Patty Limerick Named State Historian as History Colorado Looks to Future

History Colorado has been making some history of its own over the past six months, with a complete reconfiguration of the board to make it leaner and meaner (at least when it comes to financial matters), buyouts and layoffs of staffers, and the departure of many of the organization's top managers, including state historian Bill Convery.

And now, as History Colorado continues to position itself for a more secure future, Patty Limerick has been named the new Colorado State Historian. 

This is a move that puts a Colorado historian with a national profile into the top position (this past weekend, Limerick was in Atlanta, at the American Historical Association, working on a commemoration of the Vietnam War with the Department of Defense). It also cements the collaborative ties between the University of Colorado, where Limerick founded the Center of the American West, and History Colorado, which also falls under the state Department of Higher Education. Limerick will continue her work at the center, while offering unique programs at the History Colorado Center, raising the profile of the facility and pushing the importance of history around the state. 

But just as the announcement of her appointment took some time, Limerick will take her time deciding just how to do that.

"'Act in haste, repent at leisure' was so not my slogan when I was a young person," says Limerick, who pops off more ideas in a ten-minute conversation than others might offer in a decade. Now, though, she says she's going to avoid rushing in when "a little more deliberation" will show which programs might be a good match between the center and History Colorado, all while creating opportunities "for people to know where they are located in time and space.” ...