We all live downstream of history and upstream of the future.
Winter 2003
| In This Issue - | Features | News |
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Noble Barns: Preserving Utah's Rural Landscapes
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The Federal Historic Preservation Tax Credit |
Enter the Log "Cabin" Photo Contest
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| Tibetan New Year Celebration in Salt Lake City. Photo by Anne Hatch; courtesy of the Utah Arts Council. |
Dancing, Shooting, Hoodless KKK...
THE WINTER HOLIDAYS IN UTAH
A grab-bag of tales from Utah's past may give you a new perspective on winter....
Trapper Osborne Russell spent the Christmas of 1840 on the Weber River with people of French, Nez Perce, Shoshone, Cree, and Flathead descent. For Christmas dinner the group sat around the fire in the center of the teepee "with their legs crossed in true Turkish style" and ate stewed elk, boiled deer, and boiled flour pudding. For plates they used large pieces of bark. After dinner, they smoked pipes and practiced shooting at a target.
In a hunting contest launched on Christmas Day 1848, two teams of Mormon pioneers competed to see who could kill the most predators. The losing team would treat the winners to a dinner.
Solomon Carvalho, a Jew who served as photographer for one of John C. Fremont's expeditions to the West, suffered through bitter cold and deep snows in crossing the Rocky Mountains. But he carefully saved and carried preserved eggs, sugar, and arrowroot. "Nobody knew I had them. These three comestibles, boiled in six gallons of water, made as fine a blanc mange as was ever manged on Mount Blanc," Carvalho wrote. He served it "to the satisfaction and astonishment of the whole party" on January 1, 1854.
Wellsville pioneer Charles Bailey described a holiday dance of 1859 where he made the music by whistling. "In those days I could make as good music as a flute or a pickalo."
Frederick Dellenbaugh, of the 1871 Powell expedition, attended a Christmas celebration in Kanab: "The room was about fifteen by thirty feet and was lighted by three candles, a kerosene lamp, and a blazing fire of pitch-pine. Two violins were in lively operation?and there was a refreshing air of gaiety about the whole assembly? None of our party joined as we were such strangers but we were made welcome in every respect."
In 1878 William Avery held a Christmas dance at his newly built log cabin on Huntington Creek. Forty-two men and seven women attended.
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Santa arriving on a Western Air express plane, c. 1932. |
During an 1886 diphtheria epidemic, 13 Huntington residents died during the last week of the year.
In Thurber, dances during Christmas week cost 25 to 40 cents (or the equivalent in produce). One source reported that if the fiddler got tired before the dancers did, someone might call out, "Let him smell the cork"--meaning "give him a drink of whiskey"--as an incentive to continue.
"Poker Pete Olsen's" saloon in Woodside was the scene of a wild brawl between the local cowboys and a group of Greek railroad workers on Christmas Day 1901.
Utah's Silver Queen, Susie Emery Holmes, and her husband, Col. Holmes, staged a lavish open house at the Gardo House that same year. More than 100 guests enjoyed a beautiful light display, fresh flowers, and fine food and liquors.
During the 1903-1904 coal strike in Carbon County, Governor Wells called out the National Guard to maintain order. The striking Finns invited Company F to join them at their Christmas party. This hospitality may have saved some lives when, the next day, the mining company guards forced the Finns out of their homes. The Finns fought back. Although the mine guards urged the National Guard to fire on the Finns, the troops refused to shoot.
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A photo for a Sub for Santa promotion from the Salt Lake Tribune. |
In Monticello, immigrant Mexican families lit three small stacks of pinyon wood in front of their homes at dark at Christmas time. These fires or luminarias were to help the Three Kings find their way to the newborn child.
The Ku Klux Klan had bad luck in 1922. Leaders of the LDS church spoke against the KKK at its general conference. Then in June the Salt Lake City Commission passed an anti-mask ordinance meant to curb Klan activity in the valley. However, in December the law boomeranged: Santa Clauses were forced to remove their beards--and people resented the KKK.
