Utah Westerners

April 2024 Meeting Announcement

April 11, 2024 at 6:07 pm SBerlin Leave a comment

• Dinner and Presentation
• TUESDAY, APRIL 16, Alta Club
• 6:30 p.m. mingling, 7:00 p.m. dinner, 8:00 p.m. presentation
• Reserve space with Craig Smith at email utwesterners@gmail.com or at 801-712-6183. Payment of $45 at the door by cash, check, or PayPal. Drinks by credit card. No reservations after 1:00 p.m. April 11.
• April 2024 Utah Westerners Newsletter available to view or download here.

Author to Speak on Southern Paiutes

Logan Hebner

Logan Hebner moved to Alta, Utah, in 1978 after graduating cum laude from Vassar College. In 1980 he founded the Bit and Spur Mexican Restaurant in Springdale. In 1987 he founded the International State Legislative Exchange, which brought delegations from ex-Soviet parliaments to the United States to study democracy. He began interviewing Southern Paiute elders in 1992, which resulted in his book, Southern Paiute: A Portrait. He is also the  executive director of Zion Canyon Mesa, an arts and humanities center in Springdale. He currently resides in Rockville with his wife, Angie, with whom he has two sons.

Hebner came to know the Southern Paiute through friendships that developed organically, which over time included attending ceremonies. When the elder Lucille Jake died, Hebner asked her daughter Vivienne if he could access any interviews with her. Surprisingly, there were none. Hebner began researching and realized that a whole generation was about to pass away without anyone recording their stories. He intensively researched available histories, ranging from John Wesley Powell, Edward Sapir, and Isabel Kelly to Martha Knack, as he was quietly handed from one elder to the next. Award-winning photographer Michael Plyler took their portraits. This work evolved from local exhibits to a book with USU and John Alley, himself a noted Southern Paiute historian.

Addendum

On 4/15/24 Logan Hebner asked that the following document be made available as a supplement to his presentation on the Southern Paiutes at the Alta Club 4/16/24: Utah_Westerners_A_Reckoning_The_Green_Valley_Conference_w_intro.02.

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