Events
Programs and Events
Did you miss any of our live programs?
Some recordings are available to the general public at no cost, while some are only available to members. Now is a great time to join, as we’re constantly releasing new and exclusive material. Call 303-278-3557 if you have any questions or if you want to join by phone. You can also reach us electronically.
Christmas in the Park
Advance registration via eventbrite is required. Masks are also required.
Join us for Christmas in the Park and learn the history behind some favorite traditions. This family event allows you to stroll through the Golden History Park, take in the colorful lights, peek through the windows, try a craft, and bask in the season.
We anticipate that each group will spend about 30 minutes at the event. Due to COVID-19, we have a very limited capacity and will discourage unnecessary gatherings while inside the park. Thus, we will have a few stations with take-away crafts, some music, and hopefully Pearce Cabin open (COVID-dependent).
The staggered tickets will help us control the crowd, anticipating that the Jefferson County Health Variance will limit our event to 75 people at any given time. Please contact us if you have any further questions.
Details
All event revenue goes to the Golden History Museum & Park. We appreciate your support!
Members (ages 5 years old and above): $3.00
Non-members (ages 5 years old and above): $5.00
Kids (ages 4 years old and below): Free
Membership
Membership pays for itself with just a few programs for your family. Join us.
More Golden history
Check out the Golden History Museum & Park blog for the latest behind the scenes videos and stories, personal memoirs, and history tidbits about Golden.
What’s for Dinner in 1920
This is a virtual event. Register on eventbrite.
Have you ever wondered what shopping for dinner was like without the shopping cart? Or how your current grocery bill compares to that of the 1920s? In the 1920s, foodways were on the edge of revolutionary change, as industrial and household technologies were about to transform what, and how, America ate. Join historian Dr. Geoff Hunt as we explore grocery shopping and American diets in the Roaring Twenties.
About the presenter: Geoff Hunt
Presenter Geoff Hunt earned his Bachelors of Arts in History at the University of Wyoming, Masters of Arts in Museum Studies at Cooperstown, NY, and Ph.D. in History from the University of Colorado Boulder. Hunt was the Founding Director of Wings Over the Rockies Air and Space Museum, and just retired after 22 years as Professor of History at the Community College of Aurora.
Pricing
Programs are free for members and $10 for non-members (plus eventbrite fee).
Membership
Membership pays for itself with just a few programs for your family. Join us.
More Golden history
Check out the Golden History Museum & Park blog for the latest behind the scenes videos and stories, personal memoirs, and history tidbits about Golden.
Golden City Immortals and the Arapahoe Snow Eater
This is a virtual event. Register on eventbrite.
On May 3, 1855, a small number of mercenaries referred to as the Immortals, boarded a ship in San Francisco and sailed under the command of William Walker to Nicaragua. These hired guns fought alongside nationalistic troops at Rivas in order to open the South American country to slavery. Unfortunately for the Immortals, the Battle of Rivas was ill conceived and poorly led. They were lucky to escape Nicaragua with their lives. Rumors abounded in California that a number of Walker’s Immortals had somehow reached Golden City and in the process unleashed the infamous Arapahoe Snow Eater.
About the presenter: Dennis Potter
Dennis Potter, retired Captain of the Jefferson County Colorado Sheriff’s Department, criminal justice professor, and previous presenter of the popular “Operation Hideout: The Investigation into the Kidnapping and Murder of Adolph Coors III” returns for this exciting program.
Pricing
Programs are free for members and $10 for non-members (plus eventbrite fee).
Membership
Membership pays for itself with just a few programs for your family. Join us.
More Golden history
Check out the Golden History Museum & Park blog for the latest behind the scenes videos and stories, personal memoirs, and history tidbits about Golden.
“We Just Did It”: Colorado Women in World War II
This is a virtual event. Register on eventbrite.
Four months before the attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, Mildred McClellan Melville, a member of the Denver Woman’s Press Club, predicted that war would come for the United States. Colorado women from every corner of the state enlisted in the military, joined the workforce, and volunteered on the home front. Whether or not they worked outside the home, they wholeheartedly participated in a kaleidoscope of activities to support the war effort.
About the presenter: Gail M. Beaton
Gail M. Beaton is a historian, author, retired teacher, and Chautauqua presenter. She is a volunteer member of the Advisory Council of the Center for Colorado Women’s History at the Byers-Evans House Museum. She serves on the Colorado Historic Preservation Review Board and State Register Review Board. Her first book, Colorado Women: A History, was a finalist for the 2013 Colorado Book Awards and for the 2013 WILLA Award from Women Writing the West. Her latest book, Colorado Women in World War II, was published in August 2020.
Pricing
Programs are free for members and $10 for non-members (plus eventbrite fee).
Membership
Membership pays for itself with just a few programs for your family. Join us.
More Golden history
Check out the Golden History Museum & Park blog for the latest behind the scenes videos and stories, personal memoirs, and history tidbits about Golden.
“Equal Rights, Which Equal Laws Must Protect”: Religion, Race, and Constitutional Conflict in American Education
This is a virtual event. Register on eventbrite.