After the 1924 Castle Gate mine explosion, many widows depended on emergency relief funds. Eight-year-old Viola Rollins wrote to Gov. George Dern:
Dear Governor I am eight years old have you any little girls did you have turkey for thanksgiving dinner we didn't momma said we couldn?t afford turkey because the castle gate relief fund committee wont let us have our money which was given us children who lost our papas in the disaster will you help us get it so we can have turkey for christmas please answer.
Salt Lake County's Swedish residents began month-long festivities on St. Lucia's Day, December 13. A young girl representing St. Lucia strolled from house to house singing carols and serving coffee and cakes.
The Serbian celebration peaked on January 7. Visitors to a Serbian house on that day were greeted with "Nir Boze Kristos se Rodi" (God's Peace; Christ is Born), a kiss on both cheeks, and a glass of red wine.
The son of Escalante store owner Lewis Munson recalled "Christmases when, after closing the store, we took packages to a home or homes where Dad or Mother knew the Christmas would be sparse. And in the days before everyone had a car, I pulled my express wagon to deliver flour and sugar to the homes of the older people, the sick, or perhaps to a wife with a houseful of kids whose husband was with the sheep herd."
During the Depression, the Richfield Reaper published this poem about a cash-strapped dad who was determined to give his children a special Christmas:
It?s days before Christmas and in our small cot
The kids are all dreaming of what Kris has got;
They hope he has skates, some trains and great dolls
And even bright nothings and such fol-der-ols.
I tell them that Kris is a practical guy,
That worthless old gim-cracks he never will buy;
He may bring a sweater, some socks, or a hat,
Or mittens or cord'roys and such stuff as that. . . .
By gum, we?ll get busy and we'll do our stuff;
We've got our two eyes and our hands--that's enough.
I'll get my knife busy, my saw and my plane--
Why that solves our problem--I'm happy again!
My Mary can make jest the swankiest tricks
That ever was dreamed of--No toys? Fiddlesticks!
We'll cut and we'll fit and we'll paint and we'll draw
Such stuff as we'll have no Kris ever saw!
Henry Ju, a child in the 1930s, used to go with his father to the little "Chinatown" at Plum Alley (now Regent Street in Salt Lake City) on special occasions. He recalled: "They had a big New Year's celebration sponsored by the tong in Plum Alley and they'd invite the police chief and mayor and all the dignitaries and they'd set around there and eat all the goodies and some of [the old Chinese men] would come over and give [the children] red envelopes with money in them."
Pilot Leo Burraston landed his Cessna airplane carrying Santa Claus on Delta's Main Street during at least one community celebration.
During World War II, some communities outlawed outdoor Christmas lights because of fears of Japanese air attacks.
"The New Year was, and still is, the most celebrated event of the year [for the Japanese]. Houses were thoroughly cleaned and the last bath of the year was taken to wash off the 'old year's dirt.' The golden Tai fish [Japanese carp] was baked whole with eyes wide open, fins and tail spread in a fan shape and the body arched as if it were alive."
In the winter of 1980, Eileen Hallet Stone's son brought home a Christmas tree. "My son's plea to bring a tree indoors might not have been unusual in a house in need of and bereft of Christmas ornamentation, but that was not our house," she writes. "Ours is a Jewish home with its own wondrous holidays and celebrations. The joyful winter celebration of Chanukah and its festival of lights that brighten up the Jewish home is an expression that faith in God and a belief in liberty can triumph against tyrannical forces...."
So, in keeping with the family's belief in nature and Judaism, the family propped up the orphan tree in a snowbank left of the front-room window and decorated it with peanut-butter-and-rolled-wild-birdseed pinecones.
A fire trapped and killed 28 miners in Emery County's Wilberg Mine on December 19, 1984. That holiday season was a time of sorrow as, day by day, the hope of finding any of the miners alive faded.
Sources: Centennial histories of Iron, Weber, Emery, Carbon, Millard, Cache, Kane, Garfield, Wayne, and Salt Lake counties; Peoples of Utah, Utah Historical Quarterly, Beehive History.
Noble Barns: Preserving Utah's Rural Landscapes
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The Chris Allen barn in Cove, Utah, was built in the early 1900s. Next year, Conservation Corps workers will install doors at the east end and repair a hole in the hayloft floor. |
"Look at those old fences! Look at that great old barn, those wooden sheds," a mother tells her family as they drive a rural Utah road. "Someday you can tell your children that you actually saw this stuff."
