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Move lots of really heavy stuff from Pueblo to Denver? Sure!

This fall, Collections staff will start a move project to consolidate two collections storage properties in Pueblo, Colorado, into our central storage facility in Denver.

History Colorado recently received a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS) to hire temporary staff and moving services for six months to accomplish this task. The project follows up on several other IMLS grant-funded projects to inventory, move and consolidate storage facilities, the last of which was an inventory project for the Pueblo facility in 2012.

There are more than 6,000 artifacts currently stored in Pueblo that are not accessed often because of the resources required for fuel, vehicles and staff. With good weather, the drive between Pueblo and Denver can be well over four hours round-trip! Bed frames, furniture, vehicles, business artifacts, mining equipment, architectural elements, appliances and archaeological collections are just some of the items that need to move to Denver. Moving them will be a great accomplishment for access and preservation. It will simply be easier and more successful for Denver staff to provide better preservation and fulfill better stewardship goals for the collection as a whole once it moves to Denver. Staff can more quickly respond to emergencies, can have more hands-on contact to make better storage situations and can better control the environment and security, as well as provide more complete access for exhibits and research.

Even though the move won’t start until fall, staff have already committed much preparation time at our central Denver facility. Curatorial and Collections staff have been reviewing collections to determine whether they still meet History Colorado’s mission and are learning a great deal about the collection in the process. They’ve been cleaning and clearing spaces, unpacking collections to create more room, consolidating shelving and pallet racking spaces and more. With over 1,000 pallet and crate spaces in flux, there are a lot of pieces to move around. It’s a gigantic game of Tetris with a forklift and pallet jacks!

Stay tuned for updates. Great collection images and stories to come!