Presenters for
Iron Rails, Wagon Trails, & Snail Mail
Sat., June 6, 2020
East Library
5550 N. Union Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
click here to make reservations for this free event
Iron Rails, Wagon Trails, & Snail Mail
Sat., June 6, 2020
East Library
5550 N. Union Blvd.
Colorado Springs, CO 80918
click here to make reservations for this free event
Brad Bowers grew up in Lakewood, CO, where he discovered his love for Colorado history in third grade. He holds a BA in History from the University of Southern Colorado and an MA in History from Utah State University. He started teaching History as an adjunct professor as Colorado State University – Pueblo in 2008, and since 2011 has been teaching History full time at Pueblo Community College. He has been researching and writing about the Colorado-Kansas Railway and the Teller property since 2000.
James E. Fell, Jr. is a native of Waterville, MA and holds a BA in chemistry from Colby College in Waterville and a MA and PhD from the University of Colorado. He has taught at the University of Colorado Denver and other colleges and universities. He is the current treasurer and a former director of the Mining History Association, which awarded him its Rodman Wilson Paul Award for distinction in mining history. In 2012 and 2013 he participated in the World of Copper project, sponsored by the University of Glamorgan in Wales, a project which held conferences in Wales, Australia, and Chile to study the development and global dissemination of the Welsh process of copper smelting. He is the author or coauthor of three books and many articles on mining history, including his book, Ores to Metals: The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry.
Susan Fletcher serves as the Director of History and Archives for The Navigators and Glen Eyrie. She is also the founder and CEO of History Joy Consulting, an archives and museum consulting firm. Fletcher earned her MA in History from Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis. She is the author of the new book Exploring Childhood and Play Through 50 Historic Treasures, the co-author of Dawson Trotman in His Own Words, and has written numerous chapters on state and local history for the Pikes Peak Regional Book Series. In addition to her scholarly work, her writing appears in Springs Magazine and The Colorado Collective.
Mark James A photographer all his life, Mark James has served as a photojournalist, documentarian, commercial photographer, gallery owner, curator and landscape photographer. In 1995, Mark was awarded a residency at Rocky Mountain National Park and began his present and continuing exploration of the landscape with a pinhole camera and black & white film. Presently, Mark is photographing Pikes Peak and the surrounding area to complete a photographic study about his ancestor, Edwin James. Mark exhibits his photographs in museums and has a traveling exhibit organized by the Dubuque Museum of art titled Remnants of the West: Photography by Edward S. Curtis and Mark James
Heather Jordan is an Archivist and joined the Pikes Peak Library District’s Special Collections in 2011. Heather inventories, arranges, and describes manuscript collections, conducts oral history interviews, and provides reference assistance to library patrons. Since joining PPLD, Heather has been a contributing author or editor for several Regional History Series books including Bigwigs & Benefactors of the Pikes Peak Region, Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region, and Massacre, Murder, & Mayhem in the Rocky Mountain West and the forthcoming revised reprint of The Invisible People of the Pikes Peak Region. Heather has been a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists since 2013 and serves as a board member of the African-American Historical and Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs. She holds a Masters in Information Science from the University of Michigan with a focus in archives and library sciences.
Patrick Lee is a recent graduate from the University of Oxford with a Master of Science in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. He is currently working for the Pioneers Museum as a Sculpture Maintenance Technician where he enjoys preserving and maintaining the city of Colorado Springs’ sculpture collection. He has a passion for the arts and endeavors to be scriptwriter for online video education. Patrick has been described as a renaissance man by friends and colleagues for his wide range of interests and skills. He has a kind and curious nature and adores spending time with his family.
Doreen E. Martinez, PhD is of Mescalero, Apache and Pennsylvania Dutch lineage. The first in her family pursue formal education, she is a professor in Native American Studies at CSU and works with several community projects. Her work focuses on how cultural knowledge is lived and practiced in every day and everyday contemporary locations and situations. Using her formal background in sociology, personal experience, and cultural values rooted in Indigeneity, Dr. Martinez has taught indigenous knowledge systems; gender and race theory, research methods, race, class, and gender in the media and many other courses. Her work with community projects range from organizational restructuring for meaningful and impactful ‘inclusion and diversity’ to community engagement with buffalo restoration on the Wind River reservation. She uses a combination of collective principles, natural reason, and decolonial praxis to inform her work. Doreen is an avid advocate of alliance building and promoting justice. She is committed to promoting better and more informed knowledge of Indigenous cultures that honor our traditions and all our futures.
