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Constructing a biography of Sullivan Calvin Richardson is hampered by the absence of documented incidents and events in his life from his birth in 1861 until some of his correspondence surfaces (ca. 1910). His own life sketches help, in some measure, to fill in the blanks for his first fifty years.
Richardson was born 26 January 1861 in Manti; beyond the death of his mother when he was about twelve years old Richardson says little of his boyhood. In their late teens, he and his older brother Charles Edmund were called to Colonia Diaz where they made their lives part of the United Order. The brothers married polygamously and returned to Arizona during the early twentieth century.
Sullivan Calvin Richardson first married Martha Irena Curtis (of Salem, Utah) in September 1881; their issue included nine children, five of whom lived to adulthood. In December 1884, he married Amy Teresa Leavitt (of Centerville, Utah); eleven children came of this union, ten of whom lived past childhood. Richardson moved with his wives from Colonia Diaz prior to 1910 and they spent their remaining years in Mesa, Arizona and environs.
During his years in Mexico, Richardson apparently supported his families by teaching school; there is some evidence of farming interests as well. Upon his return to America, he apparently taught school and sold cookware and washing machines on the road in rural Arizona. While he is known modestly in his later years as a writer and pamphleteer, the evidence of his correspondence suggests that this activity was far from financially rewarding.
The economic hardships suffered by Richardson and his families during the Depression years are amply documented in his correspondence. He enjoyed generally good health throughout his life. This circumstance probably accounts in part for not only his willingness but his ability to go on the road selling his pamphlets; in his 78th year he rode his bicycle to neighboring rural Arizona towns to sell remaining copies of his booklets.
The tenor of his life may be discerned in his correspondence. Some 1,500 pieces of correspondence are included in the present collection. The earliest dates from 1910 and his last extant letter is from 1940, the year of his death.
Based on his correspondence and the other materials included in this collection, one may reasonably conclude that Richardson's life was characterized by an unswerving devotion to the LDS church, to the moral and spiritual guidance of young people and to his family. The publications of his later years, the biographic sketches of his wives and himself and his correspondence lead resolutely to this characterization.
The Sullivan Calvin Richardson Collection consists of approximately 52 centimeters of correspondence, draft manuscripts and informally bound collections of Richardson's writings, both published and unpublished. The bulk of the collection consists of Richardson's correspondence from 1910 until early 1940.
The correspondence itself is concerned with the development of his families, the grinding economic deprivations of the Depression, his devotion to the principles of the LDS religion, and his efforts to secure publication of his pamphlets and other materials. The remainder of the collection consists of drafts of his manuscripts and life sketches of his family.
Richardson's correspondence occupies the first two boxes of this collection. Researchers should note first that the correspondence is arranged chronologically and second that Richardson frequently used a single sheet of paper (and sometimes the back of letters received) for carbon copies of his own letters. In this, he commingled correspondence with family members, with associates and with his publisher.
The third box of Richardson materials contains draft manuscripts of his writings. Richardson was not always fastidious in his dating of various drafts and copies of his manuscripts; the copies included here are generally those that have the most recent date and present the "cleanest" appearance.
The fourth box of materials contains the Richardson family "Memory Book," copies of which were apparently sent to other family members from time to time. Included also are six small notebooks together with approximately two centimeters of manuscript materials.
In the course of processing Richardson materials a sizeable body of papers has been removed and returned to the family. This returned material includes copies of manuscripts (published and unpublished), materials such as newspaper clippings, recipes, and poems that Richardson collected and miscellaneous materials not of Richardson's hand.
Sullivan Calvin Richardson Papers, 1910-1940, Utah State Historical Society.
Gift of the Richardson family heirs.
The Sullivan Calvin Richardson 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.