City Seeks Donations to Expand Broomfield History Collection

At top, Duane Wiley in front of his house at 106 Hemlock Street, c. 1956. Above, Wiley’s Jaycees vest.

By Kristen Beckman

In an effort to diversify its collection of historical material, the city is seeking interviews, photos, and objects relating to life in Broomfield for the Broomfield History Collection. Stories of the immigrant experience, minority groups, and those often left out of the historical narrative, are of particular interest.

For example, The Friends of Broomfield History – an independent non-profit 501c3 group that supports the museum and collection – recently received a grant for a project titled “The Story of Us,” and volunteers will soon begin conducting oral histories to create a more comprehensive and inclusive story of those who have made Broomfield their home. The project is funded by a Broomfield Arts, Culture, and Science Grant.

The Broomfield History Collection currently consists of more than 8,000 objects, photos, and archival materials that relate to the history of Broomfield. Many of these items were collected and compiled by volunteers of the former Broomfield Historical Society, which operated the Depot Museum for nearly 30 years until the City and County took ownership in 2011.

Included in the collection today are more than 2,000 photos taken in and around Broomfield, many from the 1950s when Broomfield Heights began to transform from a small farming community to a growing suburban city. Dozens of recorded interviews with community members who grew up in

Broomfield from the early 20th century to today are also part of the collection, along with objects that illustrate the community’s history with railroad, farming, business, and Broomfield Days. Household items such as quilts and kitchenware used to decorate the Depot are also part of the collection.

The project’s coordinators are encouraging Broomfielders to consider donating items that may not have obvious historical significance but become significant because of the story attached to them.

“While many people may think their personal stories aren’t ‘History’ with-a-capital-H, our goal at the Broomfield History collection is to preserve and share stories of what everyday life was/is like in Broomfield,” said Museum Curator Elizabeth Beaudoin. “Maybe these stories might not seem like history now, but as time passes these stories take on more meaning and give context to how we’ve grown and changed as a community.”

For example, Beaudoin said she loves reading the stories of what it was like for those in 1910 living in Broomfield – how they rode the train to Denver to see movies, how they kept the school house warm with coal, and how dances at the Grange were the social opportunities in which teenagers flirted with each other. Stories about growing up in Broomfield Heights and how people were able to walk to the shopping center that used to be at the end of Midway, donate extra change to Shep at the tollbooth, hang out at the A&W, and ride their bikes all over town, add richness and color to the picture of life in Broomfield that the collection attempts to preserve.

One of the collection’s more recent donations is a vest worn by Duane Wiley, a member of the Broomfield Jaycees in the 1960s and 70s. This western-style vest is covered in patches and would have been worn at events the Jaycees helped organize, such as Broomfield Days. The donor, Randy Wiley, included stories about his dad’s participation in the Jaycees, as well as photos of his family in front of their home in First Filing.

Another recent donation was a large Thanksgiving turkey platter donated by Kathy Hobaugh. Hobaugh included a story of how in the early 1960s her siblings went to the local Broomfield Ben Franklin to purchase a gift for their mother. They chose this platter which their mother loved and used every Thanksgiving for over 50 years. She also included photos of her family from that time in the 1960s that bring color and context to the story.

“A lot of the time people treat museums like thrift stores and just donate things without any context, which separates the object from the more valuable thing, the story,” said Beaudoin.

“For example, that turkey platter doesn’t have a lot of value by itself. It’s just a mass-produced turkey platter, but with the donor’s story and photos it becomes representative of family and life in Broomfield at a particular moment, one that I think a lot of other Broomfielders can relate to.”

A large Thanksgiving turkey platter donated by Kathy Hobaugh.

Photo courtesy Elizabeth Beaudoin.

Chestnut Family Photo taken in 1968 at 942 E. 10th Ave. in Broomfield. Back row: June, Steve, Tom; middle: Kathy; front: Rick and Kelly.

Photo courtesy Kathy (Chestnut) Hobaugh.

Other items organizers are looking for might be found in your grandparents’ junk drawers – old phone books, maps, real estate listings, and other ephemera such as napkins, matchbooks, postcards, and menus from old Broomfield businesses.

“These things are unique to Broomfield, and who else but us will save such items?” said Beaudoin.

The Broomfield History Collection database is available online at https://hub.catalogit.app/9352 for the public to peruse and do research. The digitization and cataloging of the collection has been mostly done by volunteers, and there are many items still to be digitized. Volunteers are always needed to help digitize and catalog items as well as to help identify unknown people, places, and events in the photo and archive collection.

More information about the Broomfield History Collection is at www.broomfield.org/Depot