EDWARD HILLIARD, JR. PAPERS

Much of the collection consists of correspondence, publications, minutes, and other materials from the numerous organizations for which Ed Hilliard served as an officer or founding member. Because of the grassroots nature of many, and the lack of a letterhead in some, many organizations blend together in a way that makes it hard to identify which created a specific document. The remainder of the collection is mostly devoted to subject files on Western history and travel, railroads, and environmental conservation including the passage of the Wilderness Act.

The collection also includes obituaries of Ed Hilliard, personal material, and materials related to the law school career of Hugh Kingery, the Executive Director of the Conservation Council of Colorado. The items in the collection date from 1910 to 1991, with the majority between 1950 and 1970. The collection also contains undated material.

Beginning with a letter from the president of one railroad company to another asking permission for Ed Hilliard (aged 16) to travel in the "Empire Builder" locomotive, this series contains materials related to Hilliard's interest in railroad history. It includes information about the Rocky Mountain Railroad Club and other railroad organizations, correspondence, pictures, pamphlets and timetables.

Series two consists of materials from organizations devoted to Western history and travel, and subject files about Western history and the places that Ed and Joy Hilliard visited in Colorado and elsewhere. Organizational materials primarily generated from the Denver Posse of the Westerners include bylaws, correspondence, and notices of trips and events. The Westerners material also includes correspondence related to a project led by Hilliard in which members wrote book reviews about Western history. Subject files consist mainly of brochures and pamphlets about towns in Colorado including several inscribed to the Hilliards by Caroline Bancroft and other local historians.

Series three includes correspondence, minutes, publications, and other material from several of the conservation organizations in which Ed Hilliard played a leading role as well as the Colorado Game and Fish Commission, which worked closely with Hilliard on conservation issues. The Colorado Open Space Council, the Colorado Wilderness Committee (which later became the Wilderness Committee of Colorado), the Conservation Council of Colorado, the Colorado Game and Fish Commission, the Denver Chamber of Commerce Game and Fish Committee, and Operation Respect generated most of the material. This series also includes subject files on the Wilderness Act including grassroots letter writing campaigns and testimony at hearings held in Colorado and in Washington, D.C. The series also contains files on other conservation issues and events.

Series four consists mainly of obituaries and clippings related to Ed Hilliard's death and correspondence about awards, fellowships, and tributes to him. It also includes his living will, a catalog from his gun sight business with an article by him about conservation, and correspondence about his father's death.

Series five consists of a pyramid shaped award inscribed in Ed Hilliard's honor by the Colorado Outward Bound School.

Series six includes ¼ inch reel-to-reel recordings of the Colorado Open Space Conference held from August 30 through September 1, 1967.

Series seven includes maps, posters, brochures, and a reprint of a magazine article.