By Eric Berger

The Colorado Railroad Museum has recruited Erin Johnson Schmitz as its new Director of Collections to help better interpret its collections for a changing audience.

A big push will be made to help the public better understand the human side of railroading, officials said in a press release.

“It’s a quantum shift that we’re trying to impose on ourselves. It is a big job ahead for Erin and the whole team, said Paul Hammond, executive director at CSRM. “Focusing on improved collections care, under Erin’s leadership, will help ensure this transformation is based firmly on scholarship, and supported by authentic artifacts and related stories illustrating Colorado’s rich railroading heritage.”

“We want to shift how we are using collections and how we handle bringing in new things. For instance, putting a greater emphasis on obtaining an authentic provenance along with an item, so we can trace it back to a specific person or persons and be able to the share the human stories behind the objects,” Hammond said. “We have a lot of things, but not enough of the back stories behind those things, which is something we want to address as we acquire new items in the future.  We want to find out more about what each thing means and how it connects to people and railroad; to connect collections with people and their stories, not just the hardware. “

Schmitz has held a variety of roles with the Museums of Western Colorado, History Colorado, Wings Over the Rockies Air & Space Museum, and the Denver Museum of Nature & Science. She is currently president of the Colorado Wyoming Association of Museums and serves as a Museum Assessment Plan reviewer for the American Alliance of Museums.

“This was a unique opportunity where we were looking for someone who knows their stuff when it comes to taking care of collections, not someone to handle equipment restorations or operation,” Hammond said.