Shelby Neuhauser

Biography

Background

My current research seeks to isolate and redefine a generation of British and American women from 1870-1914. My work intends to join ongoing conversations in women’s history surrounding Victorianism, femininity, female power, visibility, economic capabilities, and propose new terminology intended to deepen our understanding of a generation of women who were previously imprecisely grouped under blanket terms.

My graduate work at the University of Colorado focused heavily on American women and their embracement of mass media and celebrity culture at the turn of the twentieth century. I have published research with History Colorado, lectured to the Daughters of the American Revolution and the Colonial Dames of America — for whose 2020 Fall Benefit I served as keynote speaker — and presented at the University of Colorado's Rocky Mountain Interdisciplinary History Conference and Colorado Preservation Inc.'s Saving Places Conference. I have also written numerous articles for the Colorado Encyclopedia and served as head editor of the University of Colorado's Historical Studies Journal. My first book, The Queen of Denver, was published in 2020. 

I believe in the importance and power of public history. I gained experience in positioning historic events in a way that was digestible for broad audiences while interning as a speechwriter at the Colorado State Capitol for former Governor Hickenlooper. During my time in museum operations at the Center for Colorado Women's History at Byers-Evans House Museum, I saw daily how we as historians can make women's history come alive for schoolchildren and adults alike. 

I seek to further collaborate with museums, popular entities,  podcasts, and others to bring topics in history to wider audiences. 

Qualifications

MA, History, University of Colorado Denver (2019)

Graduate Certificate in Historic Preservation, University of Colorado Denver (2019)

Certificate in Genealogical Research, Boston University (2018)

BA , History, magna cum laude,  University of Colorado (2016)

Responsibilities & affiliations

The Society of Daughters of Holland Dames - Board Member 

Daughters of the American Revolution, Mary Washington Colonial Chapter - 2nd Vice Regent, Board Member

Undergraduate teaching

Previous TA experience:

First Person America - Temple University (2022)

Philadelphia Arts and Culture - Temple University (2022)

Social Movements 20th Century - University of Colorado Denver (2019)

Current research interests

Women; Femininity; Celebrity; Media;

Invited speaker

The Colonial Dames of America Fall Benefit keynote speaker, October 2020

  • The Queen of Denver: Louise Sneed Hill and the Emergence of Modern High Society

Center for Colorado Women’s History at the Byers-Evans House Guest Lecturer, September 2019

  • Colorado Women Lecture: Louise Sneed Hill

Papers delivered

University of Colorado at Boulder Rocky Mountain Interdisciplinary History Conference 2019

  • Women in the West panel – “The Mythical Dowager Queen or the Modern, Forward-Thinker: Changing the Narrative of Louise Sneed Hill and Gilded Age Denver’s Sacred Thirty-Six”

Colorado Preservation Inc.’s 2019 Saving Places Conference

  • Graduate Student Speaker – “The Crawford Hill Mansion”

The Denver Posse of Westerners Guest Speaker, September 2018

  • “The Dazzling Doyenne of Gilded Age Denver: Louise Sneed Hill”

Colorado Preservation Inc.’s 2018 Saving Places Conference

  • Graduate Student Speaker – “The Colorado State Capitol: Restoring and Preserving the Heart of the State”

In the press

The Gilded Gentleman Podcast, June 2025

  • Episode 108: Queen of Denver: The Life and Times of Louise Sneed Hill

The Ordinary, Extraordinary Cemetery Podcast, March 2024

  • Episode 177 - Unveiling the True Legacy of Louise Sneed Hill

The Queen of Denver: Louise Sneed Hill and the Emergence of Modern High

Society. Charleston, SC: The History Press, 2020.

 

With Tom Noel. Charlie Davis Vail: The Highway Engineer Who Transformed

Colorado Roads. Denver, CO: Colorado Studies Center at University of Colorado Denver, 2019.

 

"The Most Famous Hostess You’ve Never Heard Of: The story of Ida Stingley Newhouse, once the darling of high society on two continents—now all but vanished from the history books,"  The Colorado Magazine, 8 May 2026. https://www.historycolorado.org/story/2026/05/08/most-famous-hostess-youve-never-heard

 

“The Rule of Three: Untangling a century of salacious gossip and discovering the real

relationship between Bulkeley Wells, Louise Sneed Hill, and Crawford Hill,” The Colorado Magazine, 20 Nov. 2025. https://www.historycolorado.org/story/2025/11/20/rule-three

The Ward Family Prize in Public History, University of Colorado (2021)

3 Minute Thesis competition winner, University of Colorado Denver (main campus), (2018)

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