The West's rural landscapes are changing. In many places the historic ranch and farm buildings are coming down-- or simply falling down. In Cache County, however, a creative initiative is helping to keep a handful of great old barns standing.
It began when the Utah Department of Transportation decided to widen Highway 91 north of Smithfield. Law requires UDOT to "mitigate" effects of road construction on an area's heritage resources. Even with careful planning, the new road could not avoid a number of historic buildings, especially in the Richmond area. As mitigation, UDOT could have studied the resources and written a report (and then filed the report away), but USHS preservation coordinator Roger Roper had a better idea.
"Why not use the mitigation funds to do something meaningful? How about renovating barns along the road?" he suggested. UDOT agreed.
In the end, it happened. The Bear River Association of Governments and the Richmond Historical Preservation Commission identified, then prioritized, barns worth preserving. Most are visible from the highway. All have architectural significance, and some embody rarely found styles. Some needed extensive work--stabilization, roofing, or foundation repair. Others needed paint and windows as preventative measures. Several barns were upgraded this summer, and more will be restored in 2004.
In most cases, barn owners provided or will provide materials while VISTA and the Bear River Association of Governments, using a grant from UDOT, funded the labor of Utah Conservation Corps workers. Cody McLarty, a Conservation Corps member from Texas, managed the construction.
McLarty has a passion for saving the barns. "They need to be preserved!" he says. "They need to be around for a long time."
Which is precisely the point. Thanks to UDOT mitigation funds and a little non-bureaucratic creativity, people will enjoy these barns on the landscape for some time to come.
The National Trust for Historic Preservation gives cash awards to farmers and ranchers who have made a special effort to preserve and use their historic resources. For information, or to make a nomination, see www.barnagain.org or call (303) 623-1504. You can also visit this site to find tips on rehabbing older farm buildings.
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Identify the historic building in this photo and win a membership to the Utah State Historical Society for you or a friend. Send your response (one guess per contestant) to Preservation Puzzler, 300 S. Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. Responses must be postmarked by January 5, 2004. A drawing will be held of the winners to determine who receives the membership. |
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The structure in the fall Currents Puzzler is the Holley/Globe Grain & Milling Company Elevator at 100 North Center in Hyrum. It was built in 1918 as a storage and shipping facility for grain produced by local farmers. Its location adjacent to the railroad tracks facilitated easy shipping. The grain elevator is constructed of stacked lumber in a "crib" or false timbering construction technique, which provides the necessary strength for storing large quantities of loose grain and preventing rodent infestation. The structure was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. |
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Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program
QUIZ
Name a federal program that helps revitalize both cities and small towns, stimulates private investment, saves old buildings, generates jobs, enhances property values, and creates affordable housing.
ANSWER
The Historic Preservation Tax Incentives Program.
This program is obviously a win-win kind of a thing. If you own an income-producing historic building (one that is listed on the National Register of Historic Places, contributes to a National Historic District, or was built before 1936), you may be able to get a tax credit for rehabilitating the building.
Depending on your situation, you may quality for a 10 or 20 percent tax credit on your expenses, provided your renovation is historically faithful. The State Historic Preservation Office works with owners to help them qualify for the credit.
Communities benefit too. In slumpy economic times, this is no lightweight program. In 2002 it created more than 50,000 jobs nationwide and stimulated more than $3.2 billion in private investments.
In Utah, the program has helped save and restore some great old buildings. Right now, Utah's private sector is investing some $57.5 million in restoring architectural treasures from the past. A few examples:
FFKR Architects transformed the 1904 Bogue Supply building at 741 W. 400 South, SLC, into award-winning office space. Located in a somewhat neglected neighborhood, this building serves as a vanguard for future renovation and revitalization in this area.
During a completely different era--the 1950s--the First Security Building at 405 S. Main represented the epitome of modernism. After so many years, it began to look old and tired. The owner, Wasatch Properties, is replacing the windows, cleaning and painting the '50s-era panels, and renovating the inside for new tenants.
