Archive Search Results

An interview with Carl Smith, who grew up just south of Delta and moved to Grand Junction later in life. He learned to play several instruments at an early age, and later played music in circus bands and in a military band during World War I. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado.

Reuben A. Pitts talks about wars between cattle and sheep ranchers, about rural school life in Plateau Valley, Colorado, and about the Big Creek Reservoir flood. He also discusses his job as a typesetter for his father’s newspaper, The Plateau Valley Voice, in Collbran. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the Mesa County Historical Society....

Harriet “Muzz” Northrop Webster Johnson recalls growing up in Grand Junction, Colorado and discusses the schools she attended, her father’s job at the Holly Sugar Company, her jobs after high school, her marriages, and the history of St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church. She also talks about starting over as a 58-year-old widower, when she lived and worked as a house mother at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and Blind. The interview was conducted...

Les Kittle talks about growing up in Greeley, Colorado, where he worked in his father’s grocery store. He discusses his life as a musician, beginning as a child in Greeley, where he played in theaters and in bands. He speaks about his teaching career at Adams State College and the Colorado Women’s College.The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado....

Mary Cox talks about her education at the Bryant School and elsewhere in Grand Junction, about corsets and other aspects of school fashion, the history of the Riverside Neighborhood, attending community dances and Glenwood Springs’ Strawberry Days, and boys swimming in the Colorado River. She also discusses old downtown businesses, going to movies at the Majestic Theater, a brothel that advertised at the Mesa County Fairgrounds during a baseball...

Winifred Bull discusses her education in Grand Junction’s schools, her career teaching Latin at Grand Junction High School, the medical career of her father, Dr. Heman R. Bull, the life of her uncle Edwin Price (founder of Grand Junction’s first newspaper), and the Spanish Flu epidemic of 1918-19. The interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries, the Museums of Western Colorado and the...

Grace Wade talks about her childhood growing up in Cripple Creek, Colorado. She goes into detail explaining the layout of the town, the street car system, the red light district, her school, and her home. She mentions her studious piano practice that led to her advanced playing ability, her yearly trips to Texas and Denver to see her family, and her family’s tradition of going to University of Texas. She describes her teaching career in Cripple...

Helen Johnson talks about helping teach a WPA-funded dance class during the Great Depression. She speaks about other government programs, such as the Civilian Conservation Corps, and how they helped the people of Mesa County, Colorado during the Great Depression. She describes working for Douglas Aircraft in Los Angeles to manufacture airplanes during World War II, where she became the lead in her section. She talks about her brief career teaching...

Loudene Humeston talks about her teaching career in the Collbran School, and about the fire that took the top floor off of the original building. She also discusses town dances, teaching Sunday school at the Collbran Congregational Church, the history of town buildings, and aspects of Plateau Valley history. This interview was conducted by the Mesa County Oral History Project, a collaboration of Mesa County Libraries and the Museums of Western Colorado....

Armand de Lavillette de Beque lectures about the history of theater in Mesa County, Colorado in a meeting of the Mesa County Historical Society. He talks about productions put on in DeBeque and Fruita, and about the general audience. He discusses his teaching career and how many plays he directed as an educator. This interview also includes speeches from Nina Brouse and Hellen (Hawxhurst) Young. These ladies talk about how they helped produce plays,...