Donors of Eagle County pioneer Alfred Borah’s journals to be honored with local history award

Eagle County pioneer Alfred Borah was a meticulous man who wrote a series of journals recording the daily details of his life from the 1880s through 1917.

Borah’s descendants protected those journals for well over a century, and recently donated the books to the Eagle County Historical Society and the Eagle Valley Library District. Hundreds of journal pages have been digitized, transcribed and are now accessible online, providing an incredible local history resource.

Alfred Borah’s grandson, Reed Perkins, and great-granddaughter, Kathy McDaniel, will be honored with the Eagle Valley History Preservation Award in a special program at the Eagle Public Library at 1:30 p.m. on Sunday, May 15. Formerly known as the “Nimon-Walker Award,” the annual event recognizes people or organizations for their role in preserving local history.

History Librarian Matthew Mikelson noted that the Borah journals, accessible online, have already proven to be a valuable resource for local history researchers. Last year, the state historical society recognized the digitization of the Borah journals as an exemplary and impactful project.

“Many families would throw away old, fragile books of this nature,” said Eagle County Historical Society President Kathy Heicher. “The Borah descendants protected those journals, then did the necessary footwork to bring them into the public domain.”

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The Perkins-McDaniel family followed up their donation with a visit to the county last summer, visiting the Borah homestead and the old log one-room school on Brush Creek where Reed’s mother once studied. Reed and McDaniel also donated dozens of historic photos — images depicting early-day life on Brush Creek, along with artifacts including clothing, letters and memorabilia.

“These are extremely valuable Eagle County artifacts,” Heicher said. “Our local history collection is significantly richer because of this family.”

Following Sunday’s award presentation, Colorado women’s historian Dr. Marcia Goldstein will present a lively program detailing how Colorado women won the right to vote in 1893, then kept up the fight until women’s suffrage became the law of the land in 1920.

Stop by the award ceremony at 1:30 p.m. this Sunday to celebrate local history.

For more details about the event and the Borah journals, visit EVLD.org or EagleCountyHistoricalSociety.com.