By Roy Nuhn  Columbus spent two decades in search of financing for his scheme to sail westward to reach the rich Far East. However, this pales in comparison to the centuries it took for him to become recognized as a hero throughout the United States.  Columbus Day is now a national holiday, observed on the second Monday in October. For […]

 The Colorado state legislature gave final passage March 10, 2020 to a bill that would replace Columbus Day with a new state holiday, on the first Monday of October, in honor of Frances Xavier Cabrini. It is believed that the proposed Cabrini Day would be the first paid state holiday recognizing a woman anywhere in this country.  The youngest of […]

By Tom Cotter  Photos by Tom Cotter, including Cambridge glass from Millie and Roger Loucks  Last month in the Mountain States Collector I brought you some information on European glass companies that made animal figurines.  This month, I’m jumping across the pond to write about U.S. manufactured figurines.  In both of these articles, I’m focusing on non-human critters, mostly real, […]

By Henry J. Pratt  Decades ago from a fountain of black ink, famed British author Rudyard Kipling penned his popular Barrack Room Ballads and The Jungle Book. When he was a newspaper reporter, Kipling took notes in pencil, but later he wrote his exciting fiction with nothing but an old ink pen.  Today, both old and new quality quills are […]