AURORA MUSEUM FOUNDATION

The story of Aurora, Colorado

March 2007 Newsletter

 March 2007 Newsletter of the Aurora Museum Foundation

TREKKIN' WITH LEWIS AND CLARK:

Foundation's Annual Meeting Is March 4
Members of the Aurora Museum Foundation who attend the organizations's annual meeting on Sunday, March 4 will have an opportunity to spend a most interesting afternoon at the Aurora History Museum. The foundation annual meeting is scheduled at 1 p. m.

Following the election of foundation officers, a brief business meeting and an annual report from Gordon Davis, executive director of the Aurora History Museum, foundation members are invited to be guests at the presentation of Churchill Clark's Trekkin' With Lewis and Clark program in the museum's Community Gallery beginning at 2 p. m.

Churchill Clark who lives in Aurora is a great, great, great, great grandson of William Clark who along with Meriwether Lewis led the Corps of Discovery that explored the Louisiana Purchase in 1804-1806. Between May 14, 2005 and September 23, 2006 Churchill Clark retraced the Lewis and Clark journey, traveling, as much as possible, the same way members of the Corps of Discovery traveled 200 years earlier. That meant paddling a dugout canoe up the Upper Missouri and Yellowstone rivers and riding horses over the Rocky Mountains.

The significant departure from the original Lewis and Clark journey for Churchill Clark and the companions he traveled with was that they did not spend the winters at Fort Mandan in North Dakota and Fort Clatsup in Washington since those structures were not available in 2004 and 2005.

Churchill Clark was born in New Jersey but he has spent most of his life in Colorado. There is a $3 admission charge for Aurora residents attending Clark's illustrated lecture and a $4 charge for non-residents. Members of the Aurora Museum Foundation will be guests.

The Aurora Museum Foundation's nominating committee has recommended that the foundation's officers and directors with expiring terms be re-elected. Officers are President Bob Eide, Vice-president Hal Dunning, Secretary Carol Drollinger and Treasurer Jay Bobick. Directors who have been nominated to serve additional three-year terms are Bobick, Dunning and Carol and Don Drollinger.

Foundation members attending the annual meeting on March 4 will have an opportunity to view the History Museum's two newest exhibits. The Hensler collection of Native American Art of the Southwest opened February 27 in Gallery Two and Aurora's Mission Viejo opens March 2 in the Community Gallery.

 The University of Colorado Museum is loaning some outstanding examples of Ute beadwork. Museum visitors will have the opportunity to examine the pottery, weaving, carving and other art of Southwest native cultures including the Hopi, Pueblo and Navajo societies.

Opening just one week later (March 2) in the Aurora History Museum's Community Gal1ery will be an exhibit featuring Aurora's Mission Viejo and contrasting it with the original Mission Viejo development in southern California. There will be photographs, newspaper reproductions and other documents from the archives from both Mission Viejos mounted on exhibit panels. A part of the Mission Viejo exhibit will be displayed at the Mission Viejo library.

The Native American Art of the Southwest and the Mission Viejo Aurora exhibits both close on June 17. Opening at the museum on July 3 will be traveling exhibit prepared by the New York State Museum entitled September 11, 2001: The first 24 Hours. That exhibit will include fragments from the World Trade Center twin towers that were destroyed when two jetliners were flown into them along with many photographs taken in the aftermath of the disaster which cost the lives of nearly 3,000 Americans.

 The Aurora History Museum and the Aurora Public Library will be working together to present an exciting new program, Living History Festival: Life and Times of the Civil War, on Wednesday, May 2. The many activities planned will be held at the DeLaney Farm historic site, the library's community room and the museum's community gallery.

The festival is planned for school children in grades three through five. There will be a $1 admission charge and chaperones will be admitted free of charge. Starting at 9:30 a. m., the Living History Festival should end by 1:30 p. m.

Members ofthe First Colorado Volunteer Infantry, a Civil War re-enactment group, are expected to be present to show equipment and demonstrate activities that were a part of camp life during the war that was fought between 1861 and 1865. There are expected to be Buffalo Solders present, too. They were the African-American soldiers who manned the western frontier outposts in the post-Civil War era.

