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Colorado College

private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionSep 9, 2026
Entity authorityQ1111261
Source-derived summary

Colorado College is a private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. Founded in 1874 by Thomas Nelson Haskell in his daughter's memory, the college offers over 40 majors and 30 minors, and enrolls approximately 2,000 undergraduates at its 90-acre (36 ha) campus.

Colorado College is a member of the Associated Colleges of the Midwest, and is a QuestBridge partner. Notable alumni include Diana DeGette, Liz Cheney, Dutch Clark, Thomas Hornsby Ferril, James Heckman, Steve Sabol, Ken Salazar, and Marc Webb. Most of the university's varsity sports teams compete in NCAA Division III, with the exception of Division I teams in men's hockey and women's soccer.

History

Colorado College was founded in 1874 on land designated by U.S. Civil War veteran General William Jackson Palmer, the founder of the Denver and Rio Grande Railroad and of Colorado Springs. Founder Thomas Nelson Haskell of the Presbyterian Church described it as a coeducational liberal arts college in the tradition of Oberlin College. As many U.S. colleges and universities that have endured from the 19th century, it now is secular in outlook but retains its focus on the liberal arts.

Cutler Hall, the college's first building, was completed in 1880 and the first degrees were conferred in 1882.

William F. Slocum, president from 1888 to 1917, oversaw the initial building of the campus, expanded the library and recruited top scholars in a number of fields.

Editorial summary

This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “Colorado College” as private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.

Editorial reviewA concise reference frame for defining the subject, testing terminology and identifying the institution closest to the evidence. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1874, 1880, 1882, 1888—that can be checked directly. The linked authority record independently contributes the date 1874. The account is most persuasive where Colorado, College and private can be independently traced.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as private liberal arts college in Colorado Springs, Colorado, United States. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.

Evidence profile

Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 9, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q1111261. VIAF identifies the subject as 126152457. The Library of Congress control number is n79079613. Authority coordinates are 38.849, -104.825. 2 of 5 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1874, 1880, 1882 and 1888.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Colorado College”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Colorado College primary sources, Colorado College archive and Colorado research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

  1. Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “Colorado College”?
  2. What terminology or title could unlock a more precise catalogue search?
  3. Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from Colorado College” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.