Exhibits and Publications
Wheeler/Stallard Museum >
The First Floor has been recently refurbished to represent how it would have looked in the early 1890s and will be available to rent in the near future. The Second Floor Gallery is currently showing Thomas W. Benton: Politics, Prose and Poetry, an exhibit on the life and art of one of Aspen’s most accomplished and acclaimed artists, the late Tom Benton. This exhibit features over 45 of the artist’s works as well as artifacts from Benton’s life including his Sheriff Deputy’s badge, an actual silkscreen from his iconic Hunter Thompson for Sheriff poster, and a video clip of the artist at work. A guide will lead you through the Wheeler/Stallard House and talk about aspects of Victorian Life in Aspen from 1880s to the early 1900s.

Victorian House Tours: by special arrangement. A guide will lead you through the Wheeler/Stallard House and talk about aspects of Victorian Life in Aspen from 1880s to the early 1900s.

Location: 620 West Bleeker Street, Aspen
Time: Tues. – Sat. | 1 – 5pm
Fee: $6 adults | $5 seniors (admission fee also includes the Holden/Marolt Museum) Children under 12 FREE.

• Comprehensive Spirit of Aspen Exhibit On-Line Tour
Archives, Library and Carriage House Collections

Call 925-3721, ext. 103 or contact archives@aspenhistory.org

By appointment only Tuesday – Friday, 1:00 – 5:00pm
Search the Aspen Weekly Times from 1881 – 1897
Thanks to the Colorado Digitization Project and the Pitkin Co. Library
What One Person Can Do: A Celebration of the Life of John Denver —on-line exhibit
Holden/Marolt Mining & Ranching Museum: Aspen’s mining boom lasted less than two decades, yet the story of mining in the Roaring Fork Valley lives on at the Holden/Marolt Mining and Ranching Museum. The Museum offers more than 20 exhibits and displays providing a fascinating tale of silver’s boom and bust.

Location: just over the pedestrian bridge off Music School Lane
Time: Call ahead to schedule a tour—925-3721
Fee: $6 Adults | $5 seniors (admission fee also includes the Wheeler/Stallard Museum) Children under 12 FREE. | Group and family rates available
Aspen & Aspen Mt. Panoramas: 1887 – 2005
Designed for people curious about how Aspen and Aspen Mountain have changed over the years.
on-line Flash movie (11.2 MB)
William Henry Jackson and John Fielder Photographs: Then and Now —on-line exhibit

School Program Teachers E-Packet and Youth Historian e-Workbook
Aspen Then and Now (2006): Downtown
Street scenes and panoramas showing how Aspen has changed over the years. 60 minutes.
online Flash movie (25.2 MB)
on-line slide show
Postcards from the Past
On-line slide show covering the history of Aspen from prehistory to the present, Ute Indians to snowboarders.

on-line Flash movie (39.4 MB) updated 8/11/05
on-line slide show
How to Aspen: A History of Skiing and America’s Premier Resort
Explores 6,000 years of skiing and the resort whose name means premier skiing around the world.
on-line Flash movie
How to Aspen II: A History of Skiing in Aspen

on-line slide show
Hard-Rock Mining
On-line slide show covering the history of mining in Aspen, from prospectors, speculators and industrialists to the eventual collapse of silver and the fate of mining during Aspen's "Quiet Years" and beyond.
on-line Flash movie (20.4 MB)
on-line slide show
E-tours

• West End Victorian Architecture Tour
• Downtown Aspen
• Ashcroft Ghost Town
• Independence Ghost Town
Aspen's First Christmas
Judge Deans recounting of Aspen's first Christmas:
"We had come here across the ranges, blazing our own trails, all first arrivals on foot, each with pack on back. Some few had made up and come over with rude hand-drawn sledges and had used snowshoes, but the most of us had camped by day and traveled the crusted snow by night…"
Myths Legends and Tales of Aspen
Romance and Reality of Aspen’s History: Who was Nell really? A debunking of common myths about Aspen history. Great stating point for a discussion about reliability and reality versus the romance of history.
online Flash movie (29.1 MB) updated 7/21/05
on-line slide show
From Tip to Tale—A Brief History of The Development of Ski Equipment
A comprehensive report compiled and written by AHS 1998 research intern Allysun Bryden. ©Aspen Historical Society | updated 1/28/00
How to Aspen: A History of Skiing and America’s Premier Resort
Traveling exhibit which explores a century of skiing in Aspen.

Aspen on the Roaring Fork
By Frank Wentworth. First published in 1935 and again in 1950, this account is dedicated to the "pioneers and early settlers of Aspen who carried the burden of development through years of privation and hardship?" Photo: Frank Wentworth | ©Aspen Historical Society
How to Aspen (brochure)
A companion publication recreated from the original Robert Benchley promotional brochure for the Highland-Bavarian Lodge. This brochure is available on-line here and in printed form, FREE when you visit us the Wheeler/Stallard Museum Annex.
Roaring Fork—The Whole Truth About the District—How to Get There and What is to be Seen There from The Leadville Chronicle, July 11, 1880.
An account of road conditions on Independence pass and of the state of new "boomtown" of Aspen.
Kid's Zone/NeatLinks
NeatLinks, on- and off-site, for children of all ages! Learn about the history of ranching, cowboys, branding, farming, Victorian architecture and some of Aspen's West End houses; have fun with skiing history, go on an archaeology dig, and learn about mining town artifacts and architecture.
Memo of My Trip from Black Hawk to Aspen
DRC Brown Sr.'s 1880 account of a harrowing wagon trip over Taylor Pass to Aspen with H.P. Cowenhoven. These two men where two of Aspen earliest settlers.
Re-creation Through Recreation
Aspen Skiing From 1870–1970 by Anne Gilbert. A detailed history of the development of skiing in Aspen from the days of the miners to the boom-town of the 70s.
Portrait of an Era
An on-line exhibit featuring photographs from the Aspen Historical Society's Glass Plate Negative Collection.
Silver Ingots to Silver Lamé—The Birth of the Ski Industry
Originally published by the Aspen Chamber of Commerce, c. 1980, and written by Candida Harper.
AHS E-Coloring Book
Color your way through Aspen's history with this on-line version of our popular coloring book —order
Experiences in Leadville and Independence, 1881-1882
Run-away stages, fires, floods, rich gold claims, rough mining camp life, loose women, gamblers, attempted murder and hangings—all personally witnessed and related by Mrs. M.B. Hall.
Horsethief Kelly's Camera
A comprehensive collection of one of Aspen's most prolific turn-of-the-century photographers. Paperback book —to order
Dear Jule
1881 and 1889 letters from A.D. Bourguin about his arrival and work in Aspen.
Spirit of Aspen On-line Exhibit >
Explore the unique and compelling spirit of Aspen. The exhibit incorporates artifacts and photographs from Aspen’s silver mining roots, ranching in the Roaring Fork Valley, the birth of a ski town and the renaissance that has established this special town as a cultural center.
Celebrating Over 100 Years of Women's Suffrage in Colorado
A series of articles about women in Aspen and Roaring Fork Valley (published 1993).
• Women in Business—Jennie Adair
• Working Women in Aspen: 1879–1900
• Women in Health & the Environment—Elizabeth Callahan
• Women in Ranching—Kate Lindvig
Related Exhibits/Publications
Toklat at 50: A Special Place, A Special Family
an article by Sarah Chung of The Aspen Times,

Toklat’s Golden Year in the Ashcroft Valley
an article by Madeleine Osberger writing for the Western Slope Sunday about an exhibit at Toklat, near Ashcroft, during the summer and fall of 1999.