The Widtsoe Family Collection was donated to the Utah State Historical Society in 1966 by G. Homer Durham, Eudora Widtsoe Durham, and Anne Widtsoe Wallace. Originally the collection included the papers of Susa Young Gates and Emma Lucy Gates Bowen, but these have been separated from the overall collection and made into separate collections.

John Widtsoe's photographs include images of people, events and subjects that affected his life, with emphasis on his work with the LDS Church. Photographs of European missions and missionaries are included with his personal photographs. Photographs of the University of Utah, Utah State Agricultural College, and the Harvard Summer School are included his this collection.

The collection contains a section on Leah Dunford Widtsoe, John's wife that is largely biographical, school photographs and family photographs. Anna G. Widtsoe section includes family, Hawaiian mission and Hawaiian scenery.

John A. Widtsoe, his brother Osborne, and their mother, a widow, immigrated to Logan (Utah) from Norway in 1883 as converts to the Mormon Church. To help support his family, eleven-year old John stacked firewood, delivered milk, worked as a printer's assistant, and clerked in a store. After working all day, he took instruction from tutors at night.

Later on, Widtsoe became one of the first "boys from Utah" to attend Harvard where he graduated summa cum laude in three years with a degree in chemistry. In 1898 he was awarded the Parker Fellowship to study at the University of Goettingen, Germany. On his return to the United States in 1900, he became, in succession, director of the Experimental Station at Utah State Agricultural College in Logan; founder and chairman of the department of agriculture, Brigham Young University in Provo; president of the Utah State Agricultural College, Logan; president of the University of Utah; and apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Widtsoe married Leah Eudora Dunford, daughter of Susa Young Gates, in 1898. The Widtsoes had eight children, but only three reached maturity. One of these, K. Marsel Widtsoe, their only son, died in 1927. The two surviving children, Anna Widtsoe Wallace and Eudora Widtsoe Durham, donated the collection to the Utah State Historical Society.

Leah Eudora Dunford Widtsoe was born in Salt Lake City in 1874. Her parents were Susa Young, a daughter of Brigham Young, and Alma Dunford, a dentist. Her parents divorced when Leah was very young. Her mother later married Jacob F. Gates. Leah remained with her father until her mid-teens when she joined her mother's family, where she began building a closer relationship with her mother, Susa, a powerful woman in her own right.

Leah benefited from unusually extensive educational opportunities. She attended the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. She took courses at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and attended a summer session at Harvard in 1893 where she met her future husband, John A. Widtsoe. They were married in 1898. While her husband advanced from one position to the next, Leah developed some specialties of her own. She was a strong homemaker and parent. She was active in the Salt Lake Council of Women, the National League of Pen Women, the Women's Legislative Council, and was a founder of the Utah League for Women Voters.

Anna G. Widtsoe Wallace, daughter of John and Leah, was born 2 April 1899 in Goettingen, Germany, the eldest of the Widtsoe children. She served an LDS Church mission and married Lew Wallace in 1926. They had three children-John, Joanne, and Margaret-before being divorced in 1933. After the divorce, Anne went back to school and eventually became the librarian of the Widtsoe collection of books held by the University of Utah.