Leah Davis Witherow is the 2024 Employee of the Year for the Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services Department. She earned this recognition for her extraordinary efforts to preserve the museum’s collections and reimagine its exhibits, during the extensive and disruptive construction project at the 1903 El Paso County Courthouse.
Over a period of eighteen months Leah guided her team through a project to update the failing HVAC system and expand exhibition space for the first time in nearly forty years. This was a once in a career effort. To accomplish the project the existing exhibits and artifacts in the 1903 courthouse had to be carefully dismantled or moved into secure storage. In order to continue serving the public during the closure of the main building, a new, temporary gallery space in Plaza of the Rockies was created with brand new exhibits. Imagine how hard it is to move the family treasures. Then multiply that by a city’s rich history of over 150 years!
Read "Retrospect: The CSPM Annex"
As contractors finished working in parts of the building, Leah focused her team on an ambitious goal of creating three new exhibits, including a women’s art exhibit, 50% of the Story: Women Expressing Creativity, that is the first of its kind in Colorado. This exhibit displays historic and contemporary works side-by-side and in conversation with each other. Women’s art is significantly underrepresented our nation’s museum, and Leah addressed this by adding dozens of new pieces to the CSPM collection. She also created Accessorize It! the new exhibit in the renovated Division III Courtroom that’s been closed to the public since the 1970s. She and her team also created a new children’s exhibit, Camping in the Rockies, and a publicly accessible collections workspace. This workshop space allows visitors to engage with museum professional and observe their work on artifacts. Through her efforts, over 840 additional artifacts are now on display compared to before the closure. Leah’s work required an outstanding level of dedication and patience, and she handled it with determination and grace. The top priority for the Parks, Recreation, and Cultural Services is to “take care of what we have.” Leah embodied that goal by going above and beyond to preserve the CSPM collection, make more of it available to the public, and to share new storied in new ways. For this incredible effort she is the 2024 Employee of the Year.
Matt Mayberry, CSPM Director
719.385.5636 | Matt.mayberry@coloradosprings.gov