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Photo Caption: A woman reads a book to women and men gathered in the Utah Center for the Blind reading room on October 3, 1951.

Research Utah Women's History


Research Toolkit


Tools can help us to understand history. Check out the different tools provided below to help you research some of the many Utah women who made history.


Vocabulary Tools


Vocabulary helps us to understand people from the past and the present


A dictionary and thesaurus are tools that can help us to understand primary and secondary sources


Primary Sources


Primary sources are documents, newspapers, journals, diaries, or videos recorded by people who lived during and through a historical event.


Primary source analysis guides help us did into sources to help us uncover their many layers


Secondary Sources


Secondary sources are articles and books written by professional historians and published by an academic press.


Secondary sources are peer-reviewed. Peer review means that professionals fact-check a source to make sure it represents people from the past. The following guides provide some information about how to analyze a secondary source.


Explore Utah Women's History from the Utah Historical Quarterly


Aird, Polly. “Small but Significant: The School of Nursing at Provo General Hospital, 1904–1924.” Utah Historical Quarterly 86, no. 2 (2018): 102–27. 

Alexander, Thomas G. “An Experiment in Progressive Legislation: The Granting of Woman Suffrage in Utah in 1870.” Utah Historical Quarterly 38, no. 1 (1970): 20–30.

Arrington, Chris Rigby. “The Finest of Fabrics: Mormon Women and the Silk Industry in Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 46, no. 4 (1978): 376–96.

Arrington, Harriet Horne. “Alice Merrill Horne, Art Promoter and Early Utah Legislator.” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (1990): 261–76.

Arrington, Leonard J. “Women as a Force in the History of Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 38, no. 1 (1970): 3–6.

Avery, Valeen Tippets, and Linda King Newell. “The Lion and the Lady: Brigham Young and Emma Smith.” Utah Historical Quarterly 48, no. 1 (1980): 81–97.

Beecher, Maureen Ursenbach. “Women’s Work on the Mormon Frontier.” Utah Historical Quarterly 49, no. 3 (1981): 276–90.

Beeton, Beverly. “A Feminist Among the Mormons: Charlotte Ives Cobb Godbe Kirby.” Utah Historical Quarterly 59, no. 1 (1991): 22–31.

--------. “Woman Suffrage in Territorial Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 46, no. 2 (1978): 100–120.

Bennion, Sherilyn Cox. “Enterprising Ladies: Utah’s Nineteenth–Century Women Editors.” Utah Historical Quarterly 49, no. 3 (1981): 291–304.

Bitton, Davis, and Gary L. Bunker. “Double Jeopardy: Visual Images of Mormon Women to 1914.” Utah Historical Quarterly 46, no. 2 (1978): 184–202.

Bohman, Lisa Bryner. “A Fresh Perspective: The Woman Suffrage Associations of Beaver and Farmington, Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 59, no. 1 (1991): 4–21.

Brooks, Juanita. “Jest a Copin’ — Word f’r Word.” Utah Historical Quarterly 37, no. 4 (1969): 375–96.

Brooks, Juanita, and Janet G. Butler, ed. “Utah’s Peace Advocate, the ‘Mormona’: Elise Furer Musser.” Utah Historical Quarterly 46, no. 2 (1978): 151–66.

Bunker, Gary L., and Carol B. Bunker. “Woman Suffrage, Popular Art, and Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 59, no. 1 (1991): 32–51. 

Bapis, Elaine M. “In the Hands of Women: Home Altar Tradition in Utah’s Greek Orthodox Homes.” Utah Historical Quarterly 65, no. 4 (1997): 312–34. 

Bate, Kerry William. “Diary of Mary Elizabeth (May) Stapley, a Schoolteacher in Virgin, Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 60, no. 2 (1992): 158–67.

Bennion, Sherilyn Cox. “The Women’s Exponent: Forty–Two Years of Speaking for Women.” Utah Historical Quarterly 44, no. 3 (1976): 222–39.

Blakesley, Katie Clark. “‘Save ‘em, Wash ‘em, Clean ‘em, Squash ‘em’: The Story of the Salt Lake City Minute Women.” Utah Historical Quarterly 71, no. 1 (2003): 36–51.

