ROCKY MOUNTAIN WOMEN'S INSTITUTE RECORDS

In 1976, Dr. Peggy McIntosh and Dr. Nancy Hill obtained a Colorado Centennial-Bicentennial Grant and raised money from individual donors to provide support to independent women scholars and artists. Creating a board of directors, they rented rooms in Foote Hall at Colorado Women's College. Each year, the Rocky Mountain Women's Institute offered support to six to ten associates artists or writers selected by two committees. Executive Directors planned meetings and events and managed public relations. The Institute provided each associate with a modest stipend and, until the last decade, a small studio or office. Associates met monthly to discuss and collaborate on projects. A showcase at the end of each year presented readings, performances or exhibitions.

In 1980, the Rocky Mountain Women's Institute moved to an old sorority house on the University of Denver campus and back to the Colorado Women's College campus in the mid-1980s. In the late-1980s, the Board ceased providing studios. Instead, it rented administrative and meeting space at the Logan School for Creative Learning. Associates continued to meet in their homes. Reluctant to discriminate on the basis of gender, the Institute accepted its first male associate in 1986.

Besides the annual showcase displaying associates' works, the Institute held an annual awards dinner and various events featuring the work of Associates. To celebrate its 20th anniversary, the Institute organized a creativity conference entitled Composing a Life. It also created an exhibit of 69 identically sized, hand-bound books. The Institute offered workshops throughout the greater Denver area, including inner-city workshops for housing-project residents.

Organizations providing support for the Rocky Mountain Women's Institute included the Bank of Denver, the Boettcher Foundation, the Colorado Council on the Arts and Humanities, the Denver Rotary Foundation, the Donald B. Anderson Foundation, the Hill Founders, the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District and an anonymous donor.

Fundraising to maintain the Institute became increasingly difficult. Inexpensive housing provided by the University of Denver and Colorado Woman's College was no longer available after 2000. Eventually, Elizabeth Braden, then the Executive Director, ran the Institute out of her home. In 2009, the Board decided to close the Institute. It had supported 227 Associates in its 32 years as an organization.