Museum of Memory Initiative
Museum of Memory is a public history initiative that works together with Colorado residents to co-author a shared history. We collaboratively work to reanimate, center and amplify the histories that have long existed only in the margins and create the opportunity for the community to decide how to remember its collective past.
Preserving Shared Histories - Read about the Youth Memory Project, a partnership between Bruce Randolph School, CSU, and History Colorado.
Museum of Memory improves participation in civic life by building more inclusive narratives of all the many people and ways that contribute to the fabric of a community. It nurtures the roots of a community or neighborhood in ways that fortify a community.
Museum of Memory is based on the ideal that when people see themselves as the creators and makers of their own history, they also come to see themselves as the writers of their own destinies. It gathers community together and creates space for residents to actively and energetically participate in crafting a shared historic record.
Through this project, we rekindle people’s affection and pride for their neighborhoods and communities. We help communities reframe challenges, struggles, and sometimes negative external views into histories of resilience and pride.
Project Phases
Museum of Memory Projects generally entail three phases of community engagement:
Remembering. Communities engage in collective memory workshops, guided by History Colorado staff. The workshops employ a variety of strategies to jog memories and facilitate storytelling within a group. While Memory Projects vary, there are generally five to eight hosted community museum workshops.
Collecting. History Colorado with the help of Community Historians work together to collect stories, oral histories, writing, documents, and photographs during the collecting phase of the project.
Sharing. The sharing phase can take a variety of forms, including museum exhibit, mural, teatro, music and song, photography, digital forms, SoundCloud, podcast, conference presentations, etc. This aspect of the project is designed to share the stories and histories of the neighborhood or community with a larger audience. It is also designed for longevity within the neighborhood or community.
Projects to Date
Eilers Neighborhood Memory Project
Salt Creek Memory Project
Dogpatch Memory Project
Avondale Memory Project
Neighborhood Memory Project in Globeville and Elyria-Swansea
See below for more information
