If Walls Could Talk: State Historical Fund Supports Education ProjectsOriginally published in Colorado History NOW, July/August 2007 
Stories hold bricks together every bit as much as mortar does. Without stories, the bricks that make up our historic places may represent an architectural style and evoke the aesthetics of an era, but they don’t really speak to us. Walls don’t tell us about the lives of the people who built them and lived or worked within the spaces they define. That is why the State Historical Fund supports educational projects. Like traditional “brick and mortar” projects such as window or roof repairs, educational projects must be related to the historic built environment. They can take the form of books, videos, brochures, markers, exhibits, or other interpretive programs. Whatever form they take, these projects turn the oft-repeated phrase “If walls could talk” into reality. Sometimes educational projects are undertaken to inform the public about sites that are no longer standing. Three years ago, SHF awarded a $37,000 grant to the Rocky Flats Cold War Museum to conduct a series of oral history interviews regarding the Rocky Flats Nuclear Weapons Plant that operated sixteen miles northwest of Denver. Interviewees included former Rocky Flats workers, political leaders, government regulators, and activists. Now available online, the ninety-plus videotaped oral histories preserve the story of the controversial facility. And though the site has been converted to a wildlife preserve and more than 800 buildings have been demolished, its walls still speak. Educational projects can also tell about historic places that are inaccessible to the public. Rocky Mountain Rustic, a book supported in part by a $25,000 SHF grant, features unique lodges, hotels, ranches and cabins within or near Rocky Mountain National Park—some of which are in remote areas or on private land. Another grant helped pay for the development of a website that lets you tour downtown Denver’s elegant Telephone Building even though many areas of the Art Deco–style building are off limits because of security concerns.
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