Author Archive
October Announcement for the Utah Westerners
PARLEY P. PRATT: THE APOSTLE PAUL OF MORMONISM
MATTHEW J. GROW
After Joseph Smith and Brigham Young, Parley P. Pratt was the most influential figure in early Mormon history and culture. Drawing from his recent book, Parley P. Pratt: The Apostle Paul of Mormonism (Oxford University Press, 2011—see review below), co-authored with Terryl Givens, Matthew Grow will speak on Pratt’s life in early Utah Territory, including his leading role in the exploration of southern Utah; his two missions to California and a mission to Chile which helped orient the church towards the Pacific Rim and Latin America; and the dynamics of his large polygamous family.
Matthew J. Grow is Director of Publications at the Church History Department of the LDS Church and a general editor of the Joseph Smith Papers. He was previously an assistant professor of history and director of the Center for Communal Studies at the University of Southern Indiana. The Pratt biography received the Best Book Award from the Mormon History Association. His earlier book, “Liberty to the Downtrodden”: Thomas L. Kane, Romantic Reformer, also received MHA’s Best Book Award as well as the Evans Biography Award from the Mountain West Center at Utah State University. Grow also co-edited with Gregory K. Armstrong and Dennis J. Siler Parley P. Pratt and the Making of Mormonism (The Arthur H. Clark Co., 2011). He has published articles in several scholarly journals on various topics. After graduating from BrighamYoungUniversity, he received a PhD in American History from the University of Notre Dame.
Utah Westerner speaking at the Marriott Library
John McCormick and John Sillito will be speaking about their new book, A History of Utah Radicalism: Startling, Socialistic and Decidedly Revolutionary, on Sunday, September 16th at the Marriott Library, University of Utah at 3pm.
Best known today for its conservatism, Utah actually has a long tradition of radicalism stretching back more than a century. In many ways, Utah radicals have been part of national patterns. In the 1890’s Utahns, like their counterparts across the country, sought to build a Populist Party and a viable union movement. Of particular importance is the Socialist Party of America, which reached a peak of political influence in the first two decades of the twentieth century–in Utah and nationally–as over one hundred socialists were elected to office in Utah towns. While little known today, Utah’s radical past helps us gain a fuller picture of the state’s diverse past.
John McCormick and John Sillito will draw on their recent book A History of Utah Radicalism: Startling, Socialistic and Decidedly Revolutionary, published by Utah State University Press. McCormick and Sillito are also the editors of A World We Thought We Knew: Readings in Utah History published by the University of Utah Press.
John S. McCormick earned a Ph.D. in intellectual history from the University of Iowa. He is currently dean of the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Salt Lake Community College. He has published books and articles in a number of areas, including political history, urban history, historic preservation, and the built environment. His books on Utah history include The Gathering Place: An Illustrated History of Salt Lake City.
“John Sillito is emeritus professor of libraries at Weber State University and currently teaches there as an adjunct in the History Department. A native of Salt Lake City, he has degrees in history and political science from the University of Utah. He is the editor of History’s Apprentice: The Diaries of B. H. Roberts, 1880-98. His writings have appeared in such journals as the Utah Historical Quarterly, Sunstone, and Dialogue: A Journal of Mormon Thought.
September Announcement for the Utah Westerners
A LEGACY OF VENERATION: RIVERS I HAVE KNOWN AND LOVED
STEPHENIE AMBROSE TUBBS
Each summer Stephenie Ambrose’s mother and father, historian and bestselling author, Stephen Ambrose, would pack up their five children and take them on “grand adventures” centered on specific historical events. They spent most of every summer on the road, car camping and traveling across the Great Plains while Stephen researched his latest book. They canoed and hiked entire swaths of America and learned what it meant to live from campground to campground like pioneers heading west.
Stephenie will detail some of the highlights of those memorable trips and the lessons she learned along the way. She particularly enjoys engaging younger audiences (she’ll make an exception in our case) in getting out of doors and in recognizing their personal roles in preserving and protecting special places for their children and their children’s children. National Historic Sites and Trails, National Parks, National Monuments and Wildlife Refuges all depend on a strong network of supporters and advocates if they are to continue to be maintained. She sees that our job is to teach our children how to venerate places and river systems. She feels strongly that we must convey to them what it means to be good stewards and how they are part of the legacy of taking care of the roots of our story as Americans.
Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs holds two degrees in history from the University of Montana and has written and spoken extensively on local and western history, the Lewis and Clark Expedition and Trail, and conservation and preservation of wild spaces in the West. Following in her father’s footsteps, Stephenie became a sought-after expert on the Trail and the Corps of Discovery. During the bicentennial of the Lewis and Clark Expedition (2003-2006) she traveled the entire trail speaking about various aspects of the expedition.
She was a researcher for Stephen Ambrose’s three-volume biography of Richard Nixon and went on to become a respected author in her own right, writing The Lewis and Clark Companion: An Encyclopedic Guide to the Voyage of Discovery and Why Sacagawea Deserves the Day Off and Other Lessons from the Lewis and Clark Trail (with Clay Straus Jenkinson). (See reviews that follow).
Stephenie currently serves as Co-Chair of the Lewis and Clark Trust, serves on the Board of the Montana Preservation Alliance and on the Advisory Council for the American Prairie Reserve.
For months we have been waiting with anticipation and excitement for this evening with Stephenie Ambrose Tubbs. Don’t miss this opportunity to hear from a popular and respected speaker and author and be sure to invite a guest.
Utah Westerner in the New York Times
The New York Times recently wrote an article based on Utah Westerner, Ken Cannon’s research. You can read the article here:
Utah Westerners win Westerners International Book Awards!
Rod Miller has won the 2011 Fred Olds Poetry award for his book ‘Things a Cowboy Sees and Other Poems’
David Bigler and Will Bagley’s work ‘The Mormon Rebellion: America’s First Civil War, 1857-1858’ received second place in the 2011 Co-Founders Best Book Work.
Nice work gentlemen.
Utah Westerners and the 60th Annual Utah State History Conference
The Utah Westerners will be sponsoring a panel at this year’s Utah State History Conference on Saturday the 22nd at 1:30. The session is titled ‘The Chinese in Utah’ and features UW members John Eldredge, Gary Kimball and Walter Jones. Brad Westwood will moderate. More information can be found here:
http://history.utah.gov/historical_society/annual_meeting/index.html
August Announcement for the Utah Westerners
2012 Short Summer Excursion
“Show and Tell” Program –
Western and Early Utah Materials from the Church History Museum and Library
We are returning to the LDS Church History Library by popular demand after a very successful 2010 program. The focus will be on Western and early Mormon Utah.
Glenn Rowe, Bill Slaughter, Peter Crawley and Paul Geddes will guide members throughout the evening. Brad Westwood will act as wrangler for the evening.
A sampling of what will be shown:
- List of recorded brands [Salt Lake City? 1850?], 20 p. The first brand book printed in American, issued serially a 4-page sheet at a time, beginning in Feb 1850.
- Rules and regulations for the emigrants on board the ship [New York? 1846?]; Broadside. Issued February 4th 1846, prior to the sailing of the Brooklyn, bound for California.
- California Star, v. 1-2 1847-1848. Sam Brannan took his New York press on the Brooklyn, undoubtedly intending to use it to publish a Mormon newspaper in California. On January 9th he issued the first number of the California Star—the first newspaper in San Francisco, the second in California.
- General epistle from the Council of the Twelve Apostles [St. Louis, 1848], 8 p. 25.1 cm; unopened sheet, crisp and clean. Dictated by Willard Richards to Robert Campbell on December 16th–17th, 1847, and printed in 3000 copies at the St. Louis Republican in January 1848; this epistle recounts the journey of the pioneer company to the Salt Lake Valley.
- William Clayton. The Latter-day Saints’ emigrants’ guide (St. Louis, 1848), 24 p. John Taylor’s copy of the most famous, and best, of all the early overland guide books, tabulated by Clayton on the return trip from the Salt Lake Valley to Council Bluffs.
- 50¢ Great Salt LakeCity printed bank note, 20 Jan 1849. The first instance of printing in the Great Basin, struck off by Brigham H. Young and Thomas Bullock on a small press made by Truman O. Angell.
- Chief’s blanket, acquired by Jacob Hamblin trading with Navajo; one of the earliest blanket styles known.
- Colt revolvers, a gift by Samuel Colt to Brigham Young.
