Black baseball players shaped the game and American society beyond the ballfield. It’s a story that runs, surprisingly, straight through Denver and an event that called itself “The Little World Series of the West.”

When Ken Kesey described fictional southeastern Colorado settings and characters in one of his novels, he could rely largely on his own memory. The author, who lived in Oregon for nearly all of his life, was born in the town of La Junta, Colorado, in the days of the Dust Bowl.

“Ever since my first visit to the Great Sand Dunes National Park at seven years old, I’ve always remembered the special feeling of seeing them for the first time,” says Megan Eflin, Outreach Coordinator for the History Colorado State Historical Fund. “And how much fun my family and I had there on one of our many road trips when I was young. As an adult, summers for me have become a time for packing into the car, snacks accessible, music playlist at the ready, and hitting the open road for an adventure. Giving you an opportunity to create your own path. Choosing to stop when you see something of interest, make route changes on a whim, and immersing yourself in local culture, food, and events.”

Mayor Federico Peña’s campaign vision to “Imagine a Great City'' catalyzed the development of Denver and its region from the 1980s onward. Against the backdrop of a boom-and-bust economy, major public projects shaped the trajectory of the city along with its residents’ grassroots advocacy.

Generations of Jewish Coloradans have spent summer days at Camp Shwayder and the JCC Ranch Camp. Colorado’s mountains have provided the ideal setting for distinctly western Jewish American experiences. Ariel Schnee examines this lesser-known side of Jewish identity in Colorado.

Near and dear to the people of Pueblo is Roselawn Cemetery—a place of family and community connections that holds so many memories of Pueblo’s past. The State Historical Fund recently supported a project to find the exact location of the mass burial that followed the catastrophic Pueblo Flood, prompting reflections on the meaning of tragedy, closure, and remembrance.

Pueblo-based professor Jonathan Rees searched for the answer to the perpetual question of just how many deaths the Great Flood of 1921 had caused. What he came away with was even more important: a sense of the flood’s impact in shaping the city of Pueblo, even to this day.

In the days that followed, photographers documented the destruction wrought by the flood. A century later, their images are powerful testimonies to the devastating scale of the catastrophe.

Far beyond Eppie Archuleta’s technical abilities, awards, and accolades as a master weaver, she was a weaver of artistry and legacy—her work strengthened by the warp of her ancestors and enriched by the weft of faith, love, and kindness.