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The Gwilliam collection is a family history collection documenting the lives of several generations of Ogden residents. Most of the collection consists of papers of Henry C. Gwilliam, a Mormon missionary to England and later proprietor of Gwilliam Lumber Company, and his wife Arvilla West, who became a social worker in Ogden. Letters to and from several of their children are also included. There are several diaries from Arvilla's father, Charles C. West, and correspondence of Horace G. and Florence Nebeker, who were public-spirited Ogden residents and related to the Gwilliams.
The papers of the Gwilliam, Nebeker and West families are a large and complex collection. The genealogical charts show the familial connections that are the backbone of the history it contains. The genealogies are by no means complete, for they attempt only to establish the identities of those whose papers are in the collection or who are mentioned in those papers.
Researchers will find a number of items in the collection to be of interest on various Utah historical topics, but most may find it useful in coming to grips with the diversity of the collection to think of it as centering on the lives of Arvilla West and Henry C. Gwilliam. Not only do the lives of this couple occur near the chronological midpoint of the generations documented here, but their marriage united two of the three families--the Wests and the Gwilliams--whose papers figure prominently in the collection, and it is through Arvilla Gwilliam that the papers of Oscar E. Savage and his adopted daughter Marita become comprehensible, for Arvilla Gwilliam became the guardian of Marita Savage.
Researchers might well find that the greatest interest in the first two boxes of the collection is its documentation of the history of social welfare in Utah. Charles C. West, Arvilla's father, was committed to the State Hospital in Provo, and his diaries afford a rare inside glimpse from the pen of an articulate inmate. Marita Savage, who was in the same institution, offers a means of understanding the life of an inmate, as well as the relationships between an inmate and her responsible guardian on the outside. Finally, Arvilla's husband, Henry C. Gwilliam, became a victim of alcoholism, and the collection contains valuable documentation on the tragic deterioration of his career, family impoverishment, and Arvilla's arduous efforts at establishing a career of her own.
Roscoe Chambers Gwilliam, Henry C.'s brother, was evidently a highly successful lawyer. His correspondence and legal records take up one entire box of the collection.
The last three boxes of the collection are given over largely to records of various business firms and the Ogden 4th Ward of the LDS Church. Although some of the records are of self-evident importance and relationship to the main body of the collection, there are also records of firms whose relationship to the Gwilliam-Nebeker-West families is unclear.
Gwilliam Family Papers, 1900-1964, Utah State Historical Society.
Gift of Margaret F. Wright.
The Gwilliam Family Papers are the physical property of the Utah Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. Literary rights, including copyright, may belong to the authors or their heirs and assigns. Please contact the Historical Society for information regarding specific use of this collection.