Wolle, Muriel Sibell, 1898-1977

Colorado author, artist, historian, and lecturer. Born April 3, 1898 Brooklyn, N.Y. Long-time resident of Colorado and art professor at University of Colorado. Died January 9, 1977 Boulder.

Muriel Sibell Wolle was a renowned artist and writer who captured pictorially and in words the spirit of hundreds of old mining towns and mining camps in the American West. Her paintings and sketches are held by many institutions, including the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, which owns 30. Wolle was born in 1898 in Brooklyn, NY, and graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, now Parsons School of Design, and New York University in 1920. She taught in New York and Texas before coming to CU-Boulder in 1926. She earned a Master's degree in Fine Arts there in 1930 and was on the Department of Fine Arts faculty from 1926 until her retirement in 1966. She served as department head from 1928 until 1947. Over her 40 years at CU, she won numerous awards, including designation by CU as one of three "Alumni of the Century" in 1976, the state's centennial year. In 1975 she received the Governor's Award for the Arts and Humanities. Wolle became interested in old mining towns on a visit to Central City soon after her arrival in Colorado in 1926. An accomplished artist, she originally planned to record the historic ghost towns in drawings and paintings. In 1932 she expanded her activities to include the history of the towns as well. She visited some 250 mining towns and camps across Colorado, many on foot or on horseback. Interviews with many old-timers added interesting details to her accounts. Her first publication, Ghost Cities of Colorado, was released in 1933, and Cloud Cities of Colorado followed in 1934. Her most famous work, Stampede to Timberline, first released in 1949, has undergone many printings; a revised and enlarged edition was released in 1974. This work is a colorful record of mining in Colorado, with many sketches of what remains, or what used to be, in the towns covered. Wolle also included many anecdotes about her visits and personal searches for the stories behind the places illustrated and described in her publications. Her later books, The Bonanza Trail and Montana Pay Dirt, released in 1953 and 1963, respectively, brought her skills to bear on mining history beyond Colorado. Wolle died in her Boulder home in early 1977.

Muriel Sibell (1898-1977) was born in Brooklyn, New York on April 3, 1898 and graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts in 1920 with diplomas in advertising and costume design. Her first teaching position was at the Texas State College for Women in Denton, Texas. In 1923, she returned to New York to teach as an instructor at the Parson School of Design until 1926. She received a B.S. in art education from NYU and an M.A. in English literature from the University of Colorado. She was the head of the Dept. of Fine Arts at the University of Colorado from 1927 to 1947. As an artist, her sketches and watercolors provide a record of the deserted mining towns and fast-disappearing communities of Colorado and the West. She became a nationally recognized author of books and articles on the history of the disappearing ghost towns which she also illustrated. She had a special interest in Southwestern Native American tribes and Native American artwork.

Muriel Sibell was also an important part of the theater community at the University of Colorado. She designed sets and costumes for many theater productions and preserved programs and photographs of these productions. In 1945, she married Francis Wolle, a professor of English at the University. They were members of St. Aidan's Church, and Muriel Sibell Wolle was very active in helping her husband after he became an ordained perpetual deacon of the Episcopal Church following his retirement in 1959. She was also active in numerous civic organizations and received many prizes and honors for her professional work. In 1947, she was chosen as the Research Lecturer for the University, the first woman to be so honored. In 1976, she was honored as the Alumni of the Century. Muriel Sibell Wolle died on January 9, 1977.

Muriel Sibell Wolle was a renowned artist and writer who captured pictorially and in words the spirit of hundreds of old mining towns and mining camps in the American West. Her paintings and sketches are held by many institutions, including the Denver Museum of Nature & Science, which owns 30.

Wolle was born in 1898 in Brooklyn, NY, and graduated from the New York School of Fine and Applied Arts, now Parsons School of Design, and New York University in 1920. She taught in New York and Texas before coming to CU-Boulder in 1926. She earned a Master's degree in Fine Arts there in 1930 and was on the Department of Fine Arts faculty from 1926 until her retirement in 1966. She served as department head from 1928 until 1947. Over her 40 years at CU, she won numerous awards, including designation by CU as one of three "Alumni of the Century" in 1976, the state's centennial year. In 1975 she received the Governor's Award for the Arts and Humanities.

Wolle became interested in old mining towns on a visit to Central City soon after her arrival in Colorado in 1926. An accomplished artist, she originally planned to record the historic ghost towns in drawings and paintings. In 1932 she expanded her activities to include the history of the towns as well. She visited some 250 mining towns and camps across Colorado, many on foot or on horseback. Interviews with many old-timers added interesting details to her accounts. Her first publication, Ghost Cities of Colorado, was released in 1933, and Cloud Cities of Colorado followed in 1934. Her most famous work, Stampede to Timberline, first released in 1949, has undergone many printings; a revised and enlarged edition was released in 1974. This work is a colorful record of mining in Colorado, with many sketches of what remains, or what used to be, in the towns covered. Wolle also included many anecdotes about her visits and personal searches for the stories behind the places illustrated and described in her publications. Her later books, The Bonanza Trail and Montana Pay Dirt, released in 1953 and 1963, respectively, brought her skills to bear on mining history beyond Colorado.

Wolle died in her Boulder home in early 1977.