Blomquist, Roger. “A Most Horrible Crime: The 1908 Murder of Mary Stevens in Orderville, Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 84, no. 2 (2016): 118–35.

Bradley, Martha S. “Mary Teasdel, Yet another American in Paris.” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (1990): 244–60.

Brimhall, Sandra Dawn. “Sara Alexander: Pioneer Actress and Dancer.” Utah Historical Quarterly 66, no. 4 (1998): 320–33.

Brimhall, Sandra Dawn, and David A. Hales. “Frances R. Burke: Toquerville Presbyterian Missionary.” Utah Historical Quarterly 72, no. 2 (2004): 156–66. 

Brodie, Fawn M. “Inflation Idyl: A Family Farm in Huntsville.” 4Utah Historical Quarterly 0, no. 2 (1972): 112–21. 

Bunnell, Helen E. “Depression Memories.” Utah Historical Quarterly 54, no. 3 (1986): 265–67.

Buck, Holly. “Utah 4–H, 1940–1960.” Utah Historical Quarterly 72, no. 1 (2004): 69–84.

Callahan, Kathryn. “Sisters of the Holy Cross and Kearns-St. Ann’s Orphanage.” Utah Historical Quarterly 78, no. 3 (2010): 254–74.

Carroll, Lavon B. “Melba Judge Lehner and Child Care in the State of Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 61, no. 1 (1993): 40–62.

Carver, Sharon Snow. “Salt Lake City’s Reapers’ Club.” Utah Historical Quarterly 64, no. 4 (1996): 108–20.

Constantino, Carlyle. “Emerging from the Archive: Helen M. Post’s Photographs of Twentieth–Century Navajos.” Utah Historical Quarterly 87, no. 4 (Fall 2019): 316–33.

Cooley, Everett L. “In Memoriam: Fawn McKay Brodie.Utah Historical Quarterly 49, no. 2 (1981): 204–8.

Cooper–Rompato, Christine. “Women Inventors in Utah Territory.” Utah Historical Quarterly 83, no. 3 (2015): 194–215.

Costa, Janeen Arnold. “A Struggle for Survival and Identity: Families in the Aftermath of the Castle Gate Mine Disaster.” Utah Historical Quarterly 56, no. 3 (1988): 279–92. 

Davis, Daniel. “‘Appreciating a Pretty Shoulder’: The Risqué Photographs of Charles Ellis Johnson.” Utah Historical Quarterly 74, no. 2 (2006): 131–46.

Dix, Fae Decker. “The Josephine Diaries: Glimpses of the Life of Josephine Streeper Chase, 1881–94.” Utah Historical Quarterly 46, no. 2 (1978): 167–83.

Driggs, Ken. “Who Shall Raise the Children? Vera Black and the Rights of Polygamous Utah Parents.” Utah Historical Quarterly 60, no. 1 (1991): 27–46.

Dykman, Judy. “Utah’s Silver Queen and the ‘Era of the Great Splurge.’” Utah Historical Quarterly 64, no. 1 (1996): 4–33.

Embry, Jessie. “Diploma Nursing at Salt Lake City Religious Based Hospitals.” Utah Historical Quarterly 76, no. 3 (2008): 281–99.

Foster, Lawrence. “Polygamy and the Frontier: Mormon Women in Early Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 50, no. 3 (1982): 268–89.

Gates, Susa Young. “From Impulsive Girl to Patient Wife: Lucy Bigelow Young.Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (1977): 270–88.

Geary, Edward A. “A ‘Visitable Past’: Virginia Sorensen’s Sanpete.” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 3 (1990): 216–31. 

Godfrey, Audrey M. “Pins, Patterns, and J.C. Penny: An Ogden Cottage Industry Goes Global.” Utah Historical Quarterly 68, no. 3 (2000): 258–68.

--------. “Housewives, Hussies, and Heroines, or the Women of Johnston’s Army.” Utah Historical Quarterly 54, no. 2 (1986): 157–78.

Godfrey, Kenneth W. “Warmth, Friendship, and Scholarship: The Life and Times of Virginia Hanson.” Utah Historical Quarterly 60, no. 4 (1992): 335–52.

Hales, David A. “School Days and School Marms.” Utah Historical Quarterly 67, no. 2 (1999): 100–111.

