Events
Golden History Museum & Park programs explore a variety of historic subjects presented by expert instructors. Learn about your community or neighborhood. Apply historic skills in a modern way. Create something with your hands. There is sure to be a program to suit your interests!
Remember: Registration is required for most programs, even when free. Program will be canceled if minimum attendance number is not reached 24 hours prior to start time. Help us provide even more programming by signing up and attending. [Click for registration instructions, or scroll to bottom.]
Meet the Chicks!
Wednesday, March 27, 2019, 9 – 10 am
Look who’s hatched! Meet our new spring chicks at this exclusive event!
Join us for a fun morning greeting our fuzzy newcomers at the Golden History Museum. Make fun spring crafts, play games, enjoy some morning treats, and even get your photo taken holding a History Park Hen!
Household level members and higher only. (Join now.)
FREE, but space is limited. Registration required.
What’s Cooking in the Archives? A Food Historian’s View of Colorado Culinary Literature
Food history and food studies are more popular than ever. From bookshelves to university classrooms, we study the history of food because it tells us about what, how much, and why people ate what they did. Food history also tells us much about how people thought about health, what factors influenced their choices, and the rules of social engagement. This lecture will examine and explore what we can learn from cookbooks, an often-overlooked source for historians, by highlighting works from one of the most significant culinary archives in Colorado, the holdings at the University of Denver’s library.
Presented by Carol Helstosky, Associate Professor and Chair of the History Department at the University of Denver. She is the author of Garlic and Oil: Politics and Food in Italy (2004); Food Culture in the Mediterranean (2009) and Pizza: A Global History (2008) and editor of The Routledge History of Food (2014). She has been teaching food history to undergraduates for 20 years, utilizing the culinary archives at the DU library’s Special Collections and archives. 
Location and Pricing
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
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.
Facility Rental
Learn how a Golden Museum Rental offers unique experiences that range from rustic to ritzy.
Egg Coloring with Natural Dyes
Saturday, April 13, 2019, 10 – 11 am
Make colorful Easter Eggs using natural dyes from garden plants and vegetables!
FREE to museum members at the Household level and above. (Join now.)
Space is limited. Registration required.
Moving West: Who Moved to California in the 1930s and Why
Migration to California is one of the dominant history topics of the 1930s, built on a wealth of information from literature, news stories, and photographs. Using newly available data from the 1940 U.S. Census, this lecture will reveal insights on the people who moved, the places they came from, and why they may have moved, with special attention to the link between migration and the environmental trauma of the 1930s.
Presenter Myron Gutmann is Professor of History and Director of the Institute of Behavioral Science at the University of Colorado Boulder, where he has worked since 2014. After receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton University, Dr. Gutmann taught at the University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan, where he was also Director of the Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, the world’s largest archival repository of social science data. From 2009 to 2013 he served as Assistant Director of the U.S. National Science Foundation, where he was head of the Social, Behavioral and Economic Sciences Directorate. He is known for his research on the demographic history of Early Modern and Modern Europe, as well as the United States, and for his large-scale research program on the relationship between population and environment in the Great Plains of the United States. He has written or edited five books and more than 90 articles and chapters. 
Location and Pricing
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
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.
Facility Rental
Learn how a Golden Museum Rental offers unique experiences that range from rustic to ritzy.
How the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings Changed Baseball and America
The year 2019 marks the 150th anniversary of the formation of the Cincinnati Red Stockings, baseball’s first openly all-professional team. Playing games in cities as far apart as Boston and San Francisco, and everywhere in-between, the Red Stockings operated somewhat like the Harlem Globetrotters basketball team. Spectators filled the stands to see whether a seemingly invincible team would lose. They never did. Successful on the field and at the box office, the Red Stockings created a model that other, more established baseball clubs quickly adopted, leading to the emergence of major league baseball.
