The Stephen Holbrook Photograph Collection, 1946-2005 reflects Holbrook's four decades of powerful leadership as an agent for social change in Utah and the country.

Holbrook was born in 1942 into a prosperous business family from Bountiful, Utah. Claiming Mormon pioneer ancestry, his family owned Lakewoods Home Furnishings, a thriving local business that was a mainstay in Bountiful since the 1890s. A few items about the family business are included in the collection.

Holbrook expressed interest in politics at a young age. His next door neighbor, Ivy Baker Priest, was a major factor in Holbrook's political interests, as she was active in national politics. Priest took Holbrook to see General Dwight D. Eisenhower while he was campaigning for the U.S. presidency; she became United States Treasurer under the Eisenhower administration (1953-1961). Holbrook's contact with Priest as well as Helen Brown Romney, Vice Chair of the Utah Republican Party, encouraged him to become involved in politics. As a teenager Holbrook organized Young Republican clubs in high schools across the state, shook hands with Richard Nixon and helped in local Republican campaigns. Holbrook's youth pointed towards a future in conservative politics.

But his experience as an LDS missionary profoundly affected his life. Holbrook served an LDS mission in Hong Kong, China and Chinatown, San Francisco, from 1961 to 1962. As a missionary, he was confronted with the LDS church's stance on race, and was deeply affected by the abject poverty he encountered. Holbrook left his mission forever changed by his experience.

A year after returning from his LDS mission, Holbrook served as staff assistant to U.S. Congressman Sherman P. Lloyd, Second District, Utah, in Washington, D.C. In the summer of 1963, Holbrook was serving in Congressman Lloyd's office when he witnessed a march for justice in the case of slain civil rights worker Medgar Evers. After Holbrook became active with the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in Utah, Lloyd's office gave him a choice: if he wanted to fight for civil rights, Holbrook could not work at the Congressman's office. Holbrook chose civil rights. Congressman Lloyd accepted Holbrook's resignation, although Holbrook never officially resigned.

Holbrook returned to Utah and served in the Civil Rights Movement as a press liaison for the Salt Lake City NAACP. During the summers of 1964 and 1965, Holbrook took his Civil Rights activism outside of Utah. With financial support from Robert E. Freed, owner of the amusement park Lagoon, Holbrook embarked on the voter registration campaign in the South. Southern authorities arrested Holbrook for his participation. What he saw in the South made him question his assumptions about American life and the government's role in ensuring civil liberties. When he returned to Utah, Holbrook campaigned with the NAACP for the LDS Church to use its moral influence on behalf of Civil Rights. His experience in the Civil Rights Movement is chronicled in the collection, including information about his arrest in Mississippi and how citizens campaigned for civil rights in Utah.

Like many of his generation, Holbrook used his experiences from the Civil Rights Movement to fight for an end to the war in Vietnam. As the war escalated, Holbrook was a coordinator and organizer, headed communications, and was a public relations liaison for the United Front to End the War, Utah's major anti-Vietnam War coalition (1967-1971). Holbrook's talents for organization resulted in five thousand people participating in moratoriums and other major events sponsored by the United Front. The organization sponsored paid television and radio commercials, television appearances, and hundreds of speeches before school, civic, and other community groups throughout the West. The United Front's activities and documents are chronicled in the collection.

Holbrook's desire for social change was not restricted to civil rights or the anti-Vietnam war movement. In 1971, Holbrook ran for a slot on the Salt Lake City Commission intending to represent students and the impoverished who were historically underrepresented. Holbrook won the primary but lost in the general election. Holbrook's loss did not deter him from championing the rights of the underprivileged; from 1971 to 1973 Holbrook was the chairman to the Advisory Committee on Housing to the Salt Lake City Housing Authority. He successfully lobbied the Utah State Legislature for Utah's first appropriation for low-income housing and the sale of state bonds for low and moderate housing loans. Materials from these activities are included in the collection. His success with the bill's passing empowered Holbrook to participate in politics. He felt that if he could get into public office, he could be a greater influence for social change.

Having changed political parties years prior, Holbrook served as a delegate to the 1972 Democratic National Convention, materials of which are included in the collection. He then ran and won a seat in the Utah's House of Representatives as a Democrat. Newspaper reporters loved the juxtaposition of an anti-Vietnam war leader as a state legislator, repeatedly commenting on the length of Holbrook's hair and stating that Holbrook was the first man in the state legislature to have a beard since the 1890s.