--------. “‘There Goes Matilda’: Millard County Midwife and Nurse.” Utah Historical Quarterly 55, no. 3 (1987): 278–93.

Hanson, Virginia. “I Remember Hiawatha.” Utah Historical Quarterly 40, no. 3 (1972): 265–74.

Harris, Linda W. “The Legend of Jessie Evans Smith.” Utah Historical Quarterly 44, no. 4, (1976): 351–64.

Hefner, Loretta L. “The National Women’s Relief Society and the U.S. Sheppard-Towner Act.” Utah Historical Quarterly 50, no. 3 (1982): 255–67.

Heimann, Phila. “Life More Sweet than Bitter.” Utah Historical Quarterly 52, no. 4 (1984): 396–98.

Hill, Michelle. “Hoop Mania: Fashion Identity, and Religious Condemnation in Nineteenth–Century Utah.Utah Historical Quarterly 85, no 2 (2017): 127–44.

Howard, Mary W. “An Example of Women in Politics.” Utah Historical Quarterly 38, no. 1 (1970): 61–64.

James, Laurence P., and Sandra C. Taylor. “‘Strong Minded Women’: Desdemona Stott Beeson and Other Hard Rock Mining Entrepreneurs.”  Utah Historical Quarterly 46, no. 2 (1978): 136–50.

James, Louise. “From Gunnison Utah, to Kagoshima, Japan: The Story of Mary Kimura Tokonami.” Utah Historical Quarterly 73, no. 2 (2005): 175–84. 

Johnson, Catherine M. “Emma Lucy Gates Bowen: Singer, Musician, Teacher.” Utah Historical Quarterly 64, no. 4 (1996): 344–55.

Katsanevas, Michael, Jr. “The Emerging Social Worker and the Distribution of the Castle Gate Relief Society Fund.” Utah Historical Quarterly 50, no. 3 (1982): 241–54.

Kaufman, Kathleen, and Dianne Knorr. “By Foot, by Horse, by Crummy: Louise Van Ee, School Nurse in Bingham Canyon, 1921–39.” Utah Historical Quarterly 69, no. 1 (2001): 46–59.

Kitterman, Katherine. “First to Vote: Commemorating Utah’s Suffragists” Utah Historical Quarterly,” Utah Historical Quarterly (88, 4): 

Larson, Gustave O. “An Industrial Home for Polygamous Wives.” Utah Historical Quarterly 38, no. 3 (1970): 263–75. 

Larson, T.A. “Woman Suffrage in Western America.” Utah Historical Quarterly 38, no. 1 (1970): 7–19.

Lieber, Constance L. “‘The Goose Hangs High’: Excerpts from the Letters of Martha Hughes Cannon.” Utah Historical Quarterly 48, no. 1 (1980): 37–48.

Lubomudrov, Carol Ann. “A Woman State School Superintendent: Whatever Happened to Mrs. McVicker?Utah Historical Quarterly 49, no. 3 (1981): 254–61.

Lyman, Edward Leo. “Dr. Elizabeth Tracy: Angel of Mercy in the Pahvant Valley.” Utah Historical Quarterly 66, no. 2 (1998): 118–38.

MacKay, Kathryn. “The Chocolate Dippers’ Strike of 1910.” Utah Historical Quarterly 83, no. 1 (2015): 38–51.

--------. “Sisters of Ogden’s Mount Benedict Monastery.” Utah Historical Quarterly 77, no. 3 (2009): 242–59.

Madsen, Carol Cornwall. “Decade of Détente: The Mormon–Gentile Relationship in Nineteenth-Century Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 63, no. 4 (1995): 298–319.

--------. “‘Sisters at the Bar’: Utah Women in Law.” Utah Historical Quarterly 61, no. 3 (1993): 208–32.

Maw, Herbert B. “In Memoriam: Marguerite L. Sinclair Reusser, 1895–1976.” Utah Historical Quarterly 44, no. 4 (1976): 397–98. 

McCormick, John S. “Red Lights in Zion: Salt Lake City’s Stockade, 1908–11.” Utah Historical Quarterly 50, no. 2 (1982): 168–81.

