CSU- Pueblo to Host Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame Exhibit at Pueblo West Library

PUEBLO –The Women's Studies program at Colorado State University-Pueblo in conjunction with Pueblo West Library will host a portrait exhibition from the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame in celebration of Women's History Month in March. The exhibition celebrates and informs the university and Pueblo communities about the enduring contributions of extraordinary Colorado women. The Women’s Hall of Fame exhibit will run from March 1-17.  

At 2 p.m. on Wednesday, March 1, Betty Heid, chair of the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame, will open the exhibition at a small launch held at Pueblo West Library. She will speak about the Women's Hall of Fame. Other brief comments will be made by other representatives, including Marina Cunin Borer, chair of CSU-Pueblo’s Women's Studies program and Frank Vidana from the Pueblo West Library. The event is free and open to the public.

The Colorado Women’s Hall of Fame has inducted 152 women of various races, backgrounds, economic levels, career choices, political philosophies, and religious beliefs united by their outstanding contributions to society. The exhibition held in Pueblo will host 21 portraits spanning a cross-section of Colorado women from various ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds, all of who have contributed significantly to women’s participation in society.

The full list of women in the exhibit are: Chipeta, Sumiko Hennessy, Anna Petteys, Elsie Boulding, Rachel Noel, Julia Archibald Holmes, Caroline Spenser, Eppie Archuleta, Bartley Marie Scott, Mildred Pitts Walter, Clarissa Pinkola Estés, Jane Silverstein Ries, Laura Gilpin, Helen Hunt Jackson, Isabella Bird, Mary Coyle Chase, Anna Lee Aldred, Fannie Mae Duncan and Clara Brown, Hattie McDaniel and Helen White. Descriptions of two notable women featured, include:

• Chipeta (Ute for White Singing Bird) was known for her courage and valor in her efforts to mediate between Native Americans and whites. Chipeta accompanied her intellectual, diplomatic husband Chief Ouray to the negotiations and signing of the first treaty of Conejos, Colorado, in 1863 and also to a treaty signing in Washington five years later.

• Eppie Archuleta who was recognized globally for preserving the ancient folk art of weaving with the loom in the southwestern Hispanic style. After World War II, Archuleta and her husband Frank moved from New Mexico to the San Luis Valley. They raised 10 children (eight of whom lived to adulthood), while she worked the fields by day and weaved at night.

Candidates to the Women's Hall of Fame must have strong ties to our state either through birth, residence, the lasting influences of her experiences in Colorado, or by having made her mark here. She must have:

• Made significant and enduring contributions to her field (40%)
• Elevated the status of women and helped open new frontiers for women and society (40%)
• Inspired others, especially women and girls, by her example (20%)

For more information about the Colorado Women's Hall of Fame Exhibit, contact Jenny Walter at jabradley74@hotmail.com or 303.587.1370. For more information regarding Pueblo West Library and the CWHF launch/exhibition, contact Frank Vidana at frank.vidana@pueblolibrary.org  or 720.355.8369.