Preservation Series continues with "Red Mountain Project: A Lesson in Extreme Historic Preservation Construction with Chris George"

Preservation Series kicks off 2012 with program on The Red Mountain Project

The Center of Southwest Studies is pleased to kick off our new program series, Celebrating the Preservation of our Natural and Cultural Heritage, on Wednesday January 25th with a talk on the Red Mountain Project. The Red Mountain Project protected 9000 acres of natural resources, landscapes, and historic structures and transportation features in the Ouray, Silverton and Telluride region. Speakers include Jason Corzine with The Trust for Public Land, current Mayor of Ouray Bob Risch, and Bev Rich with San Juan County Historical Society.
A reception will begin at 5:30pm, with the program starting at 6:00pm in the Center’s Lyceum.
This program is free and open to the public.

Native American Textile Roadshow set for November 12th

The Center of Southwest Studies will host a Native American rug and textile identification session and talk by Toadlena Trading Post owner Mark Winter on Saturday, November 12 from 2:00-5:00pm. The public is encouraged to bring up to three Native American rug/ textile pieces to the Center’s main gallery from 2:00-4:00pm for identification and evaluation by Mr. Winter. A talk on collecting textiles will immediately follow beginning at 4:00pm. This event is free and open to the public. Donations to the Center for participating in this unique opportunity are encouraged.

Jackson Clark talk on collecting Native American Art

Durango, CO – October 21, 2011 – The Center of Southwest Studies will host a Native American art identification session, followed by a talk, by local Toh-Atin Gallery owner Jackson Clark on Wednesday, October 26 from 4:00-6:00pm. The public is encouraged to bring up to three Native American art pieces for identification by Mr. Clark. A talk on collecting art will follow, beginning at 6:00pm. This event is free and open to the public. Donations to the Center for participating in this unique opportunity are encouraged.

Cutter World Maps now on exhibit in Delaney Research Library

Come and enjoy one of the Center of Southwest Studies most prized collections, the Cutter World Maps, which is now on exhibit in the Delaney Library!

The finding aid for the Cutter Map collection is available online at: http://swcenter.fortlewis.edu/finding_aids/cutter_maps.shtml

The Center of Southwest Studies celebrates ten years of progress and partnerships

DURANGO, CO – October 7, 2011 – The Center of Southwest Studies at Fort Lewis College celebrates a decade of progress and partnerships, as this year marks the tenth anniversary of the opening of the Center’s state-of-the-art building. A special Tenth Anniversary Building Celebration will be held on Thursday, October 13th, with a public open house from 4:30pm to 6:30pm. Opening remarks begin at 5:00pm, followed by a special presentation by local, award winning author, Jack Turner, on his book, “Landscapes on Glass: Lantern Slides of the Rainbow Bridge – Monument Valley Expedition”. This celebration is free and open to the public.

The Center of Southwest Studies opened the doors of its 50,000 square-foot building in 2001. It houses the Center’s museum/gallery space and the summer solstice window, the Delaney Southwest Research Library and archival collections, an auditorium for public lectures, the Departments of Anthropology and Native American and Indigenous Studies, and the Office of Community Services. The building was in part funded by the local community, under the leadership of the late Mrs. Morley Ballantine, who chaired the fund-raising campaign and was the founding donor of the Center, along with her husband Arthur.

Established in 1964, the Ballantines and former college president, Dr. John Reed, together envisioned a repository for artifacts, resource materials, books, records and documents that could be used for research of the history and development of the Southwestern United States.

The Center of Southwest Studies collections include the famed Durango Collection, ® which holds old and rare textiles spanning eight centuries. Other collections consist of Native American basketry, contemporary Southwestern art, Ancestral Puebloan ceramics, historic maps and photographs, rare books and ephemera, microfilm, and manuscripts- including personal papers of Congressional and state leaders, and some civic records.

The Center of Southwest Studies was the first research center in the country to focus exclusively on the Southwest, and is regarded as holding one of the best archival collections of any undergraduate institution in the West.

New postcard collection book, 'Durango'; Authors book signing event September 15th

The Center of Southwest Studies is pleased to announce a new publication, Durango, from Arcadia Publishing's Postcard History Series, complied and written by Fredric B. Wildfang and the Center's Archives Manager, Nik Kendziorski. A book signing will be held Thursday, September 15th from 5:00-7:00pm, in the Center of Southwest Studies' Delaney Research Library. The authors will discuss the book beginning at 5:30pm.

This collection presents a postcard tour of Durango and its environs and provides keen insight into the history and colorful character of this area, which has been a vibrant center of Southwestern Colorado for more than a century. A brief history of postcards as a convenient medium for sharing messages - and as a revolutionary departure from Victorian-era long letters - is included in the book as well. And a very special thanks is due to Nina Heald Webber for amassing the collection of these historical postcards, what she herself calls "windows to the past".

The Center is pleased to offer these books for sale at the event for $24.00.