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Message from the researcher
History Colorado’s responsibility as a museum organization includes rectifying, reconciling, and uplifting underrepresented stories, objects, people, and places. Some of the materials in our collection reflect positions, norms, and values that are no longer—or never were—consistent with those of History Colorado (formerly the Colorado Historical Society) or its staff. We do not endorse prejudiced, stereotyped, or offensive material in our collection and actively work to place those items in context and with interpretation from our communities, as they are an important resource in the study of past and contemporary cultures. For more about how History Colorado does this work, see the History Colorado Anti-Racism Grounding Virtues statement.
Murder ScrapbooksAbout Murder Scrapbooks
These scrapbooks were created and compiled by Sam Howe, a 19th-century Colorado lawman. In an attempt to apply organization, he began scouring local newspapers, meticulously cutting out all crime-related articles, and pasting them into large scrapbooks with each article given a unique, identifying stamp number. Howe kept alphabetized lists of names and crimes as well as their corresponding article stamp. In addition to these article books and indexes, Howe kept a “murder book” in which he organized photographs, newspaper clippings, and information regarding murder cases in the Denver area. This collection of ledgers was used extensively not only by the Denver police, but out-of-state law enforcement as well.
This material creates national research opportunities that could reveal new findings about the ways law enforcement responded to crimes over time; the effect of societal change on laws and the justice system; the role of newspaper sensationalism on criminal trials; public perceptions of crimes and criminals; and the impact of economic change, social conditions, and immigration trends in relation to crime. With your help transcribing them, we can preserve this legacy and allow easily searchable access to this collection.
Hear about the Sam Howe Collection in this History Colorado podcast.
This project is funded by the Colorado SIPA Innovation Fund.