31 Jan Telluride Museum: News from the Front Porch!
Below is a note from the Kiernon Lannon, Director, Telluride Museum.
Call 970-728-3344 for further info or email info@telluridemuseum.org
Go here for more about the Telluride Museum (back to 2009).
THM Collection, 2006-01-093: Stage To Alta 1923, courtesy Telluride Museum.
This new year brings many new programs, ideas, and celebrations. Throughout 2026, the Museum will be celebrating America’s Semiquincentennial and Colorado’s Sesquicentennial through a variety of events and programs. Keep your eyes on our social media and our website to see the events and to learn more about the amazing community we call home.
The Southwest region of Colorado is kicking off the year with a couple of great events to celebrate America 250/Colorado 150.
Fort Lewis College opened their exhibit Constellations of Place on January 15th. The exhibit will showcase art in multiple mediums and featured artwork from Native American, Indigenous, and Latinx artists. Open to the public through December of 2026.
The Ouray ice festival is hosting a “Stories in the Sky” drone show on Thursday, January 22nd to commemorate the celebrations. To stay up to date on other Southwest region events, visit the calendar here.
This is the year of many anniversaries, not only of our country and state, but for our museum!
The Telluride Historical Museum opened in 1966 and has been operating in the 1896 Hall’s Hospital building ever since. In honor of these anniversaries, we will be sharing information related to historic medicine and healthcare workers within American history.
Be sure to read the “Pulse of the Past” below to learn more about medicine in the American Revolution.
The museum will be sharing several videos to social media related to the “Power of Place” and the historic connections we have to the landscapes and buildings of our community.
If you want to learn more about these powerful places, we invite you to stop by the museum and pick up a copy of the Southwest regions Power of Place magazine. This free magazine includes over a dozen articles about the history of Southwestern Colorado and the many cultures, technologies and landscapes that shape it. Each article is authored by someone with a direct connection to the Southwestern region of Colorado.
Executive Director, Kiernan Lannon, authored the article “Power to the People.” The article covers L.L. Nunn and his contribution to bringing AC electricity to Telluride’s mines, and laying the groundwork for electricity across the nation.
We hope your new year is off to a great start and hope to see you at the amazing events that we have planned in 2026!
Sincerely,
Your Museum Family
Pulse of the Past
As Washington’s Army marched across the newly formed United States, women were marching with them. During the American Revolution, the Continental Army relied on the work of women to keep it going through cooking, laundry, tailoring, and of course; nursing. Ordinary eighteenth century women were catapulted alongside men into the war that was ravaging the emerging nation.
Women were quickly becoming employed by the Continental Army in various roles and as casualties began to increase, the need for hospitals and female nurses to staff them grew.
Abigail Hartman Rice was one of these women. Living a mile from the Yellow Springs hospital in Pennsylvania she began bringing items and sitting with soldiers, eventually becoming a nurse. Like many other nurses of the time, her work was to care for sick and injured men and was mainly focused on hygiene and cleanliness of the hospital. Women were still not allowed to practice medicine, but they would administer care if a doctor was unavailable.
Rice and other nurses worked for a time with no pay, until congress and Washington conceded to their demands and paid them. Nurses worked in deplorable conditions due to a lack of supplies, primitive medical practices, and the sheer number of casualties. They often had to improvise in order to keep the hospital as sanitary as possible. These conditions meant that nurses were exposed to many diseases like typhoid fever, typhus, small pox, and dysentery.
Rice worked in the Yellow Springs hospital for two years, alongside several other women. She died in 1789 from complications of Typhoid fever that she contracted while working at Yellow Springs.
The labors of Rice and other nurses served as the first time women were employed with American Military medicine.
Upcoming Events
Daffodil Days Pre-order begins, be sure to reserve your flowers. Bunches are $2 off if you pre order before 11:59 on March 15th.
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