Presenter Dr. Martin Babicz, Ph.D., teaches history at the University of Colorado Boulder for the Sewall Hall History & Culture Residential Academic Program, the Communications & Society Residential Academic Program, and the History Department. He received a B.A. in history from the University of Connecticut, and an M.A. in history from Brown University. After working as a lobbyist in Connecticut for fifteen years, he returned to graduate school and received his Ph.D. from the University of Colorado. His dissertation, which explores the intersection of colonial politics and imperial policy during the Stamp Act crisis, is entitled For Empire, Colony, and Self-Interest: Thomas Fitch and Connecticut Colonial Politics. Dr. Babicz teaches several courses on American History. He is the co-author (with Thomas W. Zeiler) of National Pastime: U.S. History through Baseball (2017), and he is the author of a chapter exploring the historiography of sports and pastimes of the 1920s in A Companion to Warren G. Harding, Calvin Coolidge, and Herbert Hoover (2014).
Location and Pricing
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
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.
Facility Rental
Learn how a Golden Museum Rental offers unique experiences that range from rustic to ritzy.
Story Time with the Hens
Friday, April 26, 2019, 10 am
Join us for 30 minutes of fun stories on the homestead as we read aloud with the chickens!
Meet at Golden History Park’s chicken coop.
FREE for ALL Friends of the Flock (any GHM&P membership level)
Join now.
Coloradans Choose Their Capital, 1861-1881
For 20 years, the seat of Colorado’s government remained unsettled. Denver dominated the region from the onset of the gold rush, but resentment from other communities about Denver’s wealth and power led to a political struggle for years. This presentation will outline the battle between Denver, Golden, Colorado City, and other towns over the seat of government, and how the largest city ultimately prevailed.
Presenter Dr. Derek R. Everett is a Colorado native who grew up in Arvada and teaches in the History Departments at Metro State in Denver and Colorado State University in Fort Collins. He has published books on western state boundaries and the Colorado State Capitol, and researches and writes on various subjects of Colorado and western American history.
Location and Pricing
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
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.
Facility Rental
Learn how a Golden Museum Rental offers unique experiences that range from rustic to ritzy.
Story Time with the Hens
Friday, May 24, 2019, 10 am
Join us for 30 minutes of fun stories on the homestead as we read aloud with the chickens!
Meet at Golden History Park’s chicken coop.
FREE for ALL Friends of the Flock (any GHM&P membership level)
Join now.
May Homesteaders’ Day
Celebrate Homesteaders’ Day! Experience 19th century homesteading, explore the historic cabins, try woodstove cooking, learn about blacksmithing, and take a lesson at the one-room schoolhouse. This event is drop-in style; there is no registration. Come any time between 10 am and 2 pm for any length of time.
The History Park is home to many of the original buildings from the old Pearce Ranch in Golden Gate Canyon. Thomas and Henrietta Pearce, pictured here, raised eight children on their ranch. It was one of the largest in the area by 1912.
Thomas and Henrietta Pearce
Stroll through this park and imagine yourself growing potatoes or raising chickens as part of a homesteading family. Peek through the windows of real 1800s cabins and see other buildings from the ranch like the barn, chicken coop and two-seat outhouse.
Also, see the 1876 Guy Hill schoolhouse which was originally located in the canyon too, but on a different property. It served the needs of canyon locals until 1951.
Location and Pricing
Golden History Park
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.; drop in anytime
Free for all
Membership
Membership pays for itself with just a few programs for your family. Join us.
Facility Rental
Learn how a Golden Museum Rental offers unique experiences that range from rustic to ritzy.
Our rustic three-acre park is ideal for those with a “Do It Yourself (DIY)” mindset. Whether you are interested in having your wedding ceremony and/or reception with us or intent on hosting a large event such as family reunion or a corporate retreat, Golden History Park offers a unique experience for your guests. It’s only a short walk from downtown Golden which features shopping, restaurants, and more.
A Different Kind of Pilgrim to Early New England
When we think about the key figures of early American history, we think of explorers, or Pilgrims, or Native Americans—not cattle, or goats, or swine. But livestock played a vitally important role in the colonization of the New World. These animals helped to sustain English colonists but also generated friction with Indians and became a driving force in westward expansion.
A specialist in the history of colonial and revolutionary America, presenter Dr. Virginia DeJohn Anderson has taught at the University of Colorado Boulder since 1985. This talk is derived from her second book, Creatures of Empire: How Domestic Animals Transformed Early America (2004). Her most recent book is The Martyr and the Traitor: Nathan Hale, Moses Dunbar, and the American Revolution (2017).
Location and Pricing
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
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.
