PCCLD, PuebloPlex, and CSU-Pueblo co-host exhibit on women at Pueblo Depot

PUEBLO, CO – The exhibit, She’s a WOW: Women Ordnance Workers in Pueblo, CO 1942-1945 will be on display March 29 to April 25 in the InfoZone lobby-4^th floor of the Robert Hoag Rawlings Public Library, 100 E. Abriendo Ave. The exhibit focuses on the need for women at the Pueblo Ordnance Depot, and the work they performed there during World War II. A public reception will take place from 5-7 p.m., on Thursday, March 29.  Both the exhibit and the reception are free and open to the public.  The exhibit is co-sponsored by Colorado State University-Pueblo Honors Program, PuebloPlex, and the InfoZone News Museum.

The exhibit, designed in collaboration with CSU-Pueblo’s Honors Program, began in the spring of 2017 when Pueblo Plex and the CSU-Pueblo History Department met to discuss opportunities to share the history of the Depot with the community of Pueblo.  The Scholarly and Activities Board provided Dr. Fawn-Amber Montoya, director of the University’s Honor Program, with a SEED grant in the summer of 2017 to support research for the exhibit. 

Lauren Knight a senior history major from Denver and Alyssa Vargas Lopez, a junior sociology major from Pueblo, worked on the exhibit during the 2017-2018 academic year to fulfill requirements for their Honors minor at CSU-Pueblo. Alyssa has been selected for an internship with the Smithsonian Institute this summer, while Lauren will complete an internship with Pueblo County. The University Honors Program provides high-achieving students with enhanced learning opportunities to stimulate their engagement and development, both within an intellectual community of scholars, and as citizens of the wider university community and the world. The Honors Program provides students with special opportunities for interaction with faculty experiential and service-learning projects. 

“This project allowed Knight and Vargas-Lopez to create a museum exhibit that could be used for their portfolios while also giving them a feel for a profession in the library or museum field,” said Montoya.  “They both will provide presentations at the reception for the opening of the exhibit as another form of experiential learning.”  

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