McPherson, Robert S., and Mary Lou Mueller. “Divine Duty: Hannah Sorensen and Midwifery in Southeastern Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 65, no. 4 (1997): 335–54.

Mortensen, A. R. “In Memoriam: Kate B. Carter, 1892–1976.” Utah Historical Quarterly  44, no. 4 (1976): 395–96.

Mulvay, Jill C. “The Liberal Shall be Blessed: Sarah M. Kimball.” Utah Historical Quarterly 44, no. 3 (1976): 205–21.

--------. “The Two Miss Cooks: Pioneer Professionals for Utah Schools.” Utah Historical Quarterly 43, no. 4 (1975): 396–409.

Murphy, Miriam B. “‘If Only I Shall Have the Right Stuff’: Utah Women in World War I.” Utah Historical Quarterly 58 no. 4 (1990): 334–51. 

--------. “Sarah Elizabeth Carmichael: Poetic Genius of Pioneer Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 43, no. 1 (1975): 52–66.

--------. “Women in the Utah Workforce from Statehood to World War II.” Utah Historical Quarterly 50, no. 2 (1982): 139–59.

--------. “The Working Women of Salt Lake City: A Review of the Utah Gazetteer, 1892–93.” Utah Historical Quarterly 46, no. 2 (1978): 121–35.

Noble, Antonette Chambers. “Utah’s Rosies: Women in the Utah War Industries During World War II.” Utah Historical Quarterly 59, no. 2 (1991): 123–45.

Noble, Kate. “A Great Adventure on Great Salt Lake—A True Story.” Edited by David E. Miller. Utah Historical Quarterly 33, no. 3 (1965): 218–36.

Notarianni, Phillip F. “In Memoriam, Helen Zeese Papanikolas.” Utah Historical Quarterly 73, no. 1 (2005): 87–89.

—-------.“The Carol Carlise Summer Wedding Dress Collection.” Utah Historical Quarterly 83, no. 3 (2015): 216–33.

Oman, Susan Staker. “Nurturing LDS Primaries: Louie Felt and May Anderson, 1880–1940.” Utah Historical Quarterly 49, no. 3 (1981): 262–75.

Pace, Josephine. “Kimberly as I Remember Her.” Utah Historical Quarterly 35, no. 2 (1967): 112–20.

Papanikolas, Helen Z. “Growing up Greek in Helper, Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 48, no. 3 (1980): 244–60.

--------. “Magerou: The Greek Midwife.” Utah Historical Quarterly 38, no. 1 (1970): 50–60.

Pearman, Irene Stoof. “The Memory Box.” Utah Historical Quarterly 52, no. 4 (1982): 389–92.

Price, Raye. “Utah’s Leading Ladies of the Arts.” Utah Historical Quarterly 38, no. 1 (1970): 65–85.

Pulsipher, Ernest. “A Few Personal Glimpses of Juanita Brooks.” Utah Historical Quarterly 55, no. 3 (1987): 268–77. 

Rands, Lorrie. “Food, Comfort, and a Bit of Home: Maude Porter and the Ogden Canteen, 1942–1946.” Utah Historical Quarterly 84, no. 1 (2016): 70–85.

Reeder, Jennifer. “Making an (In)delible Mark: Nineteenth-Century Mormon Girls and their Manuscript Papers.” Utah Historical Quarterly 85, no. 2 (2017): 273–78. 

Rigby, Chris. “Ada Dwyer: Bright Lights and Lilacs.” Utah Historical Quarterly 43, no. 1 (1975): 41–51.

Roper, Roger. “Homemakers in Transition: Women in Salt Lake City Apartments, 1910–1940.” Utah Historical Quarterly 67, no. 4 (1999): 349–66.

Rose, Blanche E. “Early Utah Medical Practice.” Utah Historical Quarterly 10 (1942): 14–32.

Rust, Val D. “Male and Female Teachers in Early Utah and the West.” Utah Historical Quarterly 82, no. 2 (2014): 151–66.

Saunders, Richard. “Placing Juanita Brooks among the Heroes (and Villains) of Mormon and Utah History.” Utah Historical Quarterly 87, no. 3 (2019): 218–37.

