This collection contains the correspondence of Harold J. Cook, who in the 1920s was Curator of Paleontology at the Colorado Museum of Natural History (CMNH) (now the Denver Museum of Nature & Science). The Cook collection also contains records relating to Miocene mammal fossils found on Cook's ranch in Nebraska. The first part of the Cook collection is contained in 20 file folders in a 5 x 15.5 x 10-inch box. It includes 1924 correspondence relating to fossils between Cook and Jesse Figgins, then director of the CMNH; later correspondence dating from Cook's tenure as curator, assessing various people's fossil finds; correspondence between Cook and officials at other museums, including the Smithsonian and the Field Museum in Chicago; and correspondence between Cook and government officials regarding the Museum's efforts to secure permits for exploration in New Mexico. The second part of the Cook collection includes 46 files in a 12.5 x 15.5 x 10-inch box. Most of this material consists of field notes, paleontological reports, correspondence, publicity samples and other papers related to various field trips and exhibits. Among the items in this part of the collection are materials related to efforts to get the stegosaurus nominated as Colorado's state fossil and related publicity (the effort was successful). The materials in this collection date from 1926 to 1987. The third part of the collection dates from 1964 to 1988 and consists of copies of paleontological permits, memos, correspondence, site-specific papers and letters referencing specific fossils and specimens.
