The LeRoy Hafen Photograph Collection 1913-1980

A Register of the Collection at the
Utah State Historical Society

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Utah State Historical Society
Salt Lake City, Utah

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Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Summary Description

Repository:Utah State Historical Society
Call number:Mss C 404
Creator: Hafen, LeRoy Reuben, 1893-1985.
Title:LeRoy Hafen Photograph Collection, 1913-1980
Quantity:5 Boxes (2 lin. Ft.)
Abstract:Views of historic sites and trails, movies of vacation trips, personal and family portraits, especially those used in autobiography, The Joyous Journey.

Topics:

Bunkerville (Nevada)--History
Colorado-History
Explorers-West (U.S.)
Indians of North America--Colorado
Indians of North America-Ute
Trails-West
Trappers-West (U.S.)

Persons:

Earl, Joseph I.
Hafen, Ann Woodward.
Hafen, Karl LeRoy
Hafen, Mary A.
Hafen Norma

Places:

Bunkerville (Nevada)
California
Colorado
Europe
Florida
Mexico
St. George, Utah
West Indies

Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Background

Biographical Note

LeRoy Reuben Hafen was born 8 December 1893 in a Mormon town known as Bunkerville, Nevada. The twelve-pound baby boy was born to a polygamist father, John George Hafen and his second wife Mary Ann Stucki Hafen. Growing up in an experimental communal living with thirty-six households, LeRoy's character was shaped by two dominant forces: the Mormon Church and the Virgin River. As a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, LeRoy developed the virtues of hard work, thrift, and the value of cooperation. From the periodically flooding Virgin River, LeRoy learned how to press forward in the face of adversity. Much of his youth was spent helping take care of his family's farm, and working at a vineyard in Mesquite (Nevada) during the summer. He also developed a talent for playing the violin, which he played for many church functions.
To pursue his education, LeRoy attended high school in Cedar City (Utah) for two years. Then he attended St. George Stake Academy located in St. George (Utah) for two more years, graduating in 1913. It was also in St. George that Hafen met Ann Woodbury, the daughter of John Taylor Woodbury and Mary Elisabeth Evans Woodbury. It was love at first sight and the two were married 3 September 1915 in the St. George Temple. They had two children, daughter Norma born 25 June 1916 and son Karl LeRoy born 3 September 1919. Norma later died in 1935 at the age of 19 due to a serious illness. To continue his education, LeRoy received his bachelor degree at Brigham Young University where he also spent three years on the collegiate debate team and was the manager of debating. He taught school at Bunkerville (Nevada) for a year, then became principal of Virgin Valley High School. Hafen also completed his Master's degree in history at the University of Utah, with a thesis on the Mormon Hand Cart Migration. In 1920, after saving some money, LeRoy moved his family to Berkeley (California) where he became a graduate student at the University of California. In 1924, he received his Ph.D. in history for his dissertation on the Overland Mail, 1849-1869. While furthering his education, he taught a year in a private school. To put himself through college, LeRoy worked during the school year and during the summer at cantaloupe farms in Overton (Nevada), and a ranch near Las Vegas (Nevada).
On 1 July 1924, LeRoy took a job as the State Historian and Director of the State Museum at Denver (Colorado). Here he put in thirty years of service. Some of his responsibilities included writing, research, and editing the Colorado Magazine, preparing and erecting historical markers, and acquiring and arranging exhibits for the Colorado State Museum. During the Great Depression, LeRoy supervised forty to fifty people in the WPA, one of the New Deal's programs to increase employment. The project was a first for the U.S., in which he led the group in gathering and filing historical data for the State Historical Society of Colorado and creating dioramas illustrating the history of the Rocky Mountain Fur Trade. He also wrote and directed the first documentary color movie for the history of any state. Since this job paid less that living wage, he taught Colorado, Western and American history at the University of Denver, to supplement his income.
During his thirty years as Colorado State Historian, LeRoy published more than fifty articles, and edited and wrote several more historical works. His works primarily covered the history of the west. He edited a five-volume history of Colorado, as well as wrote a single volume history of Colorado. Hafen wrote a biography for mountain man, Thomas Fitzpatrick with several other authors to produce books such as Pikes Peak Gold Rush of 1859, a book on Fort Laramie, and with his wife Ann, a Colorado history book to be used in public schools.
In 1947, he had the opportunity to lecture at the University of Glasgow in Scotland. This gave LeRoy and his wife the opportunity to visit the land where their parents were born. From 1949-1950, LeRoy also received a fellowship for a year to the Huntington Library.
In 1954, LeRoy accepted a job as a professor of history at Brigham Young University (Provo, Utah). He spent seventeen years teaching Early American History and Latin American History, as well as a Western American History and Western History seminar. Between 1954-1960, the Hafens donated their collection of over three thousand books and two thousand pamphlets to Brigham Young University. Combining their efforts, LeRoy and Ann, who had a talent for poetry, completed a fifteen volume series of documentary material known as Far West and the Rockies Series. They also wrote an autobiography entitled The Joyous Journey of LeRoy R. and Ann W. Hafen. It was published in 1973, three short years after Ann W. Hafen had passed away due to cancer. Before her death, Ann had wished that LeRoy might marry one of her widowed sisters. So, after he retired from teaching in 1971, he married Ann's sister Mary.
Dr. LeRoy R. Hafen has received numerous awards and recognitions, which include: Jew Oratorical Medal in 1916, Who's Who in America since 1935, Litt. D. Degree at the University of Colorado in 1935, the Rockefeller Fellowship at the Huntington Library, plus many service awards. Hafen died in 1985 at the age of ninety-one. *Information taken from The Joyous Journey of LeRoy R. and Ann W. Hafen, LeRoy R. Hafen Biography by Carter, and the LeRoy R. Hafen Biography from Brigham Young University.

