In early 1933, the State of Colorado almost stopped funding the State Historical Society. The Society's historian, LeRoy Hafen, recognized that the combination of federal funds and unemployed professionals could be used to further the Society's goals. From December 1933 through mid 1941 the Society used funds from the Civil Works Administration (CWA), the State Relief Administration (SRA), the Federal Emergency Relief Administration (FERA) and the Works Progress Administration (WPA) to index books, type copies of manuscripts, interview early settlers, catalog articles, research place names, create index cards of reference information, oil paintings and educational dioramas. They created over 50 dioramas as well as frames, exhibit cases and cabinets for all these items.
Using this federal funding, LeRoy Hafen directed the team which built the city diorama. After six months of research and using only clay, paint and wood, WPA-employed architects began building. Once finished, the diorama allowed visitors to see the beginnings of the Apollo Theater, the barbershop of African American businessman Barney Ford, and Denver's first bank, the Pass Brown Bank, among other well-know landmarks. In 1936 Lee Casey, a columnist for the Rocky Mountain News, wrote, "There is nothing on exhibition in New York City or the celebrated Washington historical collections to exceed the results of the deft fingers and keen artistic taste of these Western artists..."
Between 1934 and 1941, federal funding to the Society was about $35,000 per year with the State of Colorado adding about $15,000. This provided an average of 35 employees per year for the State Historical Society.
Sources:
WPA Worker, September 1936
Colorado History Now, May 2005
