When the Denver Firefighter's Museum first decided to undertake a podcasting project, none of the staff had ever done a podcast before or really knew how to do one. With a little help from Podcasting for Dummies and a kit including editing software, a microphone, and headphones, we were ready to make the idea into reality. As the collections intern, I was given responsibility for the project, starting with the grant application which resulted in funding from CWAM. With some guidance from the museum's former Executive Director, Angela Rayne, I created a plan envisioning fifteen items complete with written histories, photographs, and an interview podcast. We hoped that the project, once posted to the website, would help spark interest in a new demographic of visitors.
 
I started by choosing groupings of items based on a book of firefighting collectibles. This helped me to narrow down my items based on what was interesting to the general public, rather than what a history buff like me found interesting, which was practically everything. I then explored possible themes by selecting different groups of items and settled on items that told the story of how firefighters prepare for a fire. Unfortunately, as the researching process took longer than expected and due to changes within the museum, we were forced to cut the number of items in order to finish the project by the necessary deadline. The result, however, is what I believe to be a quality presentation of eight of the museum's items on display.
 
The items which made the final cut for the podcast include an alarm box, alarm gong, leather firefighting helmet, bunker gear, SCBA masks, a hand-drawn pumper, a horse drawn steamer, and two of the museum's motorized rigs. Along with pictures of each of these items are thoroughly researched one-page histories describing their origins and evolution over time. For the actual audio portion, I ended up taking a different approach than I initially expected. When planning for the podcast, I had thought to interview the Executive Director and Chief Curator, Angela Rayne. However, as the time for interviews approached, Angela and I decided that since the history was already laid out in the written portions, it might be more interesting to interview actual firefighters. The museum is lucky enough to have several retired Denver firefighters who serve as volunteers. Many of these men either had personal experience with the items I was describing, had done extensive research on them, or had served with firefighters in their youth who talked about these items. Retired firefighters Dan Farley, Dan Day, Jerry Michals, and retired Division Chief Eldon Buller all agreed to interview with me. The result was a personal touch to the podcast that I could not have found through research.  
 
We anticipate that the project, which is currently in the process of being posted on our website, will help to draw more visitors from the general public and firefighting experts across the country and around the world. To our knowledge, no other firefighter museum website will have as in depth of podcast as ours. We hope it will also give a small taste of our exhibits to those who otherwise may not be able to view our museum, such as those who live far away or those with limited mobility. In this way, we will not only have a fun and intriguing new part of our website, but a method of reaching demographics we never could before. To see the final project, go to www.denverfirefightersmuseum.org and click on the link on the main page.

 

In June of this year, the Estes Park Museum received a Stack On 14-gun Gun Cabinet made available with funds through a 2009 CWAM Grant.  The 3-point lock, solid steel cabinet securely and safely stores the Museum's rifle collection and allows room for future accessions.  The rifles include a U.S. Springfield Rifle (c. 1870), Percussion Lock Rifle (c. 1870), WWI Mauser German Infantry Rifle (1916), Pump Rifle, 2007 reproduction of a Leman Rifle from the 1840's, and a Remington Shotgun (1927).