Michael L. Olsen holds a BA from St. Olaf College, and the MA and PhD in American History from the University of Washington. He taught for 30 years at New Mexico Highlands University and for four years full-time in at Pikes Peak Community College. He has published extensively on the Santa Fe Trail and is a contract consultant for the National Park Service on projects related to the old Santa Fe Trail.
Dr. Leo Oliva, PhD is a retired professor of American History and has served at the editor of Wagon Tracks, the publication of the Santa Fe Trail Association, and recently served as assistant the editor of Kansas History to prepare a special edition on Zebulon Pike’s 1806 – 1807 southwest expedition. Dr. Oliva is the author of more than thirty articles and of twelve frontier military history books.
Nancy K. Prince received an MS in geology from the University of Colorado and is retired from a career of managing environmental clean-up projects. As an active family historian, Prince has presented at historical and genealogical symposia and published both historical and technical papers. Discovery that a maternal 3rd great grandfather traveled the Platte River trail in the 1860s, settling along the Cherokee Trail in Pueblo County spurred her interest in these early transportation routes.
Katherine Scott Sturdevant is Professor of History at Pikes Peak Community College, where she has been the lead American history teacher for about three decades. She teaches Colorado, Western, American Indian, and Women’s history, among other topics. Kathy works frequently with PPLD and the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum on many projects. Her second fields are literature and editing. She has authored two books, many articles, and has won local, state, and national awards for teaching excellence. She started with the PPLD Regional History Series symposia and books in our first year and has served most of them since then as a speaker, writer, and/or editor.
Eric Swab is married with a son and three grandchildren. As a volunteer for the National Forest he has researched the Fremont Experimental Forest, the Skelton Mountain Ranch, the Manitou Incline and the Monument Nursery. He has given numerous talks on his research. He has prepared exhibits for the Old Colorado City Historical Society, and the Manitou Springs Heritage Center. He is also engaged in several other research projects focused on his passion for the history of human activity on Pikes Peak.
James E. Fell, Jr. is a native of Waterville, MA and holds a BA in chemistry from Colby College in Waterville and a MA and PhD from the University of Colorado. He has taught at the University of Colorado Denver and other colleges and universities. He is the current treasurer and a former director of the Mining History Association, which awarded him its Rodman Wilson Paul Award for distinction in mining history. In 2012 and 2013 he participated in the World of Copper project, sponsored by the University of Glamorgan in Wales, a project which held conferences in Wales, Australia, and Chile to study the development and global dissemination of the Welsh process of copper smelting. He is the author or coauthor of three books and many articles on mining history, including his book, Ores to Metals: The Rocky Mountain Smelting Industry.
Susan Fletcher serves as the Director of History and Archives for The Navigators and Glen Eyrie. She is also the founder and CEO of History Joy Consulting, an archives and museum consulting firm. Fletcher earned her MA in History from Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis. She is the author of the new book Exploring Childhood and Play Through 50 Historic Treasures, the co-author of Dawson Trotman in His Own Words, and has written numerous chapters on state and local history for the Pikes Peak Regional Book Series. In addition to her scholarly work, her writing appears in Springs Magazine and The Colorado Collective.