While serving in the state legislature, Holbrook was a member of various committees, including the Higher Education Joint Appropriations Committee for two years. He was a four-year member of the Social Services Joint Appropriations Committee, a member of the Social Services Standing and Interim Study Committee, and a member of the powerful five-person House Rules and Sifting Committee.

During his three terms, Holbrook was a chief sponsor of ground-breaking legislation. He pushed forward legislation establishing the Committee of Consumer Services, a committee representing small business owners, farmers and residential utility customers before the Public Service Commission. He was the primary mover of legislative reform of the juvenile justice system in Utah. After becoming a mentor and surrogate parent for John C. Zahos, son of Carl "Chicago Charlie" and Freda Zahos, Holbrook became aware of the problems within the juvenile justice system. It took six years and intense organizing to obtain support from Governor Scott Matheson's administration for Holbrook to orchestrate changing the juvenile justice system from institutional to individualized care and small, decentralized, secure facilities. He was also a supporting advocate for successful purchase of Antelope Island in the Great Salt Lake as a Utah State Park. Holbrook's record in the state legislature is impressive, all of which is included in the collection.

Holbrook did not seek reelection for a fourth term in 1980. By then, he had been working for five years to establish a non-profit community radio station, KRCL 91 FM. The seeds for KRCL were planted during the anti-Vietnam war movement. After one of the United Front's events received absolutely no coverage from the media, Holbrook led protestors in a sit-in at the office to demand better coverage of the movement. The issue made Holbrook realize that Utah needed a better media outlet for dissenting opinions. After much fundraising and organizing, KRCL signed on the air 3 December 1979. The volunteer-operated station continues to specialize in service to women, ethnic and religious minorities, and diverse music; listeners and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting provide financial support for the station's operation. Materials from KRCL's founding and history are included in the collection.

After resigning his position as station manager of KRCL in 1982, Holbrook shifted his focus to help the homeless in Utah. He contracted with Crossroads Urban Center in Salt Lake City, a non-profit direct services and advocacy agency for low-income people. Holbrook directed a successful direct-mail fund-raising appeal, produced television public service announcements, made successful contacts with the governor and his staff on utility regulation matters, wrote various press releases and grant proposals, and made radio and television appearances on behalf of Crossroads.

Holbrook then organized, directed, and achieved funding and political sponsorship of the Task Force for Appropriate Treatment of the Homeless Mentally Ill. The group was co-sponsored by Salt Lake City Mayor Palmer DePaulis and S. L. County Commissioner Michael Stewart and chaired by Representative Ervin Skousen. Holbrook conducted public hearings on problems of the homeless in Utah and carried out the major study "Homelessness in Utah: A Guide to Policy Makers and Providers." The study resulted in major media and political attention to the plight of the homeless statewide. The state legislature and the governor formed the State Homeless Coordinating Committee and other specialized services to the homeless, including health and mental health care.

Holbrook used the momentum from the attention for the homeless to coordinate and organize a $4 million fund-raising campaign for the Greater Salt Lake Area Shelter the Homeless Committee, co-chaired by Mayor Palmer DePaulis and Zions Bancorporation President, Harris Simmons. The project culminated in building shelter facilities in 1989 for families, single men, and women, with case management and services for medical care, job referral, mental health and alcohol treatment. Holbrook's materials from the homeless shelter's creation are included in the collection.

In 1990, former Governor Scott Matheson hired Holbrook as Executive Director of Coalition for Utah's Future, a bi-partisan group designed to discuss issues concerning urban growth and Utah's environment. The coalition had been formed out of a series of documentaries in the 1980s conducted by KUTV News called "Project 2000." After KUTV filmed a meeting at Pet Creek Ranch for the television program, the members at the meeting formed the Coalition for Utah's Future to discuss stake-holder involvement in the community, make progress on health care and child care, and debate growth issues in Utah. In 2000, the organization changed its name to Coalition for Utah's Future. Later, Coalition formed a subsidiary called Envision Utah. Holbrook served as Executive Director of Coalition for Utah's Future/Envision Utah until his retirement in 2004.