Disclaimer: the Center of Southwest Studies has no connection with the Ku Klux Klan.  The records described by this inventory are maintained at the Center because the Center is a cultural repository for records and photos and books about the Southwest.  The Center's mission includes preserving and making available all types of materials that document life in this region over time.  The Center has no association with the views and perspectives of the KKK.

Years this material was created: 1921-1992 (bulk dates 1921-1928)
Quantity: 1.5 linear shelf feet (in 2 document cases and 1 flat box)

Introduction/ Scope and contents

This collection contains the historically significant records retained from activities of the Ku Klux Klan in Bayfield (Colo.) -- specifically, the Pine River Klan #69 of Colorado -- in the 1920s.  Due to the sensitive nature of this material, it was segregated into two boxes.  All of the documents are now available for the use of the researcher.  Box 1 contains printed materials pertaining to the Klan in general.  Box 2 was closed for research until July 1, 2002, due to the Center of Southwest Studies' General Restriction Policy (SW-2) which states that the Center will not provide access to "materials containing information, the disclosure of which would constitute a clearly unwarranted invasion of personal privacy or a libel of a living person."  On February 20, 2002 the staff of the Center of Southwest Studies agreed to open this second box, containing Bayfield Ku Klux Klan records (i.e., those with names on them), effective July 1, 2002 (i.e., 72 years after the date of the last document in the collection; this is the same privacy period as for U.S. census population schedules).  The box is available for research -- not to satisfy casual curiosity but for actual research.   The third box in the collection is a flat box containing just two folders: three issues of  The Durango (Colo.) Klansman, published monthly, Volume 1, Numbers 2-4, May-August 1925.  Some of the printed materials, particularly those in Box 1, folder 8, are still laminated, a former procedure which was done to them before those items were placed on display for years at the Center of Southwest Studies prior to about 1990.

Access terms:
Ku Klux Klan
Colorado Knights of the Ku Klux Klan. Pine River Klan #69
White supremacy movements--Colorado--La Plata County
White Citizens councils--Colorado--Bayfield
Social movements--Colorado--Bayfield
Bayfield (Colo.)--Clubs

Historical note

Views of the former Akers Motor Co., next to the Bayfield Town Hall.  Photos taken July 2003 by Tom and Paula Wiseman.  Accession 2003:08014.

Histories of the Ku Klux Klan are readily available elsewhere -- including an article by Fort Lewis College Professor Duane Smith about the Bayfield Klan in the Autumn 2005 issue of Colorado Heritage by the Colorado Historical Society.  A recently published book about the Klan in general is Setting the Record Straight: American History in Black & White, by David Barton (Aledo, Tex." WallBuilder Press, 2004; ISBN 1932225277).  Bob Unruh, in a review of this book, states that "The original targets of the Ku Klux Klan were Republicans, both black and white, according to a new television program and book, which describe how the Democrats started the KKK and for decades harassed the GOP with lynchings and threats. An estimated 3,446 blacks and 1,297 whites died at the end of KKK ropes from 1882 to 1964." (Source: "KKK's 1st targets were Republicans: Dems credited with starting group that attacked both blacks and whites", online article viewed 10/25/2007 at WorldNetDaily.com.)

Various conjectures pertaining to the local Bayfield Colorado chapter include a statement that the Bayfield Klan was more a social club than a sinister secret organization; that businesses owned by Klan members used three Ks in their titles, and that members (not just in this region, and not necessarily in this region) who were Klan members showed it by placing their thumb and little finger in a pants pocket and leaving the middle three sticking out.

Administrative information

About the organization of this collection:  Materials in this collection are arranged by series.  The series are numbered consecutively.  Because we do not expect to add to this collection, the boxes are numbered in one single numbering scheme starting with 1.  Folder numbers start with 1 in each box.  Items within each series (e.g., correspondence, reports) and within each folder are arranged chronologically, unless noted otherwise.

Acquisition of this collection:  These records apparently were found by Jeff Bryson (the donor) in a locked box in a building at 325 Mill Street in Bayfield.   The building was formerly occupied by Akers Motor Company. Clyde W. Akers was Klingrapp (Secretary) for the Pine River Klan #69 of Colorado.  It has been said orally that the records were found during renovations of the upstairs living apartments of what is now the Locomotion auto repair shop.  The accession number is 1984:02001.  Appended to that accession is accession 1998:12005, a student paper on "The Ku Klux Klan and Religion" written by Fort Lewis College English Department student Eric Hammell, 12/1998, and printouts from the Web which he used for his paper in ENG 317 (White Trash Poetics).

Processing information:  This collection was arranged and described by Todd Ellison, Archivist, Center of Southwest Studies.  No records were deaccessioned or removed during the processing of this collection.  Ellison prepared this inventory in April, 1998; it was last updated in October, 2007.  The entire collection was microfilmed in January of 2004, by QC Microfilm Systems (Durango, Colo.), on film size 16mm (all on 1 roll), using a reduction ratio of 24X or (larger pages) 32X.  The microfilm project was funded by the Fryer-Levitt project on The Economics of Hatred. 

Related collection: The Center of Southwest Studies also has a Ku Klux Klan artifacts collection (collection F 012, comprised of accession numbers 1988:09001 and 1988:11004), donated anonymously in 1988, consisting of clothing (such as Ku Klux Klan hoods and robe) and paraphernalia (a wooden cross with holes for candles).  To access those and any other artifacts in the Center's holdings, please contact the Curator.