Rob Perry of Perry Financial Solutions is working toward getting a tax credit for his renovation of the Mickelsen House in Draper--but for him the tax credit is only icing on the cake. (See the accompanying story for a personal account of his love affair with this Prairie-style bungalow.)
For more information on the Historic Preservation, go to Tax Incentives Program.
SAVING GRANDMA
"Historic buildings are so important. Without them we lose the heart and soul of a community. It's like throwing out Grandmother." --Rob Perry
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Earlier this year, Rob Perry took a 1929 bungalow in Draper off its foundation, moved it four blocks (to 782 E. Pioneer Road), and began to restore it as offices for his business, Perry Financial Group. But even after "taking a house for a walk," he didn't completely realize the magnitude of the adventure ahead. Utah State Historical Society architect Rod Mortensen helped him make the journey, but at first Perry resisted.
The first day, Rod came out to look at the house and told me that the aluminum soffit had to go. But I'm used to giving instructions, not taking them. I thought, "Okay. We're done with the state." I didn't realize that what was under the aluminum was so much more important than something that was put on later. In time I learned what a valuable collaborative partner the state can be.
Perry also learned that, although the road has plenty of bumps and detours, the adventure is immensely satisfying. He's passionate when he talks about the project.
This project has given me immense psychological awards. I don't even know if I'm going to get the federal tax credits for renovation, and I haven't found any $20 gold pieces in the walls, but I've discovered real treasures in people, resources, and values.
There are angels: A fellow who was called by the former owners when they thought the house was going to be demolished went in and pulled out the beautiful double doors with glass, cathedral windows, crystal knobs, and locksets. Barry Skinner--he's a saint. He brought them to me and he wouldn't take anything for them, not even a thanks. He said, "I knew these people [the Mickelsen family, who built the house]. They were great people. I couldn't let it go to the dump."
The family who owned the house lived all near each other. Three brothers ran Utah Poultry. They had their desks in the same room, and whenever they had a hard problem, they would stay until the decision was unanimous. They were family; they worked it out. I can't imagine that happening now in light of corporate politics. This was pre-World War II.
The quality in this home is wonderful. We have quarter-sawn oak floors. The floor guys said, "You can't buy this floor anymore, of this thickness and quality. It's gorgeous."
I could have bought a "box," but it would be concrete with no character, style, or history, no legacy or angels, no family members who come and weep as they remember playing there as children.
In our society we have disposable pens and clothes--we just throw things out. Permanence is the real substance of life for an itinerant, mobile society.
I didn't throw Grandma away. Something perfectly serviceable simply needed a little cash and someone who cares, and it will last a long time. I love her.
Book Marks
A Lively, Honest Memoir
As I scan the bookshelves for my personal Utah history "high spots" for this column, each time I wait for one to call out to me. So far I have written about a biography (Orrin Porter Rockwell) and a narrative history (Mountain Meadows Massacre). So it made sense that an autobiography was the one to call out. Against the Grain: Memoirs of a Western Historian (Signature Books, 1998) is written by Brigham D. Madsen, whom Will Bagley and Gene Sessions, among others, call "the dean of Utah historians."
"Brig," as he is commonly known, has written and edited well over a dozen books and scores of articles on Utah, western, and American Indian history, several of them prestigious award-winners such as The Shoshoni Frontier and the Bear River Massacre, Glory Hunter: A Biography of Patrick Edward Connor, and the more controversial Studies of the Book of Mormon.
In addition to being a distinguished author and historian, Brig has been a teacher most of his life (he was a professor at three Utah universities), a skilled carpenter and builder, a Peace Corps officer, and university administrator. Though a lifelong Mormon, Brig Madsen describes himself as an agnostic and a "cultural Mormon," and he sensitively but candidly recounts and examines his loss of faith in these reminiscences.
In this delightful and very readable memoir, Brig belies H. G. Wells's assessment of autobiography as "egoism" and that of Jeanette Winterson, who says "there's no such thing as autobiography. There's only art and lies." The pages of Madsen's book reflect his characteristic modesty and honesty. In a review, Dennis Lythgoe calls it "a delightfully honest and interesting book," adding that Brig "is thoroughly devoted to the principle of truth in history, around which he has structured this lively, gracefully written memoir, told with unusual candor."
