he had the piano shipped to Cheyenne by train, and then transported by wagon to Golden. Fortunately, the four piano legs are removable, allowing the cabinet to fit snugly into a wagon. Come full circle back to today–this is basically what we did. The legs were removed and it was carted this time in a truck by professional movers.

Padding the piano at the Astor House Museum.

Removing one of the legs at the Astor House Museum.

Putting legs back on at the Golden History Center.

This is only the beginning of this story. The piano is about to undergo a complete restoration of all of its musical components. It will have new strings, hammers, and more, thanks to the generous support of several longtime museum supporters. All of the work will be completed under the talented eye of Dan Holstein, owner of Dan’s Piano Service, who will sponsor our upcoming music exhibit showcasing the Pelton grand. When the exhibit is done, you might even get a chance to hear it make beautiful music. This yet-to-be-named exhibit will open June 3, 2011.  Stay tuned, because next week Dan will be working in the Golden History Center’s gallery when he plans to began removing the strings.

Offsite collections in better, more secure location

From big-wheeled baby buggies to a hand-grenade-style glass fire extinguisher, the offsite collection storage for Golden History Museums has an amazing variety of Golden-centric artifacts. The collection has been growing for decades and numbers over 15,000 items—so many that they can’t all be stored at our three museums near downtown Golden.

Shelves have been assembled by volunteers, and items were boxed, labeled and cataloged in recent months.

Yesterday the whole staff, along with one lucky volunteer, donned special gloves (so as not to damage the artifacts we handled) and moved the last few hundred of the items, large and small, to a new and more secure storage room where everything is consolidated. With smaller items neatly organized on shelving units and larger items carefully placed anywhere space could be found, the transfer of artifacts is now nearly complete.

We even have a repurposed (from a federal government office) flat-file storage unit that will ensure proper care for maps and other large paper artifacts.

See the before-and-after images below to get a sense of the room’s scope.


 

  

Hands on History Summer Camp

When it comes to the public programs we provide at Golden History Museums it’s difficult to get a true handle on what parents and families really need and believe it or not, the best way to get at the needs of local families is to ask them. Last December I met with three Golden moms who were able to volunteer some time to talk about possible changes to the Hands-on History Summer Camp (HoH) structure and how it would affect parents.

The meeting went great and all three ladies had really helpful suggestions that ranged from session themes to making sure parents know their kids won’t be in the sun all day. With their suggestions I really think we’ll be able to make HoH 2011 work for a lot of families. This summer we’re dividing the kids by age, 6-8 and 9-11, and offering half-day or full-day sessions. And even better, in addition to our pioneer session, we’ve got 3 new session themes for kids to explore new time periods and topics.

 

Having involvement from community members is invaluable and I’m really thankful to all three women for taking the time to talk with me about this and I think we made HoH more convenient for parents and even more fun for kids.