There's be a program presented by the Rocky Mountain Quilt Museum and Sandy Sweeney will conduct a session on the Underground Railroad which helped slaves seek freedom in the North before and during the Civil War. President Abraham Lincoln (John Voehl) and Harriet Beecher Stowe (Dramatist Diana Reardon) will be present to talk about their role in the Civil War.

Volunteers are being sought by the museum to help stage the Living History Festival. Aurora Museum Foundation members who are willing to help with the check-in, ushering people to the next event and doing other odd jobs are asked to contact Mike Thompson, the museum's collections curator and volunteer coordinator at (303) 739-6664.

Volunteers are also being sought to help serve refreshments at the reception following the Aurora Women: Sculptors of Our Community program on Saturday, March 17 and to help with Aurora's 116th Birthday party at the Aurora History Museum on Monday, April 30. The birthday party is an evening event at the museum starting at 5 p. m. and ending at 8 p. m. The volunteers will be asked to help cut and serve cake, paint faces, conduct Aurora bingo games and assist with other fun activities staged for children attending the birthday party.

 Director' s Message: In reviewing the programs the museum presented in 2006 I was amazed at the number and diversity of activities we provided throughout the year. Classes, programs, historic preservation grants, archive scanning, accessioning donated collections, historic site restoration, new exhibits and special events add up to what makes the museum what it is. Weare proud ofthe museum's hard-working staff and the many contributions the museum makes to Aurora and the metro-wide community. With our successes in 2006 we also had painful losses. Helen Patterson, long-time volunteer in the museum's archives passed away late last year. Helen was honored as an Aurora Sentinel Volunteer of the Week last year.

We approach 2007 with great anticipation. We are working with Southlands (the mall) to provide exhibits beginning in February and we are working in collaboration with the Mission Viejo Home Owners Association to provide a "Mission Viejo" exhibit at the Mission Viejo Library and also at the Aurora History Museum (March 2-June 17) with material from Mission Viejo, California that will highlight the many similarities between Mission Viejo, California and Mission Viejo, Aurora. We are moving forward with the planning for the restoration of Trolley Trailer No. 610 that is currently in storage at the city of Aurora's central facilities and are arranging for a traveling exhibit from the New York State Museum entitled "September 11, 2001-The First 24 Hours (July 3-September 23).

The work of the museum could not be possible without your continued support that you have provided over the past 27-year history of the museum. We appreciate it, as it really does make Aurora a better place to live. Gordon Davis, executive director, Aurora History Museum

Next Antique Appraisal Fair Will Be Held on April 28
The Aurora Museum Foundation's next Antique Appraisal Fair will be held on Saturday, April 28 from 9 a. m. to 3 p. m. at the Aurora History Museum. Once again professional appraisers will provide oral evaluations of heirlooms brought to the museum by appraisal fair participants.

There is a $5 charge for each item appraised and there is a limit of five items for each participant. After April 1 those wishing to participate in the appraisal fair may call (303) 739-6705 to make an appointment for an appraisal of their dishes, jewelry, artwork, dolls, coins or other collectibles. While a reservation is desireable, walk-ins are welcome on a first-come, first served schedule.

Members ofthe History Museum Foundation will be available to help those with furniture or large items. Parking is available in the library parking lot in front of the museum or in the Aurora Municipal Center garage just east of the museum.

The Antique Appraisal Fairs are a major fund-raising activity for the Aurora Museum Foundation and all profits are dedicated to expanding programs offered by the museum. A second 2007 Antique Appraisal Fair will be held at the history museum on Saturday, September 29.

Grant Will Help Restore Historic Hombein Building
A $74,973 grant from the Colorado State Historical Fund and a $25,000 Community Development Block Grant have been received by the Aurora Historic Sites and Preservation Office for restoration of the Hornbein Building, one of Aurora's 22 historic landmarks. The grants are for exterior renovation and will include replacement of the building's roof.

