JEFFERSON COUNTY —Jefferson County has changed a lot since 1950 — just ask Laura Miller. She’s been right in the middle of it all.
Miller, 94, served in the Colorado House of Representatives in District 28 from 1971-76, the Jefferson County Library Board and the school names advisory committee. And she’s saved almost everything she’s gotten her hands on during that time.
After organizing newspaper clippings, campaign ads, ballot initiatives and more from 1950 until around 2008, she donated it all to the Jefferson County Archives.
“I’m trying to sort out things so I don’t leave it for my family. After all, in six years I’ll be 100,” Miller said at her home on West Bowles Avenue.
Miller, who calls herself a newspaper clipper and a saver, said she had kept things in cardboard boxes. But when her husband, Robert, passed away in the late 1980s, she decided to organize everything. She gathered it all into 58 boxes broken in two-year increments. She labeled folders in the boxes with notes about the subject matter, such as ballot issues.
Jefferson County archivist Ronda Frazier picked up the boxes on Jan. 13 and said the collection will be called the Laura Miller Papers. Frazier said she won’t touch them too much since they are already organized chronologically and by subject. She said she might place them in acid-proof folders to better preserve them.
“It’s going to fit very nicely,” Frazier said.
Frazier said she has other collections from individuals in the archives along with other information on the county. She said the archives office is open by appointment only because she is the only employee. The archives office has been a part of Jefferson County since 1991, but Frazier said most people are unaware of it.
Miller contacted Rita Peterson, a member of the Jefferson County Historical Commission, when she decided she wanted to donate her archives. Peterson knew exactly where they should go.
“I feel history is very important. I grew up here and have seen a lot of changes,” Peterson said. “History needs to be saved. Some day when somebody needs to see something, it’ll be there.”
Miller, who said she is a moderate Republican, said she kept mostly brochures related to the Republican Party, but when she came across something from the Democrats, she kept it. She said that while she stopped being actively involved, she still keeps up with politics, especially on the local side.
She is also a member of the historical society hall of fame. She was inducted in 2009.
“I love history and I can remember when the county didn’t have an archivist and all that stuff was stored in boxes somewhere,” Miller said.
Joe Vaccarelli: 303-954-2396, jvaccarelli@denverpost.com or twitter.com/joe_vacc