I thoroughly enjoyed reading Against the Grain when it was first published because Brig's love of history mirrored my own, and I was drawn into the life of this great teacher and writer of history. Re-reading the book five years later has been a distinct pleasure. I found myself reluctant to put it down and looked forward to getting back to it every chance I got. It was like having a long visit with a good friend after a lengthy absence and becoming reacquainted.
Fortunately, in my case, I know Brig personally and count him as a friend as well as a fellow-traveler along history's paths. One of the great benefits of being in my line of business is getting to know and even becoming friends with a number of Utah authors and historians. I'm grateful that this has been the case with Brig Madsen. Did this relationship affect my selection of his autobiography for this article? Undoubtedly, but the book easily stands on its own merit. Readers who don't know Brig now certainly will come to know and like him by the time they finish it.
Curt Bench, Benchmark Books
Treasures Indeed: USHS's Photos
The USHS library has thousands of photographs. But who can count the stories that these images hold--the lives, the places and events long gone?
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| Photo curator Susan Whetstone in the stacks. |
Susan Whetstone, photo curator, loves the photos and the stories they evoke, and she works to make them available to the public.
Each collection of photographs requires an accession number; organizing; storage in archival sleeves and boxes; cataloging, and shelving. For large collections she makes a register that gives background information and a description of the contents.
Faithful volunteer Lois Lott has helped tremendously. When USHS received the very special 90,000-image Shipler Commercial Photographers collection, Susan and Lois completed the processing in just three years.
"I love this job!" Susan exclaims. "You never know what you will find next." She especially likes images of people going about their daily lives and images of things that no longer exist.
USHS always welcomes donations of photographs. In particular, we would like more images from outside the Salt Lake area and images of people doing things. To discuss a donation, contact Susan Whetstone at (801) 533-3543 or swhetsto@utah.gov.
To see our photos for yourself, visit us at the Rio Grande Depot, 300 S. 450 West, Salt Lake City (10-5 Mon-Fri). Or browse and search thousands of photos online at http://history.utah.gov/ Photos/C275/.
Looking for a unique gift? Give a photograph from our collection. Call (801) 533-3535.
In response to our "Conversations" question asking for immigration stories, Nadine Madsen Gunn sent an account of her grandmother, Anne Mette Ericksen Madsen. Anne immigrated to Utah from Denmark in 1863, surviving (barely) a cattle stampede on the trail. In Utah she chose plural marriage, becoming the second wife of wheelwright/carpenter Hans Peter Madsen.
Anne worked hard. She raised children, milked cows, and made butter and cheese (which the Madsens sold to Col. Patrick Connor's troops for 50-60 cents per pound).
For a time, the family managed the stage station at Parley's Park. Then they moved to Willard to homestead. Anne worked the dairy, raised all kinds of animals, and grew animal feed and vegetables. She made clothes for a family of ten. Starting from scratch, she sheared the sheep, carded the wool, spun the yarn, wove the cloth, and finally sewed the clothes. She also helped Hans's third wife (who married him at age 14) raise her children.
Thank you, Mrs. Gunn, for giving us a glimpse into the life of an unknown but remarkable woman.
JOIN THE HISTORY CONVERSATION:
Write to us about a historical moment that you yourself experienced and tell why it was an important moment to you! Mail a couple of paragraphs to krogers@utah.gov or Currents, 300 Rio Grande, SLC, UT 84101. All respondents will receive a free subscription to Currents.
ROOSEVELT'S TREE ARMY:
THE CIVILIAN CONSERVATION CORPS
It's 1933. A massive depression has clobbered the nation. Thousands of people are out of work and out of hope. If you were the president, what would you do?
One of the first things that President Franklin D. Roosevelt did as president was to form the Civilian Conservation Corps--the CCC. The CCC employed young, unmarried men to work on various public projects. The enrollees, most of whom were under the age of 20, earned $30 per month, sending $25 home to their families.
