The Paul Dayton Bailey Photograph Collection, ca 1940-1980

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Utah State Historical Society
The machine-readable finding aid for this collection was created by the Collections Management staff, Utah State Historical Society.

Utah State Historical Society
Salt Lake City, Utah

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Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Summary Description
Repository:Utah State Historical Society
Call number:Mss C 414
Creator: Bailey, Paul Dayton
Title:Paul Dayton Bailey Photograph Collection, ca 1940-1980
Quantity:2 lin. ft. (3 boxes, 1 envelope)
Abstract:Paul Dayton Bailey was born in American Fork, Utah on 12 July 1906. He left home at age 13 to travel the rails until 1922, when he returned to Salt Lake City and enrolled at the University of Utah. He began his career as a journalist working as a reporter for the Salt Lake Telegram. In 1943 he purchased the Eagle Rock Advertiser and also started Westernlore Press to publish his and other authors' books, in Los Angeles, California. Bailey wrote and published over forty books on western history, as well as articles, book reviews, and tributes. After a fire destroyed Westernlore's inventory in 1973, Lynn Bailey, his son, moved the press to Tucson, Arizona. Paul Bailey died in November 1987 and is buried in Fillmore, Utah. The collection consists of photographs of his family and materials that documented his publications.

Places:
Los Angeles (California)

Form or Genre:
Black and White/Color Photographs and negatives
Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Background

Background Note

Paul Dayton Bailey was born in American Fork, Utah, on 12 July 1906. He left home at the age of 13, and traveled the rails until 1922, when he returned to Salt Lake City and enrolled at the University of Utah. To pay for school, he worked as a stable keeper, a hospital orderly, and a reporter for the Salt Lake Telegram. When the Telegram folded in 1926, Bailey left for Los Angeles to find work as a radio operator. There his search for work was also unsuccessful, and he ended up on "Skid Row." Through a happy accident, he got a job in a print shop and in a few years became a journeyman printer. He married his wife Evelyn, formerly of Fillmore, Utah, in 1927.
Still pursuing a career in Journalism, Bailey also worked as a reporter for the Los Angeles Record and the Hollywood Citizen. His first novel, Type High, a semi-autobiographical work about his experiences as a printer, was published in 1937, followed by For This My Glory in 1940. During the first part of World War II, Bailey worked for the Lockheed Corporation, editing their plant newspaper, the Lockheed Star. In 1943, Paul and Evelyn bought the Eagle Rock Advertiser, a small local newspaper in the Los Angeles area. Both Baileys threw themselves into the newspaper business, and the Advertiser soon flourished. That same year, realizing that he had no time to run a newspaper and search for publishers for his books, Bailey founded the Westernlore Press.
While he was actively running Westernlore Press, Bailey published many of his own books, as well as books by other western authors such as Robert Utley, Arthur Woodward, Max Evans, Harry James, and Pearl Baker. Bailey's books included Sam Brannan and the California Mormons, 1943; The Gay Saint, 1944; Jacob Hamblin, Buckskin Apostle, 1948; Walkara, Hawk of the Mountains, 1954; and Grandpa was a Polygamist, 1960. His books on Mormon church history were at first well received by church leaders, and for years were serialized in church publications and used for church classes. His first book by a major publisher, however, For Time and All Eternity, (Doubleday 1964), dealt with an issue (polygamy) that the church was very sensitive about, and Paul's relationship with the Mormon church went downhill from there.
In all, Bailey wrote and published over forty books on western history, as well as innumerable articles, book reviews, and tributes. He was in great demand as a speaker, and often gave talks to local and national organizations. He was a founding member of Westerners International, a member of the Los Angeles Corral of Westerners, Death Valley 49ers, E Clampus Vitus, and Western Writers of America, where he served as President in 1979-1980.
After a fire wiped out Westernlore's inventory in 1973, Lynn Bailey (his son) took control of the business from his aging father and moved the press to Tucson, Arizona. After a long illness, Evelyn Bailey died in 1981. Paul Bailey died in November 1987, and was buried by his wife in Fillmore.
Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Scope and Content

The photographs of Paul Dayton Bailey (1906-1987) consist of two linear feet of materials. Lynn Bailey donated the images to the Utah State Historical Society after his father's death in November 1987. The photographs are of the Bailey, Forbes and other related families. There are photographs of Paul Bailey's involvement with the Westerners, Los Angeles Corral and of his works.
Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation:

Paul Dayton Bailey Photograph Collection, ca 1940-1980, Utah State Historical Society.

Acquisition Information:

Gift of Lynn Bailey

Restrictions on Use

The Paul Dayton Bailey Photograph Collection is 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.

Processing Information:

Collection processed by Susan Whetstone, 2005

Finding aid compiled by Susan Whetstone and Gary Topping, 2005

Finding aid edited by Linda Thatcher, 2005

Collection cataloged by Linda Thatcher, 2005

Finding aid encoded for the World Wide Web by Craig Ringgenberg, 2005

Related collections

The photographs in this collection were separated from Mss B 414.

Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Container list

Box

Folder

Contents

Family Photographs

1

1-2

Portraits (baby/young boy)

1

3

Portraits (young man)

1

4-5

Portraits (older man)

1

6-9

Family (Charles Ramden, Olive Forbes, Bailey families)

1

10

Art

1

11-12

Death Valley

1

13

Iron Eyes Cody (originals in vault)

1

14

Kruschev, Nikita

1

15

Southwest trip

1

16

Westernlore Press

4

1-2

Family (Color)

Box

Folder

Contents

Westerners Photographs

2

1

Westerners, Los Angeles Corral, 1948

2

2

Westerners, Los Angeles Corral, 1950-1954

2

3

Westerners, Los Angeles Corral, 1955-1959

2

4

Westerners, Los Angeles Corral, 1960-1962

2

5

Westerners, Los Angeles Corral, 1963-1969

2

6

Westerners, Los Angeles Corral, Misc., no date

2

7-8

Works (Books, tours, meetings)

2

9

Yate "Sea Cloud" ship (Mexico tour)

2

10-12

Albums (Snapshots in booklets)

Box

Folder

Contents

Art Work (Oversize)

3

Baird James drawing of Paul Bailey, 1938

3

Bailey, Joseph picture on cloth

3

Unidentified man in uniform in a glass frame