Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1969-1991 (Creation)
Level of description
Extent and medium
3.42 linear feet (3 records boxes, 1 document case) photographs
Context area
Name of creator
Administrative history
Beginning in 1971, the Florence and Geraldine Fenn Scholarship was offered to students in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences. Geraldine Fenn had created this scholarship as a memorial to her sister Florence.
The scholarship offers students an opportunity to learn about other ways of life by spending six weeks living and working in inner city Denver. The students were given a limited amount of money to use for their expenses to teach them about low-income lifestyles. They were required to find their own housing and learn to use the Denver bus system. The students generally worked for the Denver welfare office and various shelters and daycare in the city. The scholarship was usually given to two to four students per summer.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Content and structure area
Scope and content
The Florence and Geraldine Fenn Inner-City Scholarship collection documents the administration of the scholarship and the experiences of student participants from 1969 to 1991. Background materials include historical information on the scholarship, biographical information on Geraldine Fenn, correspondence, clippings, and Fenn Scholar biographical files. The bulk of the collection consists of materials created by individual scholars or groups of scholars between 1971 and 1991 during their six week residence in Denver, Colorado.
The collection is composed of scrapbooks, journals, photographs, and related materials documenting participants’ work and living experiences. Included are photographs of Fenn Scholars and their work sites, weekly expense sheets, itineraries, personal journals, newspaper clippings, and brochures from Denver locations. The materials were originally arranged in scrapbooks, which were dismantled for preservation purposes. Photographs were transferred to the University Archives Photograph Archives, and scrapbook ephemera were placed in separate folders. Three scrapbooks dating from 1989 to 1991 were retained in their original condition as examples.