Federal and state agencies, particularly the Forest Service and BLM, sponsored CCC camps and projects. During the nine years of CCC operation, Utah had a total of 116 camps--each one with about 200 men--benefiting all areas of the state.
Many of the corpsmen came from the East, and they naturally brought some unfamiliar cultural attitudes into Utah's small towns. But the cultural exchange went both ways. In fact, some boys married local girls and settled in the state.
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A CCC enrollee plants trees. The CCC helped heal years of destruction in America's forests and rangelands. Nationwide, "Roosevelt's Tree Army" planted 2.2 billion tree seedlings (more than half of all the forests planted throughout history). In Utah, they planted 3.2 million trees. They reseeded rangeland, faced flood-torn riverbanks with rocks, renewed streams and lakes, and stocked them with fish. |
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The inside of a barracks. Because the War Department could rapidly mobilize a large force of men, the CCC was put under its jurisdiction. The men wore uniforms and traveled on troop trains. Army and Navy officers commanded the camps, and the men followed a disciplined military routine. The discipline and training served the nation well when it entered World War II, as most corpsmen joined the military. |
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CCC enrollees pose on a piece of road-building equipment. The CCC built much-needed roads, and they also built dams, canals, tunnels, and fire-guard stations. During their enrollment, the young men learned skills they could use later, such as masonry, carpentry, heavy equipment operation, truck driving, and cooking. |
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Many people don't realize that most of the campgrounds, amphitheaters, trails, mountain roads, and ranger stations we enjoy in the national forests were built by the CCC. The handsome structures they built have become well-loved historical gems. This is the South Fork guard station in American Fork Canyon. |
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The Duck Creek Camp. This camp has tents, but a typical one had wooden barracks, officers' quarters, mess hall and kitchen, shower room, hospital, recreation hall, and utility buildings. Construction began on Utah camps less than six weeks after President Roosevelt had signed the bill creating the CCC. |
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A corpsman scrubs his laundry, probably at either the Panguitch Lake Camp or the Beaver Camp. |
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Hundreds of thousands of sheep and cows had overgrazed Utah's mountains by the 1930s, destroying ecosystems and causing floods and erosion. To help control the flooding, the CCC built contoured terraces into the mountainsides. Here, a group builds gerraces on a mountain in Davis County. |
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If cartoons from camp newsletters were any indication, the young corpsmen loved to laugh at themselves and their situation. |
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Part of the CCC's environmental work included reseeding overgrazed ranges and rehabilitating wetlands. Here enrollees gather seeds near the Bear River. |
The Utah State Historical Society has a wonderful collection of CCC images online. You can browse or search through this fascinating glimpse into Utah's past.
Enter the Log "Cabin" Photo Contest
Historic log buildings are the subject of this year's Utah Preservation magazine photo contest. Log buildings were among the first structures built by Utah's 19th-century settlers. Some were rudimentary structures of roughly tooled logs, while others exhibit finely crafted dovetail joints and carefully hewn surfaces. Log cabins evoke the spirit of pioneering and symbolize the frontier traits of self-reliance and craftsmanship.
Subsequent generations of Utahns have continued to use logs for a variety of building purposes: homes, recreational cabins, restaurants, rustic hotels, Boy Scout houses, national park accommodations, and even an airport hangar near Bryce Canyon. Any older log structure is an eligible subject for this year's contest.
Winning photographs will be published in the Utah State Historical Society's award-winning Utah Preservation magazine. Prizes will also be awarded, including custom digital enlargements from Borge Andersen & Associates, one of the contest sponsors.
Contest Rules
1. Subjects must be older log buildings in Utah (generally, 50 years or older).
2. Multiple entries per contestant are allowed.
3. Photos may be slides, prints (color or black-and-white), or digital images (300 dpi or higher preferred) taken by the contestant.
4. Entries should include the location of the structure and the name, address, and telephone number of the photographer/contestant.
5. Entries will be judged foremost on photographic quality (originality, subject, composition, lighting, etc.), but location will also be taken into account in order to encourage photos from all parts of the state.
6. All photos will become part of the Utah State Historical Society's permanent photo collection. Due to the number of entries, we will not be able to return photos.
7. Entries must be postmarked by February 28, 2004. Send to: Photo Contest, 300 Rio Grande, SLC, UT 84101.
This year there will be a "Student Category" for photographers of high school age and younger. Student entries should be so marked.
And enter the Prehistory Week Poster Contest
Help promote Utah's exciting past by entering the Utah Prehistory Week Poster Contest. Winners in three categories will receive cash prizes:
Grand contest winner-- $250;
Secondary school winner-- $100;
Elementary school winner-- $100.
The winning poster will be printed and distributed throughout the United States. The poster contest is part of Utah Prehistory Week, to be held May 2004. Each year during the week, Utahns celebrate the state's unique and significant archaeological and paleontological past with lectures, programs, activities, native craft demonstrations, and site visits.
The contest is open to professional artists, starving artists, student artists, and creative citizens of all kinds. Artists may choose any material or design; the principal elements of the design should depict aspects of Utah archaeology and/or paleontology.
Visit the Prehistory Week web page to see previous winners. Posters should be submitted no later than January 1, 2004. Send to: Antiquities Section, Division of State History, 300 Rio Grande, Salt Lake City, UT 84101. For more information, contact Renae Weder at (801) 533-3529 or Ron Rood at (801) 533-3564.
Grant funds available
The Utah State Historical Society/ Division of State History offers matching grants of up to $3,000 to assist the programs and projects of Utah's history and heritage organizations.
USHS gives grant funds to document, preserve, research, collect, interpret, and exhibit Utah history. Well-defined projects that further an organization's long-range plans are especially favored. Projects that build community partnerships or that involve the public will receive high priority.
The application deadline is February 1, 2004. Funded projects may run for a period of up to two years. In order to receive staff assistance, you should submit a draft of your application four to six weeks before the deadline. To receive an application form, contact Debbie Dahl at (801) 533-3537. You may also download an application with guidelines.
History exhibits to come down
Because of construction and remodeling taking place at the Rio Grande Depot, it has become necessary to take our Utah history exhibits down. The exhibits will be completely removed by the end of 2003. New exhibits will go up after construction is complete.
Staffers leave USHS
USHS Library and Collections program manager Patricia Smith-Mansfield has been appointed the new director of State Archives. Her new position is particularly important as Archives prepares to move to its new building, now under construction south of the Rio Grande Depot--and as it partners with USHS on a joint research room. Linda Thatcher has assumed management of the Library and Collections program.
USHS Preservation Coordinator Roger Roper has moved to Oregon to direct the State Historic Preservation Office there. He leaves behind a Utah preservation office that has contributed greatly to historic preservation in Utah. Long-time staffer Barbara Murphy has been named Preservation Coordinator.
Receptionist Renae Evans became a mother and has chosen to be a fulltime mom. Maren Jeppson is now our receptionist.
We wish them all well!
USHS Annual Meeting
Experimentation and expansion best describe the 5lst Annual Meeting of the Utah State Historical Society. Held on September 11 and 12, this year's meeting was held in the brand new Salt Lake City Public Library on 400 South and 200 East in downtown Salt Lake City and was moved from August to September this year. In a successful effort to expand participation and attendance, USHS made all sessions free and open to the membership and public.
After a day-long Certified Local Government workshop on Thursday, the evening activities began with a reception honoring new USHS director Philip Notarianni and this year's award winners. Student winners in Utah's History Fair competition were on hand to exhibit and discuss their projects.
The evening events concluded with the awards presentation and the Utah History Address given by USU history professor and Board of State History member Ross Peterson. Dr. Peterson's address examined Utah on the eve of the 1954 Brown v. Board of Education Supreme Court decision, which ended the policy of separate but equal facilities in public education.
Peterson indicated that, while there were no segregated schools in Utah at the time, and so the decision did not have a direct impact in changing education in the state, it helped prepare the way for passage of the Civil Rights Acts of the 1960s, which ended other forms of segregation.
The next day, attendees enjoyed more than 40 presentations on a wide variety of Utah history topics, such as transportation, mining, medicine, pioneer life, ethnic groups, polygamy, rock art, archaeology, legal issues, the environment, crime, music, recreation, and more.
