Miller and duPont Families Papers

Arthur Scott Miller, a Colorado pioneer and Denver businessman, was born November 13, 1848 and spent his early years in Michigan. By 1869, he was teaching school in Bowne, Michigan. In 1873, he moved to Buffalo, New York where he worked as a court reporter. Eventually, he split his time between Buffalo and Fort Wayne, Indiana where he met and married Louise Lytle. The two lived in the boarding house that Louise Lytle’s mother owned. Together they had three children, Irene, Lawrence, and Roland. Lawrence died the day of his birth. In 1880, Arthur decided that Denver, Colorado would be a good up-and-coming place to establish himself and raise his family. So he moved himself and, a few months later, his family. Unfortunately, Louise Miller died when the children were still babies. Nevertheless, Arthur Miller quickly built up a thriving real estate business and became a leader in Denver. Around 1900, he married Emma Combs, a member of the Round Table Literary Club and the Colorado Chapter of The Daughters of the American Revolution. Together they had two children, Victor and Marcella. Arthur Miller was a member of the Royal Arcanum.

Marcella Miller duPont, born September 9, 1903, was the daughter of Emma Combs Miller and Arthur Scott Miller. She attended Wolcott School in Denver and Smith College in Northhampton, Massachusetts. She married Alfred Victor duPont in 1924. They lived for many years in Wilmington, Delaware and were divorced in 1948. Her poetry, published in Sonnets and Lyrics in 1950 and Poems: Folio Two in 1956, reflects the influence of Edna St. Vincent Milay and Emily Dickinson.

Marcella Miller duPont attended Wolcott School for Girls from which she graduated in 1920. In a letter to Jane Gould of the University of Denver, Marcella duPont reminisced about her youth in New York: ''Your mentioning Frank Case reminded me of pre-War New York days when his daughter, Maggie Harriman, introduced me to her group, which included Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker, and a number of male New Yorker writers. As you can imagine, with these people there were conversational fireworks all the time that, by rights, should have touched off a major conflagration in the heart of New York City'' (from a letter to Jane Gould dated January 23, 1968).

In 1966, Marcella duPont wrote to the University of Denver about endowing a study room in the library to house her papers and her brother’s collection: ''In other words, what I visualize is a room where students or scholars could work in pleasant, comfortable surroundings…'' (from letter of June 8, 1966). On May 26, 1967, the room was dedicated in honor of her parents who, she said, ''contributed to what Denver is today and to what Colorado is today'' (May 26, 1967 at the dedication of the room). In numerous letters to University faculty, Marcella's enthusiastic devotion was always conspicuous. As she once wrote, ''remember that when I am far away, I am always thinking … of the Room'' (from a letter of June 22, 1967).

Marcella Miller duPont died September 17, 1985.

Victor A. Miller was born October 12, 1898 in Denver, Colorado to Emma and Arthur Miller. He was educated in Denver Public Schools and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Yale in 1919, though he took off a year to serve as a second lieutenant in World War II. He received his law degree from the University of Denver Law School in 1922 and was a longtime member of the American, Colorado, and Denver Bar Associations. In 1920, he married Helen Ludlow Bingham of Denver. Together they had three daughters, Caroline, Victoria, and Marcella. He married again on September 25, 1937 to Beatrice Anita Andrews. He opened a private law practice in 1922 and was successful to the point of being nominated Colorado Attorney General in 1930, a position which he did not accept. He and his half-brother Roland ran Miller Estates, founded by their father Arthur S. Miller. He was a receiver for the Rio Grande Southern Railroad from 1929 to 1938 and directed Kesto Corporation and other organizations. He pioneered light motor rail transportation and developed policies for maintaining narrow gauge lines in Colorado. A member of the Colorado Yale Association, he was also active in the American Legion and became Commander-Elect in 1928. He was also the founder and author of ''Reveille,'' a publication for the American Legion community.