Biographical Chronology

1893LeRoy in Bunkerville, Nevada
1912Met Ann Woodbury while attending St. George Stake Academy
1915Married Ann Woodbury while both were students at Brigham Young University
1916 Norma born; died in 1935
1918 Karl LeRoy born; died in 1997. Served in World War II.
1916-1924 LeRoy receives degrees of A.B. M.A., Ph.D.
1916-1965 LeRoy at Virgin Valley High School, University of Denver, University of Glasgow (Scotland), Brigham Young University, Ann at La Verkin, Bunkerville, and Denver
1924-1954 LeRoy, State Historian of Colorado and Director of the State Museum
1915-1965 Ann's publications in poetry, stories, dramas, and history. Compiler and editor of Utah Sings IV (1964)
1924-1965 Ann's Activities: Compfire Guardian, President of Parent-Teachers, Colorado Poetry Society, League of American Pen Women, Utah State Poetry Society, Provo Altrusa
1926-1965 Joint authors of Histories of Colorado; Far West and the Rockies Series (15 vols.), etc. Forty-fifth volume published in 1965
1924-1965 On historic trails, visiting all the states of the Union. Trips to Mexico, West Indies, Canada, Europe, and around the world, all recorded in diaries and color movies.
1935-1965 Litt D. (University of Denver), David O. McKay Humanities Award, Distinguished Service Awards of City of Denver, Dixie College, Brigham Young University
1954-1965 The Hafen Collection of choice Americana donated to Brigham Young University; some 3,000 volumes and 2,000 pamphlets. Also prizes for writings in poetry and history.
1970Ann Woodbury Hafen dies of cancer 13 December 1970 in Provo (Utah)
1971LeRoy marries Ann's sister Mary
1985Hafen dies in Palm Desert (California) at the age of ninety-one.

Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Scope and Content

The LeRoy R. Hafen Photograph Collection consists largely of photographs of the Hafen family (immediate and extended), activities, homes, and research and travels. Included are photographs (black and white, color); slides (color); 2x3 negatives, and 35mm film negatives (black and white). There are nine films documenting the Hafen travels in both the United States and abroad.

Series Descriptions

Photographs
Slides
Negatives
Videos

Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation:

LeRoy Hafen Photograph Collection, 1913-1980, Utah State Historical Society.

Acquisition Information:

Gift of Mary Hafen.

Restrictions on Use

The LeRoy Hafen Photograph Collection is 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.

Processing Information:

Collection processed by Susan Whetstone, 2003

Finding aid compiled by Susan Whetstone, 2003

Finding aid edited by Linda Thatcher, 2003

Collection cataloged by Linda Thatcher, 1989 (RLIN ID: UTSX89-A1274).

Finding aid encoded for the World Wide Web by Craig Ringgenberg, 2003.

Related collections

The photographs in this collection were separated from Mss B 404.


Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Container list

Box

Folder

Contents

Photographs

1

1-3

LeRoy R. Hafen

1

4-5

Ann Hafen

1

6

LeRoy and Ann Hafen

1

7

Norma Hafen

1

8

Karl Hafen

1

9

Mark LeRoy Hafen (Karl's son)

1

10-15

Family

1

16

Activities (black and white)

1

17

Activities (color)

1

18

Christmas (color)

1

19-20

Houses/Homes

2

1-2

Houses/Homes

2

3

Green River Rendezvous

2

4

Lewis and Clark Trail

2

5-6

Mormon History Association

2

7

Spanish Trail

2

8

Travels - Austin, Texas

2

9

Travels - Bunkerville, Nevada

2

10

Travels - California

2

11

Travels - Europe

2

12

Travels - Idaho

2

13

Travels - Mexico

2

14

Travels - Palm Desert

2

15-17

Travels - Unidentified

2

18

Miscellaneous photographs

2

19

Album (Karl)

2

20-21

Album (LeRoy and Ann)

2

22

Album (Family, black and white)

2

23

Album (Family, color)

Box

Folder

Contents

Slides/35mm film

3

1

Slides: LeRoy and Ann

3

2-3

Slides: Family

3

4-9

Travels

3

10-13

35mm film negatives (unidentified)

3

Pt 1-2

Family

3

Pt 3

Jackson, W.H.

3

Pt 4

Col. Lowry; Lt. Mowry

3

Pt 5

White, Michael

3

Pt 6

Agent Wilson

3

Pt 7

Young, Frank

Box

Folder

Contents

2x3 Negatives

4

Numbered Negatives

1. Aerial view
2-3. April Fool's Day
4-5. Automobiles
6. Beaver dam
7-16. Boating
17. Bryce Canyon
18-36. Buildings
37-41. Canyon Country
42-113. Children
114. Creek (Hoop Creek)
115. Dam
116. Desert
117-118. Easter
119-223. Family
224-226. Farm Equipment
227-229. Garden
230. Glacier Basin
231-233. Horses/Wagons
234-249. Houses/Yards
250-261. Lakes
262-327. Life
328-334. Military
335-336. Mining
337-352. Mountains
353-355. Native Americans
356-358. Parades
359-370. People
371-372. Petroglyphs
373. Pool
374-382. Rivers
383-385. Scenic views
386-396. Sports
397-412. Travels
413-414. Tree house
415-418. Trees
419-422. Waterfalls
423-424. Yellowstone
425-435. Zion National Park

Video

Contents

Videos (located with film/video collection)

5

1

Folk's trip

5

2

Historical

5

3

KOA-Denver Radio Interview, 1954

5

4

Mexico, 1946

5

5

Rose Parade, 1951

5

6

Spanish Trail (2 reels)

5

7

Swimming, Niagara Falls, Quebec, Plymouth Rock

5

8

World Tour, 1955