Colorful Coloradans Biographies

Biographies of important Coloradans featuring digitized sources from the Western History collection to provide young researchers with high quality, primary source material for their history projects. Ideal for 4th grade and up.

Florence Crannell Means Circa 1930

Florence Crannell Means (1891 - 1980)

Florence Crannell Means was a children's book author who was willing to learn about and write about marginalized groups when most did not. 

Enos Mills (1870 - 1922)

Writer, speaker, and conservationist best known as "The Father of Rocky Mountain National Park." 

Rachel Noel at DPS board meeting

Rachel Noel (1918 - 2008)

A pioneer in education, Rachel Noel helped integrate the Denver Public School system and provide equal opportunities to all Denver students. 

Noguchi Family (Denver Post Empire)

Noguchi Family

Colorado pioneers and women ahead of their time with roots in Japan.

Maurice Pate (1894-1965)

Maurice Pate grew up in Denver, went on to give aid to the victims of WWI and was an important founding member of UNICEF.

Otto Perry

Otto Perry (1894-1970)

Railroad photographer who predominantly photographed railroads in Colorado. He also took photos of railroads in all 48 continental United States. He was able to capture the history of railroads in the Rocky Mountains through his photography.

Studio portrait of Mrs. Leonel Ross Anthony O'Brien holding an umbrella with lace trim. She wears leather gloves and a dress with a pleated waist line, buttons, and lace collar.

Polly Pry (1857 - 1938)

Adventurous newspaper writer, gossip columnist, and social activist who became one of the first women to run her own newspaper. 

Bob Ragland Portrait

Bob Ragland (1938 - 2021)

Robert L. Ragland was a prolific artist who spent his life helping young artists make a living through art. 

Portrait of Daddy Bruce Randolph, African-American restaurateur and philanthropist, in (possibly) Denver, Colorado.

"Daddy" Bruce Randolph (1900 - 1994)

Bruce Randolph started a popular barbeque restaurant in Denver and went on to feed and serve those in need for decades.

Helen Rich (1894-1971)

Helen Rich was a bestselling author, a traveling writer and the first female journalist for the Colorado Springs Telegraph.