Ferril, Will C.

The Colorado Historical Society was founded in 1879 as the State Historical and Natural History Society of Colorado (SHNHSC). Its first curator and, at first, its sole employee was Will C. Ferril, an avid collector of artifacts and, apparently, a naturalist with an interest in birds. Ferril, who is known among other things for amassing a large collection of Spanish-American War artifacts for the historical society, kept ornithology accession records that later came to the Colorado Museum of Natural History, now the Denver Museum of Nature & Science.