BENJAMIN DRAPER PAPERS

Although born on July 10, 1907, in Hot Springs County, Arkansas, Benjamin Poff Draper considered himself a Colorado native. After his mother, Lillian Poff Draper, died in 1914, Benjamin Draper and his father, William Eliot Draper, moved to Denver, Colorado. Benjamin Draper attended Hyde Park School and Manual Training High School in Denver. He graduated from the University of Denver with a B.A. in speech and drama. Later, he received his Master's in English literature from the same institution. Benjamin Draper earned a Ph.D. in economics from Chicago University and a Ph.D. in theater from the University of Denver.

Benjamin Draper's interest in theater began as a member of the Child Players in 1917. He and his sister performed as extras in Robert B. Mantel's production of Julius Caesar at the old Broadway Theatre in Denver. From 1929-1936, Benjamin Draper held the position of stage manager at the University Civic Theatre, which later became the Bonfils Theatre. As assistant to Ida Kruse McFarlane and Anne Evans at the Central City Festival in the 1930s, he began his initial research into the history of Colorado theaters.

During his high school and college years, Benjamin Draper began his employment with the city of Denver as a messenger boy in the state auditor's office. After his graduation from the University of Denver in 1928, he worked as a payroll auditor and then received a promotion to a position in the mayor's office. In 1936, he moved to Illinois in order to pursue a doctoral degree in economics. World War II interrupted his studies and he became economic advisor to the United States military government. Benjamin Draper served as a Coast Guardsman; he also pursued careers as a writer, a researcher, a historian, a bibliographer, a playwright, an award-winning poet and a pioneer TV producer and scriptwriter.

In 1946, Benjamin Draper ran for the position of State Representative for Clear Creek, Eagle, Gilpin, Summit and Pitkin Counties. In 1947, he met and married Barbara McCracken. In 1948, he received an appointment as Director of the Colorado Resources Development Council and he was President of Georgetown Enterprises, Inc., an organization formed for the purpose of restoration of the famous mining town.

After relocating to California in 1949, Benjamin Draper began working for the National Broadcasting Company as an executive producer. For the California Academy of Sciences, he founded and produced the San Francisco Bay area TV series entitled Science in Action. The series won several Emmy awards and the Payne Communications Award. While a professor of broadcast communications at San Francisco State University, he earned an Emmy for his efforts in facilitating the Broadcast Industry Conference.

In 1958, Benjamin Draper won the Westinghouse History Award for his TV show about Sir Francis Drake. Following this award, he became a member of the Drake Navigators Guild and in 1959, he won the Browning Society Award for his dramatic monologue on Sir Francis Drake. Benjamin Draper spent twenty years compiling a bibliography on Drake's voyage. In conjunction with Assemblyman William Bagley, Senator Peter Behr and the California Governor's office, he was progenitor of the bill that created the Sir Francis Drake Commission.

In June 1972, Benjamin Poff Draper presented his Colorado Theater Collection to the Western History Department of the Denver Public Library. His doctoral dissertation, Colorado Theatres 1859-1969, details 1,537 theater structures in Colorado and relates their histories to 517 different communities.

Benjamin Poff Draper died of a heart attack on the 73rd anniversary of his birth, July 10, 1980.