Colorado Women: A History

Preface

xi Preface ColoradoWomen:AHistoryisahistoryofwomen’slivesin,andcontributions to, Colorado. At the beginning of each chapter, an essay places Colorado women in historical context. In ten of the twelve chapters, vignettes on individual women or organizations follow the narrative. As with any major undertaking, there were challenges in the preparation of this book. One was deciding where to divide the chapters. Because the usual historical divisions are not necessarily appropriate for women’s history , I chose to delineate the chapters at important crossroads for women in Colorado.1 Chapter 1 begins with the lives of Paleoindians and ends at 1858 when the discovery of gold lured scores of Anglo men and women who disrupted the lives of Native American, Spanish, and New Mexican peoples. Chapters 2 and 3 conclude in 1877, the year the first suffrage campaign ended in defeat. Chapter 4 discusses the lives of working women in towns, mining communities, and rural settlements. The significant strides Colorado xii P r e f a c e women made in winning the right to vote and in occupations, club work, and philanthropic efforts are chronicled in chapter 5. The first two decades of the twentieth century, discussed in chapters 6 and 7, mark an era of new occupations , expanded educational opportunities, and Progressive Era reforms. In chapter 8, the dichotomous decade of the 1920s collapsed into the 1930s’ Great Depression (chapter 9). Chapter 10 chronicles the significant impacts of World War II on women’s personal, domestic, and occupational lives. Chapter 11 depicts the postwar period, while Chapter 12 addresses women in the modern era. A recurring challenge was what—and whom—to include. Given the constraints of space, neither everything nor everyone could complete the trek from research to written page. Throughout history, migrating women chose what to include on their journeys. At times the piano or grandma’s rocking chair was packed, only to be discarded along the trail as too cumbersome or heavy. There it remained to suffer the vagaries of weather or perhaps to be adopted by another pioneer family to complete the journey westward . I view this book in much the same way. While I gleaned and edited, it was consoling to know that other historians will find different avenues of research to explore. On any given late evening as the sun sets behind the Rocky Mountains, one can look west and see layers of mountains, their colors a gradation of whites, grays, mauves, and blues. They evoke in me a sense of the layers of Colorado women’s history. Layers through time. Layers differentiating the experiences of Native American, Hispanic, African American, and Anglo women. Layers of stories sweeping from the eastern plains to the Western Slope. Layers of stories affected by economic and social class. Layers, even, in individual women’s stories. Amache Ochinee Prowers was born and raised an American Indian but wed into Anglo society. Maggie “Molly” Brown, best known as a survivor of the Titanic, was also a suffragist, philanthropist , wife, mother, and club woman. As historians sift through the layers of the lives and experiences of Colorado women, a more complete picture of Colorado history will emerge. ...