Telluride Historical Museum: "Etch Yourself Into History"

22 Mar Telluride Historical Museum: "Etch Yourself Into History"

[click “Play”, Lauren Bloemsma talks about the Telluride Hisorical Museum]

Want more than 15 minutes of fame? The Telluride Historical Museum is your answer. A new program, “Etch Yourself Into History,” is all about raising money for the brand new outdoor mining exhibit and educational area, which includes – and here’s the punch line – engraved plaques honoring community members and groups, past or present.

The mining exhibit, on the East side of the building, will tell the story of mining in the venue in which it happened, outdoors, brought to life by a tram, ore carts, a mine portal and an interactive gold-panning station. The educational area, on the West side of the museum, will host school and tour groups for lectures, lunches, parties, and historical demonstrations on and around Colorado Rosa Flagstone amphitheater seating.

Anything goes. Familiar with the 13-year-old reservation rescue dog who spends a lot of time curled on the porch of the Telluride Historical Museum? His owner, Lauren Bloemsma, is the executive director there. Shiprock is getting a plaque. The first plaque to be etched will read “In Loving Memory of Arlene Reid.” Arlene hung up her nurse’s hat when Telluride Community Hospital closed in 1964, only to unlock the building again two years later as first curator of the museum.

“No one has spent more time inside this building than Arlene; no doubt she earned her etch into history,” says Bloemsma.  

Commemorative plaques range in price from $50 – $500. They will be on display indefinitely, offering  the community a way to honor personal histories at one of the town’s most historic places: the mining hospital turned museum.

For further information, call 970-728-3344, Ext. 1 or 2.

To learn more, click the “play” button and listen to Lauren Bloemsma’s interview.