Lillian Bracken Family Papers

Blair-Caldwell
African American Research Library
Denver Public Library
2003

Scope and Content Note | Container List

Scope and Content Note

The Lillian Bracken Family Papers contain materials that relate to members of this black family that moved from Akron, Ohio and settled in Boulder, Colorado during the 1940s. (The family moved to Denver in 1951.) Included are newspaper clippings and photographs that relate to Lillian Sherman, the matriarch of the family. Most of the photographs date to the 1940s. The newspaper clippings come mainly from the 1980s. Also, there exists World War II correspondence from Sherman’s brother, George. Other pieces of correspondence appear in the form of congratulatory accolades from Colorado dignitaries for reaching 90 and 100 years of age.

Lillian Bracken, the donor of these papers and daughter of Lillian Sherman, received many personalized photographs of the acts that played at the Rossonian – her place of employment. These photographs, along with awards and certificates for community activism, and journalistic pieces she wrote for the Denver Weekly News, also appear.

These papers chronicle the activities of other family members – a grandson winning a BMX race, some brothers forming a basketball team call the Hottentots, and children prevailing in beauty pageants – and their business ventures in the Five Points Neighborhood.

Contained within is a miscellaneous section of newspaper clips that highlight members or friends of the Bracken/Sherman Family. One such example appears in the form of Jim Jones’s 1978 Guyana tragedy that took the life of Lois Hilburn, Lillian Bracken’s friend. Another includes a 1924 telegram sent by George Morrison, a renowned Five Points-based musician.

Photocopies dominate the collection.

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