As public education systems began to integrate in the 1960s, private schools—especially religious private schools—became havens for whites seeking segregated education for their children. The people involved with these religious private schools believed themselves to be fulfilling what they saw as God’s mandate to keep the races separate. The ardent religious beliefs intertwined with the private academies’ discriminatory practices, however, created a challenge for the legal system. It was attempting to enact the legal requirements of the Brown v. Board of Education ruling, which mandated the elimination of all support for discriminatory institutions by the government. Join Dr. Amanda Beyer-Purvis of MSU-Denver to explore how governmental institutions confronted each other over how to balance between the right to church autonomy and religious free-expression and the mandates of desegregation.
About the presenter: Dr. Amanda Beyer-Purvis
Dr. Amanda Beyer-Purvis is a Project Manager with the CLAS Office of Inclusive Excellence in STEM at the University of Colorado Denver. She is also an affiliate faculty member with the History Department at MSU Denver. She began her academic career in Religious Studies, but found her way to History via an interest in the U.S. legal system and its relationship with educational equity. Her research into systemic inequity in education pulled her out of the archives and into a career working to increase equity and justice in higher education.
Pricing
Free for members; $10 plus online registration fee for non-members
Membership
Membership pays for itself with just a few programs for your family. Join us.
More Golden history
Check out the Golden History Museum & Park blog for the latest behind the scenes videos and stories, personal memoirs, and history tidbits about Golden.
What are we really arguing about? Environmentalism in the 21st Century
This is a virtual event. Register on eventbrite.
Climate change has emerged as the central environmental problem facing humanity in the 21st century. According to NASA, 97% of climate scientists agree that climate change is occurring. There are daily news items featuring truly stunning facts about hurricanes, melting glaciers, increased turbulence during trans-Atlantic flights, etc. Many Americans, however, remain unpersuaded or even infuriated by this barrage of bad news. This lecture uses philosophical tools to unpack the competing claims that surround environmental issues, and to provide new ways of looking at the arguments that continue to pit us against each other.
About the presenter: Sandy Woodson
Sandy Woodson
Sandy Woodson teaches ethics and environmental philosophy at the Colorado School of Mines. She holds degrees from North Carolina State University, Colorado State University, and the University of Montana. She has been teaching at Mines since 1999.
Pricing
Free for members; $10 plus online registration fee for non-members
Membership
Membership pays for itself with just a few programs for your family. Join us.
More Golden history
Check out the Golden History Museum & Park blog for the latest behind the scenes videos and stories, personal memoirs, and history tidbits about Golden.
Colorado Water and the American West
“Golden, Colorado, and Entrance to Clear Creek Canon [sic], from Castle Rock Mountain Scenic Incline Railway. Denver Mountain Parks.”
This is a virtual event. Register on eventbrite.
Please join us for a discussion dedicated to Colorado’s most precious resource: water. Matthew S. Makley, Professor of History at MSU Denver, will offer a lecture and conversation about the history of water in Colorado and the American West. This sweeping exploration begins with a look at how First Peoples used water on the Colorado Plateau and concludes with a brief examination of how Denver has developed its water infrastructure. This session will offer participants a basic understanding of Colorado water law, along with a few quick case studies, including the story of the Civil War veteran Rueben Coffin and his battle with the Lefthand Ditch Company for water rights in the late 1800s. If you have ever been curious about water in Colorado, this lecture will help quench your thirst.
About the presenter: Matthew S. Makley
Matthew S. Makley, PhD, is a Professor of History at Metropolitan State University of Denver. He is the author of two books. His most recent, The Small Shall be Strong: A History of Lake Tahoe’s Washoe Indians (2018), won an American Library Association’s award for “Outstanding Academic Title.” Born and raised at Lake Tahoe in the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Makley has lived in Golden since 2007. While his heart is in the canyons and valleys of the Sierra Nevada, he has come to call Colorado and the Rockies home.
Pricing
Free for members; $10 plus online registration fee for non-members
Membership
Membership pays for itself with just a few programs for your family. Join us.
More Golden history
Check out the Golden History Museum & Park blog for the latest behind the scenes videos and stories, personal memoirs, and history tidbits about Golden.
How to register
Click the green ticket button in the upper left of each event to buy tickets online. 
Click “read more” in the lower right of each event for details. 
Event and Program Ticketing Policies at Golden History Museum & Park
(updated 11-20-18).
Please note: Tickets will only be available at the door if the program reaches its preregistration minimum.
Weather: All events are rain or shine. Tickets will not be refunded for any inclement weather including but not limited to snow, wind, rain or extreme temperatures.
Cancellation: GHM&P reserves the right to cancel a program for any reason. A full refund will occur automatically and notification sent if GHM&P cancels a program for any reason.
Refunds: Participants will not receive a refund except in the event that GHM&P cancels the program.
Facilities: Restrooms are not available on-site at the Golden History Park or Golden Cemetery. If at the Golden History Park, participants may use public restrooms located on 12th Street. Please call ahead to ask about accessibility concerns and mobility recommendations.
Additional details: Please note the minimum age requirements of some of our programs. Excessive disruptive behavior and any safety risks may result in a participant being asked to leave a program at the instructor’s discretion. Pets are not permitted at programs; service animals are permitted.
To purchase tickets, cancel your registration, or learn more about our events and ticketing policy, please call the Golden History Museum front desk during business hours at 303-278-3557.