Greenwood Fund Recipient

May 4th, 2023

The Blackwater Draw Museum is the lucky recipient of the Greenwood Fund Grant from the Denver Foundation. We will use these funds to purchase archival materials for our rehousing project of the Blackwater Draw Museum collections. This includes the Miles collection, the Calvin Smith Collection, the Agogino collection, and the Blackwater Draw collection. The Greenwood Fund supports small Colorado, Wyoming, and New Mexico museums. Specifically, projects surrounding collections care and conservation.

Taylor, Collections Manager, and Kylie, Collections Specialist with a portion of the supplies purchased with the Greenwood Fund

Charles Greenwood Patterson III

The Denver Foundation manages the Greenwood Fund and provides some background on the donor. Charles, "known as Carl, was well known in the museum community for his expertise and leadership in art conservation. Throughout his career, Carl lived and breathed conservation, working with numerous museums around the world, and in the [Denver] Metro area.

Over 18 years at the Denver Art Museum, he outfitted three conservation laboratories, consolidated collection storage, and undertook collection surveys, as well as played a key role in the design and opening of the Hamilton Building. Instrumental in elevating and expanding the conservation department, acquiring equipment, and improving storage, Carl was immensely creative in his ability to write grants and raise funds.

In 2009, Carl retired as Director Emeritus of Conservation. The following year, he created the Greenwood Fund. Carl passed away in February of 2020. Through the ongoing work of the Greenwood Fund, The Denver Foundation is honored to continue his legacy and passion for conservation."

The Funds and the Project

Since the museum's creation, various cataloging and research projects have been partially completed resulting in fragmented catalog numbers and inventories. However, through this rehousing project, we have almost completed the rehousing, cataloging, and documentation of the Mile's Collection, which includes over 2,900 archaeological and ethnographical artifacts from the greater Southwest region, primarily Native American communities. This project also intends to upload the collections to the Blackwater Draw Museum website, including a photo, catalog number, and short description of each object. Therefore, making the collections more accessible and available to the public and researchers from other institutions. The funds from this grant will allow us to continue these efforts and do the same with the other collections housed at the museum.

The museum intends to finish repackaging the Miles collection and then prioritize the other collections for a large rehousing project. The funds from this grant will be used to purchase the materials necessary for protecting the collections on display and repackaging collections in curation, including: