Ed Horvat grew up a couple of blocks from the Animas Museum at West Second Avenue and 31st Street, where his nearby grandparents lived in a house he says was constructed by Violet Smith from lumber repurposed from a downtown Durango hotel.

Horvat’s grandfather had left Slovenia in 1908 and in 1911 was working at one of Durango’s smelters.

After a career in health care, much of that time at San Juan Regional Medical Center in Farmington, Horvat spends time at the Animas Museum scanning and sorting its extensive photo collections. When he sees one that Herald readers might enjoy, it appears in our “And the West is History” column, which runs every Saturday in the Community section.

Horvat, 67, began providing the photos and giving them their all-important context in April 2019. By his count, about 160 have appeared during the three years. His effort, he says, is to always offer a photo that likely has not been seen by those living today.

And while the museum has a lot of historical photos, Horvat suspects that local families might have photos that should be in the museum. If so, contact Horvat at the museum.

Local history is always of interest, and Horvat’s selections are a welcome addition to Herald readers’ understanding of what came before in this community.

– Richard G. Ballantine