Time Machine Tuesday: Colorado Biographies

Genealogists and others looking for biographical information on Coloradans from earlier than 1927 should view volumes 4 and 5 of the State Historical Society’s History of Colorado, which has been digitized by our library. These final two volumes of the five-volume set are filled with hundreds of biographies on Coloradans. While many of these biographies do tend to feature the wealthier members of society, there are also many middle-class persons featured. Glancing through, I found biographies of teachers, insurance salesmen, and engineers mixed in with businessmen, politicians, and pioneers. Many women are also included, such as Dr. Mary Elizabeth Bates, the first female intern at Cook County Hospital in Chicago who practiced for more than thirty years in Denver, and Fannie Ellen Arnett, postmistress of the town of Peetz in Logan County.

Besides the History of Colorado, our library has many other resources where you can find biographies of Coloradans. Colorado Magazine contains numerous biographies, including the tales of many early settlers. They also published a series of biographies on Colorado first ladies. For bios of Colorado governors, head to State Archives.

We also have in our collection numerous biography books from the University Press of Colorado, the Colorado Historical Society, and the state universities. Colorado Profiles from University Press of Colorado provides short bios on many colorful Coloradans. We also have standalone biographies on such individuals as Wayne Aspinall, Arthur Carhart, Herndon Davis, S.R. DeBoer, Thomas Hornsby Ferril, Irene Jerome Hood, William Henry Jackson, Enos Mills, George Norlin, John Otto, Thomas M. Patterson, Helen Ring Robinson, Henry M. Teller, Horace Tabor, Thomas Walsh, Edward Wynkoop, and many others. Also, be sure to check out the biographies of famous Coloradans featured in the Colorado Virtual Library.