Historical Museum Series Kick off

MOUNTAIN VILLAGE – Vestiges of Telluride’s illustrious past will return in the flesh tonight to usher in a new season of the Telluride Historical Museum’s popular Fireside Chats program.

The first chat of the summer will not only shed light on the lives of some of the West’s most memorable “legendary ladies,” but will actually bring such renowned western women as “The Unsinkable” Mollie Brown, Calamity Jane, and Colorado mining millionaire Augusta Tabor to the fireside stage to tell their stories in their own words. Local legends Harriet Fish Backus (The Tomboy Bride) and Marie Scott (Ranching Queen of Colorado) will return to their old stomping grounds as well, making for a rambling evening of living history.

“We’re lucky in the West because there’s been a lot of well-documented, phenomenal women in our history, and a lot of groups who work to keep that heritage alive,” says Beth Roberts, Telluride Historical Museum’s Assistant Director. One of those groups is The Legendary Ladies (also known as The Shady Ladies,) an award winning, non-profit educational performance organization from the Front Range.

For 15 years, the group has been putting on educational performances designed to promote the history of women in the Victorian West. According Roberts, the Legendary Ladies won’t just be telling tonight’s audience about the lives of these well-known western women; they will actually be showing them.

“It’s pretty entertaining,” she promises. “They aren’t just telling you about these women, they actually are these women. It’s an opportunity to get a glimpse into what these women were really like, down to the speak and the dress of the era.”

“I wouldn’t be surprised if Harriet Fish Backus [the performer] ate what the real Backus ate – frozen turkey and canned beans – the whole day before the performance,” Roberts says, only half-jokingly.

In addition to providing an entertaining theatrical show, tonight’s Chat will also offer an interactive history lesson. Molly Brown’s heroics on the fateful night of the Titanic disaster, or the account of Backus delivering the first baby born in the Telluride Hospital (today’s Telluride Historical Museum) are just some of the stories expected to come alive at this evening’s program.

“All of the Fireside Chats shed light on different eras of our history; but it’s really a treat to bring us into that history in a more multi-dimensional way,” says Roberts.

The evening’s events will start at the fire pit in the Mountain Village core, but the audience is expected to join the Legendary Ladies as they meander through Mountain Village meeting special guests along the way. The program will end at the Peaks Hotel, where a cash bar and restaurant service will be available. The Peaks is co-sponsoring the event.

Tonight’s legendary ladies event kicks off the Museum’s sixth summer hosting the Fireside Chat series program in Mountain Village. Next Thursday, Roland McCook Jr., descendent of Chipeta and Chief Ouray, makes his return to the series with “Growing Up Ute,” a collection of personal stories. McCook currently resides in Montrose and regularly collaborates with the museum.

On July 29, operator and resident of the Bridal Veil Hydroelectric Power Plant, Eric Jacobson, will share history as well as personal experiences in Telluride’s most iconic home with “Bridal Veil Power Plant: Home on the Edge.”

Join Ben Kerr and special guests Jerry Green and Jim Bedford on Aug. 5, as they broadcast details of the birth and early years of KOTO Radio with “What Came First; KOTO or Community Radio?”

On Aug. 12, local historian and author Rudy Davison will illuminate the circumstances surrounding Telluride’s unique name and the man most likely responsible for it with “J.H. Ernest Waters, Telluride's Tragic Founder.”

Rounding out the series on Aug. 19, the museum will collaborate with ONE Telluride for “Immigrant Stories,” profiling Telluride immigrants past and present.

Fireside Chats are held every Thursday from July 15 through Aug. 19, 5:30 p.m. at the fire pit in Mountain Village. All Fireside Chats are free. For more information, call the Telluride Historical Museum at 728-3344, ext. 2.