Historic Photographs

Historic Photographs

The Archive at Fort Collins Museum of Discovery has more than 200,000 photographs, slides, and negatives that chronicle the people, places, and events that have shaped the history of Fort Collins and surrounding area.

More than 40,000 images across these collections have been digitized and are searchable online. Thousands of photographs have not been scanned, however; many of these may be perused at the Archive by viewing the Photograph Vertical Files. These files are organized Fort Collins, Larimer County, and Colorado subjects and places, as well as by surname.

Don't Forget to Visit the Archive!

Though digitization of the collections is ongoing, many photographs are not yet online.

Researchers may request access to original photographs that have not been digitized by visiting the Archive.

The Archive is fortunate in having several extensive collections of photographs, including:

  • Coloradoan Collection: approximately 50,000 35mm negatives dating from 1951 to 1975
  • Mark Miller Collection: over 77,000 negatives, primarily portraits, dating from 1907 to 1970
  • Eugene Hancock Collection: approximately 4,000 prints and negatives dating from 1923 to 1959
  • Triangle Review Newspaper Collection: approximately 50,000 prints and negatives dating from 1973 to 1995
  • Local History Collection: nearly 24,000 negatives and almost as many prints, from the 1860s to the present by various photographers
  • Collections of postcards and stereographs of both local and national interest, as well as slides, aerial photographs, and panoramas.

Popular Fort Collins Photos

1860s Fort Collins
1891 Parade on Walnut Street
1904 Panorama
1908 Auto Club
Linden Hotel, circa 1934
Intersection of College, Mountain, and Linden, circa 1937
Great Western Sugar Factory, 1920s
Trimble Block, circa 1905

Fort Collins Museum of Discovery          Poudre River Public Library District
Preserving the history of Fort Collins, Colorado & the Cache la Poudre region