Mark James A photographer all his life, Mark James has served as a photojournalist, documentarian, commercial photographer, gallery owner, curator and landscape photographer. In 1995, Mark was awarded a residency at Rocky Mountain National Park and began his present and continuing exploration of the landscape with a pinhole camera and black & white film. Presently, Mark is photographing Pikes Peak and the surrounding area to complete a photographic study about his ancestor, Edwin James. Mark exhibits his photographs in museums and has a traveling exhibit organized by the Dubuque Museum of art titled Remnants of the West: Photography by Edward S. Curtis and Mark James
Heather Jordan is an Archivist and joined the Pikes Peak Library District’s Special Collections in 2011. Heather inventories, arranges, and describes manuscript collections, conducts oral history interviews, and provides reference assistance to library patrons. Since joining PPLD, Heather has been a contributing author or editor for several Regional History Series books including Bigwigs & Benefactors of the Pikes Peak Region, Disasters of the Pikes Peak Region, and Massacre, Murder, & Mayhem in the Rocky Mountain West and the forthcoming revised reprint of The Invisible People of the Pikes Peak Region. Heather has been a member of the Academy of Certified Archivists since 2013 and serves as a board member of the African-American Historical and Genealogical Society of Colorado Springs. She holds a Masters in Information Science from the University of Michigan with a focus in archives and library sciences.
Patrick Lee is a recent graduate from the University of Oxford with a Master of Science in the History of Science, Medicine, and Technology. He is currently working for the Pioneers Museum as a Sculpture Maintenance Technician where he enjoys preserving and maintaining the city of Colorado Springs’ sculpture collection. He has a passion for the arts and endeavors to be scriptwriter for online video education. Patrick has been described as a renaissance man by friends and colleagues for his wide range of interests and skills. He has a kind and curious nature and adores spending time with his family.
Doreen E. Martinez, PhD is of Mescalero, Apache and Pennsylvania Dutch lineage. The first in her family pursue formal education, she is a professor in Native American Studies at CSU and works with several community projects. Her work focuses on how cultural knowledge is lived and practiced in every day and everyday contemporary locations and situations. Using her formal background in sociology, personal experience, and cultural values rooted in Indigeneity, Dr. Martinez has taught indigenous knowledge systems; gender and race theory, research methods, race, class, and gender in the media and many other courses. Her work with community projects range from organizational restructuring for meaningful and impactful ‘inclusion and diversity’ to community engagement with buffalo restoration on the Wind River reservation. She uses a combination of collective principles, natural reason, and decolonial praxis to inform her work. Doreen is an avid advocate of alliance building and promoting justice. She is committed to promoting better and more informed knowledge of Indigenous cultures that honor our traditions and all our futures.
Michael L. Olsen holds a BA from St. Olaf College, and the MA and PhD in American History from the University of Washington. He taught for 30 years at New Mexico Highlands University and for four years full-time in at Pikes Peak Community College. He has published extensively on the Santa Fe Trail and is a contract consultant for the National Park Service on projects related to the old Santa Fe Trail.
Dr. Leo Oliva, PhD is a retired professor of American History and has served at the editor of Wagon Tracks, the publication of the Santa Fe Trail Association, and recently served as assistant the editor of Kansas History to prepare a special edition on Zebulon Pike’s 1806 – 1807 southwest expedition. Dr. Oliva is the author of more than thirty articles and of twelve frontier military history books.
Nancy K. Prince received an MS in geology from the University of Colorado and is retired from a career of managing environmental clean-up projects. As an active family historian, Prince has presented at historical and genealogical symposia and published both historical and technical papers. Discovery that a maternal 3rd great grandfather traveled the Platte River trail in the 1860s, settling along the Cherokee Trail in Pueblo County spurred her interest in these early transportation routes.
Katherine Scott Sturdevant is Professor of History at Pikes Peak Community College, where she has been the lead American history teacher for about three decades. She teaches Colorado, Western, American Indian, and Women’s history, among other topics. Kathy works frequently with PPLD and the Colorado Springs Pioneers Museum on many projects. Her second fields are literature and editing. She has authored two books, many articles, and has won local, state, and national awards for teaching excellence. She started with the PPLD Regional History Series symposia and books in our first year and has served most of them since then as a speaker, writer, and/or editor.
Eric Swab is married with a son and three grandchildren. As a volunteer for the National Forest he has researched the Fremont Experimental Forest, the Skelton Mountain Ranch, the Manitou Incline and the Monument Nursery. He has given numerous talks on his research. He has prepared exhibits for the Old Colorado City Historical Society, and the Manitou Springs Heritage Center. He is also engaged in several other research projects focused on his passion for the history of human activity on Pikes Peak.
