I was doing some research for the “Not Just Farmers” course at GRIP, on barbed wire and how it changed the country. It basically spelled the end of the large cattle drives because as settlers moved in and homesteaded, they also put up fencing to marking off and protecting their land for their own use. But that’s a whole ‘nother topic that is not the rabbit hole for today.

I was using the phrase “barbed wire” as a search term on ArchiveGrid to demonstrate finding records for farming inventions. And I came across a collection that is located at History Colorado titled “Evelyn Barrick Barbed Wire Collection.” The ArchiveGrid description says that the collection contains Evelyn’s barbed wire collection and correspondence with those she traded barbed wire with.

Ok, I have heard of some whacky hobbies and collections, but this one was new for me. I clicked on the item which took me to the finding aid at the History Colorado website. Turns out, there are all kinds of barbed wire collectors in the world. Evelyn and her husband belonged to the Colorado Wire Collector’s Association. I swear, there’s a club or association for everything!

So, it’s now on my list to someday head down to Denver to the History Colorado archive to take a look at Evelyn Barrick’s barbed wire collection. See, the things you didn’t know you needed to know.