Resources for Teaching Colorado History

If you’re a teacher and Colorado history is among your subjects this school year, the State of Colorado and our library have numerous resources that can help you and your students.

The State Publications Library is a treasure-trove of primary source material. From the original state constitution to publications that examine life in Colorado in past eras, we have a variety of resources. The Colorado Year Book is a great place to find Colorado facts and statistics from the early twentieth century. Colorado Highways Bulletin is a magazine with lots of great pictures of Colorado transportation a century ago; we also have old state maps. Course of Study books are fun ways for kids to discover what children learned in school “in the old days.” Search our online catalog and digital repository for thousands of other documents, on a wide variety of subjects.

We also have a large collection of secondary-source materials available for checkout from our library or on Prospector. These include several Colorado history textbooks written for kids: Colorado, Our Colorful State; Colorado: The Highest State; and Discover Colorado: Its People, Places, and Times. Students may also enjoy art and photography books like Colorado: A History in Photographs and Masterpieces of Colorado: A Rich Legacy of Landscape Painting. For students who are researching biographies of famous Coloradans, we have books like Colorado Profiles as well as a number of individual biographies. Be sure also to visit the Colorado Virtual Library’s Colorado Biographies.

For students learning about Colorado’s state symbols, they can search our catalog to find resources about the different symbols (i.e., publications about bighorn sheep or aquamarine). We also have books about the history of the State Capitol. For a copy of the State Song, “Where the Columbines Grow,” email our library at spl@cde.state.co.us.

For resource guides, our library’s School Research Topics web guide presents some additional resources and ideas. Also helpful are publications such as Hispanic Colorado Resource Guide and Colorado Mining History Resource Guide. History Colorado also has some great resources on their website, including primary source sets, lesson plans, and many other resources for teachers. Finally, be sure to visit the Colorado Department of Education’s Social Studies page, where you’ll find academic standards; additional primary source sets; a video about using art to teach Colorado history; a resource guide for teaching about the Ute People of Colorado; and instructional unit samples.