Jan MacKell Collins
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janmackellcollins.bsky.social
Jan MacKell Collins
@janmackellcollins.bsky.social
Author and Historian of Western History. I read old documents and newspapers, visit ghost towns and museums, travel the back roads, explore abandoned places, and take photographs everywhere I go. Then I write about it. www.JanMacKellCollins.com
Up for another ghost story? Here ya go. Enjoy! janmackellcollins.wordpress.com/2024/10/02/s...
Spirits, Specters and Spooks: They Aren’t Just for Halloween
May the spirits be with you…
janmackellcollins.wordpress.com
October 29, 2025 at 7:19 PM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
Glen Eyrie | 1878 | Exterior view of Gen. Palmer's three-story residence near Manitou Springs with gabled roof, dormer, bay window, and Garden of the Gods formations in background.
October 20, 2025 at 11:25 PM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
We are setting up at #WHA2025 -- Acquisitions Editor Sonia Dickey is at the conference, with Call for Proposals information for two of our series: The West in Context and the New Century Gardens and Landscapes of the American Southwest.
October 15, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
The early-bird deadline for our "Reimagining the Historic House Museum" workshop in Charleston, South Carolina on November 14 is Friday! Learn more and register at tinyurl.com/yc76xr6u.
October 13, 2025 at 3:46 PM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
Aspen Church | 1912 January 2 | Woman in dark winter coat, muff and hat stands in front of First Presbyterian Church (later Aspen Community Church) in Aspen. Snow covers the ground.

Creative Commons License. Some rights reserved. Attribution, Non-commercial, No Derivatives.
October 7, 2025 at 11:25 PM
The killer of Jesse James, Bob Ford, was thrown out of a lot of places - including Cripple Creek, Colorado. janmackellcollins.wordpress.com/2014/05/03/b...
Bob Ford Thrown Out of Cripple Creek, Colorado!
c 2014, 2025 by Jan MacKell Collins Portions of this article come from Jan’s books, Cripple Creek District: Last of Colorado’s Gold Booms and Wicked Cripple Creek District. And updated …
janmackellcollins.wordpress.com
July 30, 2025 at 5:52 PM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
Luthier Shop | Interior of violin repair shop in Denver showing violins, cellos, a balalaika, a clock, and a craftsman at work.
July 29, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
Hotel del Monte | 1941 | View of the Hotel del Monte in American City, Gilpin County. Sign on log building reads "Hotel del Monte." A railing falls onto foundation stones.
July 30, 2025 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
A repurposed urinal from Sloppy Joe's in Key West....Hemingway wanted a watering trough for his cats, so he got creative!

📍Hemingway House, Key West, FL

#travelphotography #hemingway #booksky #cat #keywest
July 29, 2025 at 1:11 PM
I love Etta Place, the mysterious femme who ran around with Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. Here's my article about her, but I want to write more someday! janmackellcollins.wordpress.com/2014/04/22/w...
Will the Real Etta Place Pleeeese Stand Up?
c 2021 by Jan MacKell Collins Parts of this article are excerpted from Red Light Women of the Rocky Mountains (University of New Mexico Press, 2009). Of all the outlaw ladies who hitched up their s…
janmackellcollins.wordpress.com
July 28, 2025 at 7:02 PM
So...I tried to post a PG video I made several years ago, "To the Ladies," as a tribute to the prostitutes in history that I write about. This morning, however, I found it is banned from here! LOL! So if you want to see it, click here www.janmackellcollins.com/bio and scroll down to the title.
July 28, 2025 at 6:05 PM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
'Approaching Storm.' (1911) Lawren Harris's paintings of Toronto between 1909 to 1926 form a very important part of his body of work. The patchy light that plays over this building is poetic in character, helping to animate the scene and to guide our experience of the picture.
July 26, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
Monarch Mine | 1884 | Mountain town in Chaffee County with tramway to Madonna Mine. Log and frame buildings line dirt street, with ore cars on Denver & Rio Grande railroad tracks. Hills show evidence of timber clearing. Altitude 11000 ft.
July 26, 2025 at 11:29 PM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
Victorian Books: The Hidden Toxicity Within Their Pages #VictorianBooks #BookToxicity #HistoricalLiterature #ClassicBooks #BookHistory
Victorian Books: The Hidden Toxicity Within Their Pages
Uncovering the Dark Side of Old Victorian Books
dlvr.it
July 23, 2025 at 12:50 PM
Reposted by Jan MacKell Collins
Powder houses, where explosives were stored, and which ranged in size from dog houses to large buildings, can be found near most mines, but its rare to find one as nicely constructed as this one west of Silver Plume, Colorado. #colorado #history #photography #ruins
July 21, 2025 at 1:07 PM