Research and Collections Donations

Submitting a Research Request

The Telluride Museum is home to a large collection of historical artifacts, archives, and photographs. We are happy to assist with research questions pertaining to Telluride and/or San Miguel County history and our mission. Research requests can be made by emailing Luke at luke@telluridemuseum.org.

Response time and availability is dependent on staffing and our museum program schedule so we appreciate your patience in answering your requests. We provide basic research services free of charge, while assistance with more in depth topics and research requests may be available for a service fee. In your request please include as many specifics as possible including full names, correct spellings, dates, and previous sources you’ve searched. 

To help you start your research here is a  list of sources you can explore on your own:

Donating Items to our Collections:

Thank you for thinking of the Telluride Historical Museum (THM) in making a decision to find a new home for your historic object(s)! THM is the owner of any donated materials and follows specific guidelines and procedures before we accession any donation into our collection. Our front desk and office staff are unable to accept unsolicited walk-in donations or unsolicited shipped donations. We retain the right to discard of any objects left at THM or mailed to THM without prior discussion with THM staff.

THM’s Scope of Collections:

The Telluride Historical Museum collects objects associated with the Telluride region that have been created, manufactured, owned, or used by residents of the region, and/or have a direct connection with people, sites, activities and/or events in regional history. THM’s collections are composed of objects to utilize in permanent and annual exhibits; for research and study purposes; and for education and public programming. The objects in THM’s collection help achieve the museum’s overall mission.

If you have an object that fits within our Scope of Collections above, please email our Curator of Collections molly@telluridemuseum.org to discuss your potential object donation. Please include the object’s provenance, photo(s) of the object, the size of the object, and any associated details or stories that will help us understand it’s significance. Storage space is a limited resource, so we reserve the right to refuse any object(s) for any reason, especially duplicates, large objects, and/or objects without relevance to the Telluride region.

Objects we are currently not accepting:

  • Anything found on public land or private land that does not belong to you (this includes old mining sites!!)
  • Glass bottles and glass insulators
  • Furniture and pianos
  • China/Dinnerware
  • Fragments, rusty objects, or objects in poor or hazardous condition

No guarantee to permanently display any item will be given as a condition of donation. The donor must establish that he/she is the legal owner of the item; THM must receive unrestricted title to the item unless otherwise approved by the Board of Directors; to the extent possible, the item shall be delivered to THM with full literary rights, copyrights, patents and trademarks; to the extent possible, the item shall be free from physically hazardous attributes; and the item must have been acquired ethically and legally.