Facility Rental
Learn how a Golden Museum Rental offers unique experiences that range from rustic to ritzy.
Of Mines and Beer!
Gold mining and commercial beer brewing in Colorado started in the same year, 1859. Demand for good beer arose due to the dusty and dangerous conditions faced by Europeans streaming to Colorado to strike it rich in gold. The linkage between mining and brewing in Golden, along the front range and in nearby mountain communities was at times terrifying, educational and even comical. Historian, author and craft brewer Dave Thomas relays the historical accounts of these 19th century brewing families, often in their own words, and compares the historical brewing styles and techniques with those of craft brewers today.
Dave Thomas spent 32 years working for Coors Brewing Company in Golden, Colorado; Chungwon, South Korea; Memphis, Tennessee; Burton-on-Trent, England; and the Shenandoah Valley, Virginia. After working at some of the largest breweries in the world, he now brews at one of the smallest as brewer emeritus at Dostal Alley Brewpub in Central City, Colorado.
Location and Pricing
6 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
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.
Facility Rental
Learn how a Golden Museum Rental offers unique experiences that range from rustic to ritzy.
Coop and Hive Tour
Friday, June 14, 2019, 10 am
We invite you to a special behind-the-scenes tour of our chickens’ historic home. You’ll also take a close
look at the bee yard to see what’s happening at the hives.
Meet at Golden History Park’s chicken coop.
FREE to museum members at the Household level and above. (Join now.)
Space is limited. Registration required.
Western Women through American Art
What does it take to be a Western woman? We might not see many women within Western American art, but that does not mean women never ventured west or were not making art out west. Come explore the important Western women including the first Anglo woman that traveled west, the partner of a prominent western artist, and women artists working in the West, among many more.
Presented by Colleen Sullivan, Program and Marketing Coordinator at the American Museum of Western Art – The Anschutz Collection.
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- Courtship On The Plains, John Mix Stanley, after 1846, 30x44″
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- Portrait of Mabel Dodge Luhan, Nicolai Ivanovich Fechin, 1927, 50x40″
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- Grasshopper Dance, Hudson
Location and Pricing
6:00 p.m. – 7:30 p.m.
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.
Facility Rental
Learn how a Golden Museum Rental offers unique experiences that range from rustic to ritzy.
Story Time with the Hens
Friday, June 28, 2019, 10 am
Join us for 30 minutes of fun stories on the homestead as we read aloud with the chickens!
Meet at Golden History Park’s chicken coop.
FREE for ALL Friends of the Flock (any GHM&P membership level)
Join now.
June Homesteaders’ Day
Celebrate Homesteaders’ Day! Experience 19th century homesteading, explore the historic cabins, try woodstove cooking, learn about blacksmithing, and take a lesson at the one-room schoolhouse. This event is drop-in style; there is no registration. Come any time between 10 am and 2 pm for any length of time.
The History Park is home to many of the original buildings from the old Pearce Ranch in Golden Gate Canyon. Thomas and Henrietta Pearce, pictured here, raised eight children on their ranch. It was one of the largest in the area by 1912.
Thomas and Henrietta Pearce
Stroll through this park and imagine yourself growing potatoes or raising chickens as part of a homesteading family. Peek through the windows of real 1800s cabins and see other buildings from the ranch like the barn, chicken coop and two-seat outhouse.
Also, see the 1876 Guy Hill schoolhouse which was originally located in the canyon too, but on a different property. It served the needs of canyon locals until 1951.
Location and Pricing
Golden History Park
10:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m.; drop in anytime
Free for all
Membership
Membership pays for itself with just a few programs for your family. Join us.
Facility Rental
Learn how a Golden Museum Rental offers unique experiences that range from rustic to ritzy.
Our rustic three-acre park is ideal for those with a “Do It Yourself (DIY)” mindset. Whether you are interested in having your wedding ceremony and/or reception with us or intent on hosting a large event such as family reunion or a corporate retreat, Golden History Park offers a unique experience for your guests. It’s only a short walk from downtown Golden which features shopping, restaurants, and more.
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. 
Read the fine print and policies below (updated 11-20-18).
Event and Program Ticketing Policies at Golden History Museum & Park
Please note: Tickets will only be available at the door if the program reaches its pre-registration 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.