Mildred Nilon

Nancy Mildred Nilon (July 26, 1920 – September 30, 2017) was the University of Colorado Boulder (CU)’s first African American librarian.

She took a position teaching but did not enjoy it, so she returned to school and obtained a master's degree at Atlanta University in library science.

CU asked her to return in the fall of 1962 to work in the library's General Reference and Interlibrary Loans section.

Soon after arriving in town the Nilons tried to buy a house outside of the Goss/Grove area which was Boulder's “Black ghetto” at the time.

It is designated for students who are “committed to advancing educational opportunities in under-resourced schools, especially those that serve African American communities.”[1][3] Mildred Nilon died September 30, 2017, in Boulder at the age of 97.