Nederland Mining Museum and Assay Office Museum Master Interpretive Plans

Nederland Mining Museum, located in Nederland, Colorado and the Assay Office Museum, located in Four Mile Canyon offer rich opportunities to help unpack the importance of Boulder County’s mining heritage. The two locations are separated by a considerable distance, and in nearly all instances will not be visited together. Yet, they share a historical through line upon which various communities built the foundations of what is now Boulder County.

Studio Tectonic worked with Boulder County Open Space to develop a Museum Master Interpretive Plan for both institutions. The plan updates educational themes to better reflect a more inclusive human history of Boulder County using culturally relevant language, assesses current signage, exhibits, and training materials, and provides short and long-term goals for future educational content and exhibits. The Museum Master Interpretive Plan is not an original research document, however additional historical context has been included in specific instances at the request of the staff.

Neither the Nederland Mining Museum nor the Assay Office Museum has utilized an interpretive master plan in their current expression. As a foundational plan, this effort restructures the collection, exhibits, and interpretive methods in significant ways. While the collection and resources serve as the foundation, the interpretive plan uses them to weave a narrative storyline that works for self-directed visitation as well as tours and programs.