Ms. Destiny

Throughout history Colorado women have forged opportunity out of scarcity as they created lives they desired. The Center for Colorado Women’s History newest exhibition Ms. Destiny highlights the stories of seven unique and resilient Colorado women who took fate into their hands, overcame barriers, and defined their realities.

Through the lenses of relationship, financial access and occupation, and presentation, Ms. Destiny explores the self-determination and tenacity of women in the Centennial State.

How to see Ms. Destiny: Visitors can experience Ms. Destiny with purchase of a General Admission ticket to the museum, available anytime during our public hours. General Admission permits visitors self-guided access to the first floor of the museum.

Ms. Destiny is also viewable on the docent-led Women’s History Tour, though visitors should expect the focus of the tour to be women’s history more broadly.

Among the women highlighted in Ms. Destiny are:

The beautiful and alluring Elizabeth “Baby Doe” Tabor, who married a wealthy silver baron and, following the silver crash of 1893, became known as the “mad-woman” of Leadville
The resilient and diplomatic Chipeta (Kiowa Apache/Uncompahgre Ute), who spent two decades advocating for peace in the face of Anglo-European expansion into Ute homelands
The perseverant and stylish Katherine McHale Slaughterback — better known as “Rattlesnake Kate” — who utilized her versatile skill-set and spirited nature to challenge social expectations
And the valiant and determined Cathay Williams, who cut her hair short, took a man’s name, and became the only woman to serve in the all Black Buffalo Soldier regiments

“By including women from different time periods and backgrounds we are able to represent the scope of challenges and obstacles Colorado women have overcome,” Fries said. “We hope that within the multifaceted and intersectional stories of these women visitors will see themselves and ask ‘what would I do to control my destiny?’”

Included in the remarkable artifacts displayed in Ms. Destiny is perhaps the most requested object in History Colorado’s Collection: “Baby Doe” Tabor’s wedding dress.

Created in 1883 for a queenly-sum of $7,000 — nearly $250,000 today — this dress was one of the few traces of opulence that “Baby Doe” was able to keep following her and her husband’s catastrophic fall for wealth. Off display for more than fifteen years, “Baby Doe’s” dress was carefully restored for inclusion in Ms. Destiny. It will be at center stage alongside a number of rarely, or never before, displayed objects related to Colorado women’s history.

“It is one thing to hear the stories that represent the lives and work of remarkable women in Colorado’s past and present. In this exhibit we also see artifacts which bore witness to the fortitude, ingenuity, and unwavering spirit of these women,” Fries said.

Ms. Destiny opens at the Center for Colorado Women’s History on April 4, 2025. The Center for Colorado Women’s History is located at 1310 Bannock Street, Denver, CO, and is open Monday through Saturday, 10 a.m. – 4 p.m., and Sundays from 12 p.m. – 4 p.m. General admission for kids 18 and under is free every day.