Schindler, Harold. “In Memoriam: Olive Woolley Burt, 1894–1981.” Utah Historical Quarterly 49, no. 4 (1981): 388–90.

Scott, Patricia Lyn. “Jennie Anderson Froiseth and the Blue Tea.” Utah Historical Quarterly 71, no. 1 (2003): 20–35.

Sillito, John R. “Women and the Socialist Party in Utah, 1900–1920.” Utah Historical Quarterly 49, no. 3 (1981): 220–38.

Smith, Beatrice Scheer. “The 1872 Diary and Plant Collections of Ellen Powell Thompson.” Utah Historical Quarterly 62, no. 2 (1994): 104–31.

Smith, Melvin. “In Memoriam: Juanita T. Brooks, 1898–1989.” Utah Historical Quarterly 58, no. 2 (1990): 201–3.

Smith, Michaele. “Rape Law in the Mid-Twentieth Century: Sexual Violence in Salt Lake City.”  Utah Historical Quarterly 85, no. 2 (2017): 224–37.

Solórzano, Armando, Lisa M. Ralph, and J. Lynn England. “Community and Ethnicity: Hispanic Women in Utah’s Carbon County.” Utah Historical Quarterly 78, no. 1 (2010): 58–75.

Sorenson, Patricia H. “The Nurse: Marva Christensen Hanchett of Sevier County.” Utah Historical Quarterly 85, no. 2 (1977): 163–72.

Swensen, James R. “Dorothea Lange’s Portrait of Utah’s Great Depression.” Utah Historical Quarterly 70, no. 1 (2002): 39–62.

Thatcher, Linda. “‘I Care Nothing for Politics’: Ruth May Fox, Forgotten Suffragist.” Utah Historical Quarterly 49, no. 3 (1981): 239–53. 

Thatcher, Linda, and John R. Sillito. “‘Sisterhood and Sociability’: The Utah Women’s Press Club, 1891–1928.” Utah Historical Quarterly 53, no. 2 (1985): 144–56.

Turley, Kylie Nielsen. “Kanab’s All Woman Town Council, 1912–1914: Politics, Power Struggles, and Polygamy.Utah Historical Quarterly 73, no. 4 (2005): 308–28.

Uchida, Yoshiko. “Topaz, City of Dust.” Utah Historical Quarterly 48, no. 3 (1980): 234–43.

Ursenbach, Maureen. “Three Women and the Life of the Mind.” Utah Historical Quarterly 43, no. 1 (1975): 26–40.

Ventilla, Andrea. “The History of Saint Mary’s Academy in Salt Lake City 1875–1926.” 8Utah Historical Quarterly 0, no. 3 (2012): 226–41.

--------. “Women and the Kindergarten Movement in Utah.” Utah Historical Quarterly 81, no. 2 (2013): 133–48.

Vinson, Michael. “From Housework to Office Clerk: Utah’s Working Women, 1870–1900.” Utah Historical Quarterly 53, no. 4 (1985): 326–35.

Wallis, Eileen V. “The Women’s Cooperative Movement in Utah. 1869–1915.Utah Historical Quarterly 71, no. 4 (2003): 315–31.

Wahlquist, Loreen P. “Memories of a Uintah Basin Farm.” Utah Historical Quarterly 42, no. 2 (1974): 165–77. 

Weiss, Megan. “Crazy Quilt: Material Objects as Autobiography.” Utah Historical Quarterly 86, no. 4 (2018): 366–69.

Willie, Gertrude Chapoose. “I Am an American.” Interview by Norma Denver. Utah Historical Quarterly 39, no. 2 (1971): 194–96.

Wilson, Marian Robertson. “Wanda Robertson: A Teacher for Topaz.” Utah Historical Quarterly 69, no. 2 (2001): 120–38.

White, Jean Bickmore. “Gentle Persuaders: Utah’s First Women Legislators.” Utah Historical Quarterly 38, no. 1 (1970): 31–49.

--------. “Women’s Place is in the Constitution: The Struggle for Equal Rights in Utah in 1895.” Utah Historical Quarterly 42, no. 4 (1974): 344–69.

Young, Clara Decker. “A Woman’s Experiences with the Pioneer Band.” Utah Historical Quarterly 14 (1946): 173–76.