When most people think of masks, they think of parties, but the tradition of a “death mask,” or a mask cast after someone’s death, has a much more morbid, yet historical meaning. Death masks capture every wrinkle, hair, and pore in a final record of a person’s life. They are in some ways the best, […]
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Sometimes the mystery is more about the name of something than it is about the item itself. The “Cultural Crossroads” section of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum features some beautiful pouches, or parfleches, which were made by Native Americans who never used that word to name them. “Parfléche” is a word made up by French
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Whose hands are these? Artus Van Briggle lived in Colorado Springs for only five years, but he left an indelible mark on our city’s history. “Van,” as he was commonly known, came to our city suffering from tuberculosis, and like many consumptives, sought a cure here. He was already a respected artist before his arrival,
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At first glance, this doll doesn’t look very lovable; in fact, it looks kind of creepy. But for one little girl from the family of Martha Marsh Sutton, a late Nineteenth-century homesteader in Colorado, it was a favored toy. Most dolls at this time were made by hand from scraps of cloth or old clothes,
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What is that rake-looking thing, and why would anyone make it out of glass? Go into the room behind the information desk on the first floor of the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum, and you’ll find a display of all sorts of weird things like this glass apparatus. But what was it used for? Hint: it’s
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Thousands of people drive by the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum every day without knowing what lies inside, even though admission to the museum is free. I drive by myself fairly often, and I figured that if people could get a preview of some of the interesting items featured there, they might visit the museum and
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