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Horace Sorensen was born 6 February 1899, in Ephraim, Utah. His father had come to Utah from Denmark in 1875 and worked as a druggist until he started a furniture and hardware store. The family lived in an apartment above the store and Horace was born there. He started working in the store at age 12, but his mother said he learned retailing from babyhood in the Sanpete County Co-op. Far from getting his fill, Horace's childhood experience in the family stores created an enthusiasm for merchandising which he retained throughout his life.
Sorensen went to Snow College in Ephraim and then served a two year mission for the LDS Church in the Western states. When he returned from his mission, he studied business at the University of Utah, from which he graduated in 1925. Later that year he and his father started South East Furniture Company in Sugarhouse, which as a coal and lumber center in the 1920s appeared to have business potential. The year 1925 was important to his personal life in still another way, he married Ethel Melville, who had graduated from the University of Utah the year before him and was teaching at Emerson School.
As the business got on, Sorensen turned to his first hobby of horses and horse shows behind his home in East Mill Creek. He brought "American Saddlebred" horses from Kentucky, and put on many horse show benefits for civic and church groups in the large show ring behind his house. His horses also showed in Arizona, Colorado and Idaho. During World War II, he turned his stables into cow barns for Holstein cows and raised turkeys and acres of tomatoes to help the war effort.
At the conclusion of the war Sorensen turned his attention to civic affairs. His petition to have the old state prison become a state park led to the creation of Sugarhouse Park. He joined the Sons of the Utah Pioneers and his activity and leadership in that organization gave it new life and growth, as it had become a paper organization during the world war. One innovation was the re-creation of the Mormon Battalion of 1847 and the re-enactment of their trek in the war in Mexico.
Sorensen's most enduring enterprise, Pioneer Village, grew out of his merchandising experience and his desire for civic improvement. A news report in 1974, recounting Sorensen's life, noted that he began to accept antiques and other old furniture as trade-ins at South East Furniture. During the horse show days Sorensen had bought some old wagons and coaches. He remodeled the barn and began a small museum of pioneer furniture and conveyances. When the Wanship Dam was built many old buildings from the town of Rockport were donated to Sorensen before the town was inundated and the small museum of pioneer relics became a "Village." Too big and too extensive for one person Pioneer Village became the project of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. In 1954, the Village was deeded to that organization.
As the first centennial for the Pony Express approached in 1960, Sorensen, Pioneer Village, and the Sons of the Utah Pioneers became active in preparing for its celebration. In the early 1960s, Sorensen and the Sons of the Utah Pioneers began the railroad museum and village at Corinne, Utah, and began to prepare for the Golden Spike Centennial celebration the completion of the railroad across the western United States.
In 1975, Horace Sorensen had to withdraw from his many civic activities because of ill health. Pioneer Village was moved from his estate to the Lagoon amusement park. This enthusiastic merchant who used display, acquisition, and sales techniques to assemble and celebrate Utah history died on 3 May 1977.
The Horace A. Sorensen Collection consists of papers pertaining to South East Furniture Company, the Pioneer Village and the Sons of the Utah Pioneers. The collection also provides information on the Corinne Railroad Museum and the National Pony Express Centennial Association. One valuable characteristic of the collection are the numerous photographs which accompanied the files. Many of these are appended to eleven bound scrapbooks. The loose photographs which document the various projects, conclude each subject division, while those of general history interest and not necessarily relating to Sorensen's life work have been separated from the main body of the papers and are catalogued as part of the photograph library.
The collection begins with Sorensen's personal papers. These are incomplete and related solely to his public profile. Civic achievement and public recognition characterize the majority of documents in the collection. Three speeches are included -- an address to the Unitarian Church about the meaning of history and the role of Pioneer Village, a dedicatorial prayer for a plaque and park bench, and remarks made at a national retailers' meeting.
Before his more active days of civic involvement, Sorensen's hobby was livestock breeding and selling, with particular attention to show horses, and several documents indicate the nature and extent of that effort. Only a few items in the file concern retailing expertise; one of them is his participation in the Brand Name Retailer project. Several photographs, including one of his portrait being painted, complete the personal section of the papers.
The Sons of the Utah Pioneers material provides a general but limited look at that organization. Since only a few financial reports and meeting minutes are included, the most substantive of the papers are the business letters and the project reports which summarize the work with Pioneer Village. The few "treks" and "encampments" and other special events noted by reports, invitations, and program brochures, partially indicate the life and affairs of the organization. A series of news clippings reporting their activities over the years, as well as a file of photographs, complete the Sons of the Utah Pioneers files.
By far the most extensive portion of the collection concerns the Pioneer Village. Pioneer Village was the major public accomplishment of Horace Sorensen's life, and the eight photo/news clipping albums documenting its development have already been noted. The history and guide information which introduces this material, provides a complete summary of the Village, its origin and the development of its buildings and collections. There are only a few financial reports.
The most complete group of papers in the Sorensen collection are those documents pertaining to the National Pony Express Centennial. The miscellaneous business papers contain internal memoranda including notices of meetings, accomplishments of different units and updating of directors' addresses. The correspondence files in the Pony Express section are extensive. The press releases show the professionalism with which the volunteer organization approached public relations and information. The public information contains historical sketches, announcements of events, and reports on objectives and accomplishments.
The papers regarding the Corinne Railroad Museum have a particular merit compared to the rest of the Sorensen collection. For their narrow scope, they show more clearly than the other sections the internal workings of the organization and indirectly indicate Horace Sorensen's business dealings. The first folder contains reports from a workman on the construction and renovation of what became the Corinne Railroad Museum, its buildings, trains, and equipment. The collection also includes most of the museum's business receipts from 1975.
Much of the correspondence from Horace Sorensen seeks congressional action in transforming Promontory Summit into a National Monument. Other letters discuss preparation for the Golden Spike Centennial; still others are specific construction or renovation requests. The speeches and writings include three typescripts of Sorensen's
Horace August Sorensen Papers, 1950-1970, Utah State Historical Society.
Gift of Ethel Melville Sorensen.
The Horace August Sorensen 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.
Photographs have been removed to