Jan MacKell Collins

Photo of Jan MacKell Collins
Location
Powers, OR
School
Saddleback Community College, University of Colorado at Colorado Springs
Expertise
Western history, Women's History with an emphasis on the prostitution industry
  • Jan has authored and co-authored seventeen books with University of New Mexico Press, Arcadia Publishing, The History Press and Globe Pequot Publishing. She has done numerous programs, television appearances, and radio interviews in Arizona, Colorado, California, New Mexico and Oregon. In 2015, she appeared on TruTV's "Adam Ruins Everything" as a "history expert" on the subject of historical prostitution.
  • Jan has also written thousands of articles for True West Magazine, Backwoods Magazine, Colorado Central Magazine, The Frontier Gazette, Legends Magazine, The Colorado Gambler's history section, Backwoods Home Magazine, Grunge, and more.
  • She also has experience in media, producing, researching and writing Voices of Cripple Creek, Phenix Rising: Historic Buildings of Cripple Creek, The Timeless Art of Gold Extraction, and an upcoming series for television.

Experience

Jan has enjoyed working in the history field for over thirty years. It has been her immense pleasure to bring madams and prostitutes of the past to the forefront as women who contributed heavily to the formation of the frontier west. She is a former Historic Preservation Commissioner for the City of Cripple Creek, Colorado, and former Director of the Cripple Creek District Museum and Old Homestead Parlor House Museum. Currently she is a member of the Historic Preservation committee for the City of Powers, Oregon and has maintained social media sites for Sharlot Hall Museum in Arizona and the Lowell Thomas Museum in Victor, Colorado. Jan also owned and operated the Cripple Creek Music Company, as an agent for both musicians and the public houses where they played. Jan enjoys working with independent researchers, museums, libraries, government entities, and other institutions to discover, interpret and share the history of the American West.

Education

At Saddleback Community College, Jan studied English and Journalism before moving to Colorado Springs, where she attended the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to study Mass Communications. She has also studied independently with professors within her field to hone her non-fiction and creative writing skills, as well as her expertise in history.

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Stories By Jan MacKell Collins

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