The Hornbein Building, formerly the Martin Luther King Library and Reading Room, was designed by premier Denver Architect Victor Hornbein in 1953. It was the city's only library for several years and continued to be used as a library until the new Martin Luther King Library was opened in 2004. Today the building is occupied by Red Delicious Press, a non-profit print-making activity.

The Hornbein Building is "Usonian," a style of architecture developed by Frank Lloyd Wright that used a variety of natural finishes and open interior spaces. It is influenced by traditional Japanese design. The building was dedicated as Aurora Historical Landmark No. 22 in 2005.

The Hornbein building, located at 9901 East 16th avenue, was next door to Aurora's second city hall which was built in 1954. And next to the city hall was fire station number one. The old city hall has been torn down and the fire station is being replaced.

John Voehl presented a remarkable performance as President Abraham Lincoln at the opening of the exhibit Forever Free: Abraham Lincoln's Journey to Emancipation, at Aurora's History Museum on January 7. There was a standing room only crowd at the museum to see the exhibit hosted by the Aurora Public library in cooperation with the Aurora History Museum. Participating in activites at the reception was a color guard from the First Colorado Volunteers Infantry which is a Civil War re-enactment group. The exhibit describing President Lincoln's 1863 decision to issue the Emancipation Proclamation and declare slaves free in the Confederate States was on display from January 7 until February 24 in the history museum's community gallery.

 Speakers at the Aurora History Museum's Brown Bag and White Linen lecture series will continue to pursue the topic, The Making of a City, in March, April and May. The lectures are held at noon on the third Wednesday of each month in the museum's community gallery. Those attending the luncheons must provide their own brown bag lunch and there is a $3 charge for Aurora residents and $4 for non-residents.

The schedule for the next three months:

Wednesday, March 21: The Making of a City: Planning a World Class City. The creation of great places is the key to Aurora's future. City Planner Bob Watkins will discuss efforts that are underway and techniques to be used to create great places.
Wednesday, April 18: The Making of a City: Networking Community and Business: Pam Wilson, director of the North Aurora Business Association, speaks about bringing business and community together through special events and policy making with the city of Aurora.
Wednesday, May 16: The Making of a City: A Mayor's Perspective. What is the role of the mayor in Aurora? Mayor Ed Tauer addresses this question in this series on the making of a city.

The history museum's Brown Bag lectures have been sponsored the past two years by the Aurora Historical Society.

 For the ninth consecutive year, the Aurora History Museum will honor its Aurora Women Sculptors of Our Community on Saturday March 17. The program will be held in the city council chambers at the Aurora Municipal Center from 1 p. m. to 4 p. m. Admission is free.

Those being honored this year are Shirley Bengtson, Linda Bowman, Nadine Caldwell, Pudge Collins, Mildred (Millie) Cowen, Phyllis Graf, Marion Jordan, Lynn Myers and Stephanie Takis. The sculptors are honored for their contributions in social, political, educational and service endeavors which have helped build Aurora into the community it is today.

Organizations which are asked to submitthe names of nominees for the sculptors recognition include The Women's Club of Aurora; Delta Kappa Gamma, Alpha Iota Chapter; the American Association of University Women, Aurora Branch; Aurora Chamber of Commerce; Aurora Business and Professional Women; Church Women United, Aurora Unit; Aurora Republican Women's Club and Arapahoe County Democrats.

Board of Directors of the Aurora Museum Foundation: Robert Eide, president; Harold Dunning, vice-president; Carol Drollinger, secretary; Jay Bobick, treasurer; Kathy Sanders, Don Drollinger, Dean Hughes. Sue Miller, David Moore, Fred Seybold, Stu Pyper, Ruth Schmunk and Sandra Sweeney.
Aurora History Museum Staff: Gordon Davis, executive director; Alice Lee Main, cultural services manager; Mary Ellen Schoonover, education curator; Mat Chasansky, exhibits curator, Brian Shaw, preservation assistsnt; Mike Thompson, collections curator; Ken Clinton, facility manager; Motyka Johnson, museum assistant; Judy Boss, volunteer Sanders Museum Store manager.