Denver’s LGBTQ story at the forefront of his work expanding DPL Special Collections
The Denver Public Library hosted the annual Eleanor Gehres award ceremony honoring David Duffield yesterday, April 25, at The Center on Colfax. The award recognizes his contributions to the Western History & Genealogy Department at the library.
Since 2015, David has worked with the library to collect archives as part of the Colorado LGBTQ project for The Center on Colfax. This partnership has added 28 collections to the Western History Collection. It established an extensive resource to tell the story of the LGBTQ community in Denver. The collections explore the HIV/AIDS epidemic, support organizations, social clubs, and the personal papers of men, women, and the transgender community.
David is an avid user of the Western History Collection and wrote his thesis on LGBTQ history in Denver. As a social studies teacher for Denver Public Schools, David created a history-based LGBTQ curriculum for middle school students. The Global Queer Heritage (GQH) website is a free resource to provide teachers with lesson plans about gender and sexuality in different cultures from the past to the present.
About the Eleanor Gehres Awards
The award honors individuals or organizations that have made a significant contribution of library materials (books, manuscripts, photographs, maps, works of art or other items), scholarship, life-long service or bequest, that enhances the Western History Collection and expands the department’s significance and contributions to the community. The award is named in memory of Eleanor Gehres who headed the Library’s Western History & Genealogy department for 25 years from 1974 to 1999. Her leadership built the department from a regional resource into a national treasure.
Background on Eleanor Gehres
Eleanor was born in Riverside, NJ, on Feb. 18, 1932. She worked as a schoolteacher and librarian before becoming manager of the Western History Department in 1974. She was also the first woman elected to Posse Membership in the Denver Posse of Westerners and was a past president of the Colorado History Group. In June 1996, Eleanor won the Wallace Stegner Award, from the Center of the American West at the University of Colorado. The award is given to an individual who has made a sustained contribution to the cultural identity of the West through literature, art, history, lore or an understanding of the West.
To learn more about the Eleanor Gehres Award and past winners, visit history.denverlibrary.org/eleanor-gehres-award