Series descriptions

1. Knights of the Ku Klux Klan printed materials, ca. 192- and 1991.  Arrangement is chronological.

2. Pine River Klan #69 of Colorado Knights of the Ku Klux Klan records, 192-.  Arrangement is chronological.

Container list

Box 1     Printed materials, in 15 folders:

Folder 1         Knights of the Ku Klux Klan constitution and bylaws, 1921.  Two different covers. 19x of the same small volume.

Folder 2         The Practice of Klanishness: First lesson in the science and art of Klankraft, booklet, 1924. 2x

Folder 3         Imperial Commander Robbie Gill Comer, address, 1926 Sept. 14.  2x.

Folder 4         Klode card, [ca. 192-]. 8x. Opening and closing rituals.

Folder 5         Non silba sed anthar cards, [ca. 192-] (blank).  For members' oaths to the Klan.

Folder 6         Knights of the Great Forest membership card receipt booklets, [ca. 192-].  3 packets of identical forms.

Folder 7         Klan regalia order forms (blank), [ca. 192-].  4 packets of identical forms.

Folder 8         National Emblem Company (Omaha, Neb.), printed materials, [ca. 192-].

Folder 9         Empire Mutual Life Insurance Company (Washington, D.C.), printed materials, [ca. 192-].

Folder 10         A search-light on the Ku Klux Klan, leaflet / by The Internationals (Costa Mesa, Calif.), [undated, ca. 192-?].  1 page, two-sided.

Folder 11         Ku Klux Klan history, articles: (1) The Klan in Colorado/ by Judge O. Otto Moore (Rocky Mountain News, Sunday, April 29, 1979, Denver, Colo., pages 62 and 63.  (2) Brotherhood of Horse Whisperers: The Horseman's World/ by Archie McKerracher (The Highlander: The Magazine of Scottish Heritage, Jan./Feb. 1989, pages 1, 54-58).

Folder 12         Klan evidence is uncovered in Bayfield, article/ by Joel Millman (Durango Herald, Feb. 8, 1984, page 11).

Folder 13         Knights of the Ku Klux Klan calling card, [ca. 1991].  Distributed at the Fort Lewis College campus in the fall of 1991 at about the time of Shawn Slater's speaking appearance.

Folder 14         Ku Klux Klan spokesman Shawn Slater's speaking appearance at Fort Lewis College (Durango, Colorado), printed materials, 1991-1992.  Includes Dick Ellis's red laminated media access pass, news articles on the event in The Messenger (Fort Lewis College Faculty-Staff Bulletin, Dec. 16, 1991 and March 2, 1992), The Independent (Fort Lewis College student newspaper, Dec. 6, 1991), Bobcat Post (Ignacio High School student newspaper, March 31, 1992, which includes the newspaper's interview with Shawn Slater), a mimeographed page dated Dec. 9, 1991 signed by 22 Fort Lewis College faculty about a faculty forum the next day on the issue, and a one-page flyer by the Klan announcing an Abolish the King Holiday Rally on Jan. 20, 1992 in Denver.

Folder 15         The Ku Klux Klan and religion, student paper / by Eric Hammell, December 1998, written for White Trash Poetics (ENGL 317) class, English Department, Fort Lewis College (accession #1998:12005], 13 pages.  Plus his printouts from Website information on the Klan.

Folder 16          Color photo page of a seal at the Notah Dineh Museum, Cortex, that prints out an embossed stamp reading "Women of the Ku Klux Klan Kolorado Kolumbine Klan No. 6, Mancos, Colo."

Box 2    Pine River Klan #69 records, in 18 folders:

            Folder 1            Notices and bulletins, 1925-1928 / by Grand Dragon, Realm of Colorado.         

            Folder 2            Kligrapp’s quarterly reports, 1925-1927.

            Folder 3            Resolutions adopted, 1925 Feb. 10 – 1926 March 25.

            Folder 4            Memos and correspondence, 1927 July 25 – 1928 December 3.

            Folder 5            Clyde W. Akers, letters and correspondence, 1925-1928.

            Folder 6            Forrest S. Graves, correspondence, 1925.

            Folder 7            Membership dues and subscriptions records, 1925-1927.

            Folder 8            Applications for citizenship, 1925-1928.

            Folder 9            Membership applications, 1925.

            Folder 10            Membership transfer forms, 1925-1926.

            Folder 11            Non Silba Sed Anthar cards, named, 1925-1928.

            Folder 12            Objections to memberships and petitions for banishments.

            Folder 13            Klan membership tickets, 1928.

            Folder 14            Donation certificates and receipts, 1928.

            Folder 15            Various documents, 1926 and 1929-1930.

            Folder 16            Voters list, 1926 July 30.

            Folder 17            Klabee receipt book, undated (ca. 1920s).

            Folder 18            Harold R. Phelps, reminiscence letter, 1990 Oct. 3.

Box 3    The Durango (Colo.) Klansman newspaper, in 2 folders:

            Folder 1           Volume 1, Numbers 2-4, May-August 1925 (three issues, published monthly)  Copy #1; photocopies only.

            Folder 2           Volume 1, Numbers 2-4, May-August 1925 (three issues, published monthly)  Copy #2.  Includes the original of No. 3 and photocopies of all three issues.

This collection is located at the Center of Southwest Studies on the campus of Fort Lewis College. Researchers wanting more information about using this material at the Center or purchasing a duplicate copy of the roll of microfilm of this collection may email the archivist at archives@fortlewis.edu or click here to use our E-mail Reference Request Form (or phone the archivist at 970/247-7126).  The Center does not have a budget for outgoing long-distance phone calls to answer reference requests, so please email if you wish to receive a response from the Center.  To request reproductions/copies, click here for instructions.

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