USHS 2003 Awards
The Utah State Historical Society announced its annual award winners at its Annual Meeting on September 11. The winners are:
Distinguished Service
Richard Sadler, retiring Board of State History member and chair.
Outstanding Achievement in History Madge Tomisc and the Helper Western Mining and Railroad Museum
Outstanding Achievement in Historic Preservation FFKR Architects, for renovation of the Bogue Supply Building
Outstanding Service to Utah History Gary Shumway, for his work in the history of southeastern Utah.
Teacher Award Tamera Newman, Bear River High School English teacher
Amy Allen Price Military History Award Richard C. Roberts, for Legacy: History of the Utah National Guard from the Nauvoo Legion Era to Enduring Freedom.
Dale L. Morgan Award for the best scholarly article in Utah Historical Quarterly
Polly Aird, for "Bound for Zion: The Ten- and Thirteen-Pound Emigrating Companies, 1853-54."
Morris S. Rosenblatt Award for the best general interest article in UHQ James R. Swensen, for "Dorothea Lange's Portrait of Utah's Great Depression."
Nick Yengich Award for the UHQ article selected as editors' choice Ronald Walker, for "Wakara Meets the Mormons, 1848-1852: A Case Study in Native American Accomodation."
Best Book Sara Barringer Gordon, for The Mormon Question: Polygamy and Constitutional Conflict in Nineteenth-Century America.
Best Article outside of UHQ
Robert Parson, for "Lone Pine Dam and Reservoir" in Agricultural History.
William P. MacKinnon Award for Staff Development
Cory Jensen, architectural historian.
Thatcher wins award
Arthur Brown, one of Utah's first two U.S. senators, may have promised to marry his mistress, but he dawdled too long. Fed up with waiting, she shot him to death. For her article on Brown, USHS's Linda Thatcher recently won the award for best biography, autobiography, or family history at the Evans Biography Workshop at Utah State University. The article first appeared in the summer 1984 Utah Historical Quarterly.
New donations to USHS collections
Academy Square Books
We are grateful to L. Douglas Smoot for donating the eight-volume set The Miracle at Academy Square. The set (one of six), written and compiled by Smoot, tells of efforts by him and others to preserve the Brigham Young Academy Building in Provo, Utah. Volume One covers the history of the building, built by Brigham Young Academy in the 1880s. Brigham Young University used the building until 1968 and sold it in 1975. Finally, in 2001, after extensive renovation and construction, the Provo City Library moved to Academy Square. The book documents the seven-year process that led to the Academy's preservation. The books are now available for patron use. Extra copies of Volume One have been printed and can be purchased from the BYU Bookstore or the Provo City Library.
Olympic Bid Collection
When Mike Korologos served as communications director for the Salt Lake Olympic Bid Committee, he did not know whether anyone was saving anything for history, "So I became the resident historian and put some items away? I knew they'd be of interest sometime."
Mike has donated these bid-related items to the Utah State Historical Society.
Among the items is a stick flag with the Salt Lake bid logo on it. "These flags were used very effectively on the day Salt Lake was named the host city, June 15, 1995," he says. Besides the officials who would be making the presentation in Budapest, about 400 community members had flown there at their own expense to show support.
On the morning of the vote, these supporters lined a bridge over the Danube River. "It was an incredible sight. As the limousines approached, the Utah boosters were waving flags and cheering, showing great support from the community--which is so important. Some IOC officials told us they were very impressed."
We're grateful to Mr. Korologos for his historical vision and his generous donation.
Academy Names Director
In August the Academy for Ancient Sites and Cultures named Dale Davidson as its director. The Academy teaches skills needed in the preservation of the Southwest's archaeological sites and will offer new classes in spring 2004.
Teacher of the Year champions history
Students of Utah's 2004 Teacher of the Year, Scott Crump, learn that history is challenging, exciting, and relevant--as their teacher knows from personal experience. Bingham High teacher Scott Crump is a member of the Utah State Historical Society, a founding member of the Riverton Historical Society, and co-author of a published history of Riverton. Crump has also won USHS's Teacher Award.