Warwick Miller Downing Papers

Collection

Identifier: WH122

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

Collection contains Downing's legal correspondence (1902) and business correspondence, receipts and invoices (1901-1907); Downing Investment Company correspondence (1901-1938) and files related to various mining investments: correspondence, invoices, receipts, deeds, abstracts, certificates, financial statements (1894-1943); Downing family related correspondence, receipts, contracts, invoices, statements (ca.1900-1941). Included are additional records related to two oil companies for which Downing was a director: Great Divide Oil Company (founded 1916, dissolved 1920) and Primero Oil and Gas Company (founded 1916 as Paramount Oil and Gas Company, name changed 1917, dissolved 1920). Included are minutes (Nov. 14, 1916-Nov. 24, 1920), correspondence (1917-1919) from the Great Divide Oil Company; minutes (July 26, 1916-Jan. 2, 1917) for Paramount Oil and Gas Company; minutes (Jan. 11, 1917-1920 Nov. 26, 1920) for Primero Oil and Gas Company; and journal of accounts (July 26, 1916-Nov. 15, 1920) for Paramount/Primero. Warwick Downing award (2005); portrait of Daniel Moore Leet (1814-1900).

Dates

1842-2005

Conditions Governing Access

The collection is open for research.

Conditions Governing Use

All requests for permission to publish, reproduce, or quote from material in the collection should be discussed with the appropriate librarian or archivist. Permission for publication may be given on behalf of the Denver Public Library as the owner of the physical item. It is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which also must be obtained by the customer. The Library does not assume any responsibility for infringement of copyright or publication rights of the manuscript held by the writer, heirs, donors, or executors. Reproduction restrictions are decided on a case-by-case basis.

Biographical / Historical

Warwick Miller Downing was born on January 14, 1875 in McComb, Illinois, the son of James Mount Downing (1849-1908) and Ella Nellie Summers. He moved with his family to Denver, Colorado, in about 1890, where he graduated from Denver High School (1891) before receiving a law degree from the University of Michigan (LL.B. 1895). Downing and his father established the Downing Investment Company in Denver (circa 1897) specializing in mining and real estate. He also practiced as an attorney active in the oil and gas industry and as a director of two oil companies. Downing married Emma Aimme Leet (1873-1959) on October 12, 1897. Their son, Richard Edmund Downing (1898-1962) was also an attorney who worked with his father's firm. Warwick Miller Downing died in Denver, Colorado on April 22, 1964.