Shelby Carr Neuhauser - Historian
Shelby graduated from the University of Colorado with her Master of Arts in American history with a minor in public history and a certificate in historic preservation with high distinction. She also received her Bachelor of Arts, magna cum laude, in history from the same institution.
Undergraduate Accomplishments
As an undergraduate, she worked as an intern for the History Colorado Center in their school programs division and as a mentor and competition judge for National History Day in Colorado.
Graduate Studies
Shelby specializes in late nineteenth to early twentieth century American history with a focus on women during the Gilded Age. Her research interests include the interwoven themes of culture, class, and consumption. Her thesis, Changing of the Guard: Louise Sneed Hill and the Emergence of Modern High Society in Gilded Age Denver, can be located on ProQuest.
During her graduate work, Shelby also participated in the History Colorado Cemetery Crawl historic tours from 2016-2019 portraying historic Colorado figures such as Countess Katrina Murat, Lena Stoiber, Mrs. Verner Z. Reed, Alice Polk Hill, and Louise Sneed Hill.
Accomplishments
Shelby had the wonderful opportunity to present her research on the restoration and preservation of the Colorado State Capitol at Colorado Preservation Inc.’s 2018 Saving Places Conference and on the Crawford Hill Mansion at their 2019 conference. Shelby's article on Louise Sneed Hill was published in the 2018 University of Colorado Historical Studies Journal and she also served as an assistant editor of the journal that year. An additional piece she wrote on the life of Louise Sneed Hill was published in the Spring 2019 issue of the Colorado Heritage magazine and she has 14 articles published in the Colorado Encyclopedia. She was a Coulter Scholarship winner for Fall of 2018 and served as Vice President of marketing and communications for the CU Denver chapter of the Golden Key International Honor Society 2018-2019. At the end of her year of service, Shelby received the outstanding officer of the year award from her chapter. In 2021, Shelby was awarded the Ward Family Prize in Public History from the University of Colorado.
In 2018, Shelby won the first ever Three Minute Thesis competition on the CU Denver campus! As the only masters candidate, Shelby went up against 4 PhD candidates and clinched the win.
Check out the video below to hear Shelby's winning presentation!
The Gilded Gentleman Podcast
Episode #108: Queen of Denver: The Life and Times of Louise Sneed Hill
The Gilded Age was by no means simply an East Coast phenomenon. Wealth, position, and social structure evolved across the country as railroads and improved technology pushed the country west. Denver, Colorado, grew from a “tavern town” at the foothills of the Rockies to an important Western center for commerce and society. Social Denver was largely ruled by the Southern-born Louise Sneed Hill whose very different and modern vision for how society could work paved a path for much more, including new and more modern roles for women.
Click the button below to tune in as Carl Raymond and I take a fascinating look into a true Western woman of the Gilded Age.