Founded in 1925, the charter members of the Boulder Arts Guild were Myrtle Campbell, Eve Drewelowe, Ruey Hardisty, Gwendolyn Meux, Katherine Peers and John Renell. Virginia True and Muriel Sibel joined the guild several years later, drawing the group more closely to the University of Colorado's Fine Arts faculty. The guild's purpose was to encourage creative artists and to promote and advance the graphic and plastic arts. It presented public shows of its members work annually in Boulder. Special exhibits were circulated in other Colorado communities. The Boulder Arts Guild collection includes the constitutions and bylaws, membership lists, scrapbooks and photocopies of art pieces from 1923 through the early 1989.
Some other collections of early arts in Boulder include:
- The Prospectors was a group of 5 Colorado artists, including Muriel Sibell Wolle, Francis Hoar, G. Meux, F. C. Trucksess, and Virginia True. The Prospectors collection contains their Publicity Book - a scrapbook of clippings, lists, and biographical material, plus a book of exhibit listings.
- Jacob Van Ek (1896-1994) was Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder, 1929-1959. A professor of Political Science, Van Ek returned to teaching until his retirement in 1965. Dr. Van Ek and his wife, the artist Eve Drewelowe, were able contributors to campus and community life. The Jacob Van Ek collection includes teaching, administrative and biographical materials. Also contained are scripts from World War II CU radio broadcasts.
- Muriel Sibell Wolle (1898-1977) was a nationally known Western author, artist, historian and teacher. For more than 40 years she was a professor of fine arts at the University of Colorado. Her artistic career explored the subject and landscapes of deserted mountain towns. Her own paintings and lithographs provide an artistic record of Colorado's disappearing past. She wrote several books and articles about the history of these ghost towns to accompany her sketches. Ms. Wolle also designed backgrounds and stage sets for University theater productions. The Muriel Sibell Wolle collection includes correspondence, scrapbooks, photographs, manuscripts, notes, lectures, printed matter, personal memorabilia, approximately 2,000 slides of her paintings and of Western architecture, plus items belonging to Francis Wolle. These images are all from Muriel Wolle's collection including the one of Wolle herself!
The University of Colorado Boulder Libraries will celebrate the centennial anniversary of the Archives on June 6, 2018. This is story #80 in our series: 100 Stories for 100 Years from the Archives!