Utah Westerners Field Trips 1989-2012
2012 California Gold Fields
2011 Fur Trade Rendezvous
2010 Land of the Hopi & Highway 89
2009 Loneliest Highway & Ely
2008 Mesa Verde
2007 Utah Wars
2006 Nebraska Trail, Fur Trade & Sioux Wars
2005 Central Idaho
2004 Monument Valley & Canyon De Chelly
2003 Nine Mile, Uintah Basin & Baxter Pass
2002 The Black Hills
2001 Fort Limhi & Big Hole
2000 Meeker Massacre & Saratoga
1999 Montana with Roy Souder
1998 Bear River Massacre & City of Rocks
1997 Northern New Mexico & Santa Fe
1996 Mountain Meadows, Parawon Gap & Lee’s Ferry
1995 Southern Arizona, Tuscon, Nogales & Tombstone
1994 Wyoming, Montana & Buffalo Bill Museum
1993 Wyoming, Sheriden & Custer Battlefield
1992 Donner Trail & Pass
1991 Fur Trade Rendezvous
1990 Mesa Verde
1989 Eastern Wyoming
Utah Westerners 2012 Field Trip
California Gold Rush, July 19 to 22
The Utah Westerners explored the history of “The Gold Fields of California.” We saw the significant emigration trails carved into the granite of the Sierra Nevada and gazed upon sites that changed the direction of our nation.
Our trip included tours of: John Sutter’s Fort, James Marshall Gold Discovery site, California Railroad Museum, Empire Mine State Park, Old Town Sacramento, Mormon Station at Genoa, and a guided tour of the Mormon Emigrant Trail with Frank Tortorich. We saw some very special items brought out from the California State Library “California Room” exclusively for the UW by Gary Kurutz.
Utah Westerner Steve Berlin took hundreds of photographs of this great trip. That you can view here http://steveberlin.smugmug.com/Other/Utah-Westerners-2012-Field/24371688_qDGmrk#!i=1986431879&k=RnWHRRx
June Announcement for the Utah Westerners
RHYME TIME: COWBOY POETRY AT UTAH WESTERNERS
ROD MILLER
GIBBS SMITH
PAUL BLISS
BRENDA “SAM” DeLEEUW
Rhymes will ricochet off the walls of the Alta Club as we enjoy an evening of a time-honored Western tradition: cowboy poetry. Utah Westerner Rod Miller will introduce the subject, with a brief rundown of the history, resurgence, and continuing popularity of cowboy poetry. Gibbs Smith, Westerner and respected publisher, will recount his involvement with cowboy poetry, including the publication of several anthologies that helped popularize the art.
Then the microphone will pass to two ofUtah’s finest and most acclaimed cowboy poets. Award-winning reciter Paul Bliss will favor us with recitations of classic poems from cowboy poetry’s distant and more recent past, and Brenda “Sam” DeLeeuw will entertain us with the humorous, entertaining, and downright outlandish poems that make her a popular performer around the West.
Rod Miller is author of the collection Things a Cowboy Sees and Other Poems and several other books. His poetry has appeared in numerous periodicals and anthologies. A founding member and former officer of Cowboy Poets of Utah, he now serves on the Executive Board of Western Writers of America and is winner of that organization’s Spur Award for Poetry.
Long-time Utah Westerner Gibbs Smith is a pivotal figure in the resurgence and current popularity of cowboy poetry. His contribution to the art includes publication of numerous anthologies, including the ground-breaking Cowboy Poetry: A Gathering, Cowgirl Poetry: One Hundred Years of Ridin’ and Rhymin,’ and several others. A long-time supporter of the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering and the Western Folklife Center, he serves that organization as a member of the National Advisory Council.
A lifelong Utah cowboy, now living in Salem, Paul Bliss has driven livestock across the West from the saddle, a wagon, and the driver’s seat of a long-haul truck. One winter he rode horseback through the west desert to the National Cowboy Poetry Gathering in Elko, Nevada. He has appeared on the main stage of that gathering; won championship buckles at the National Cowboy Poetry Rodeo, and has appeared at other cowboy poetry gatherings around the West. Paul is a respected reciter of original as well as classic cowboy poems. He served as both President and Chairman of the Board of Cowboy Poets of Utah.
Brenda “Sam” DeLeeuw grew up inIdaho where she competed in arena events and was a rodeo queen. Sam is widely recognized and honored for her poetry and has won numerous awards: twice named Female Poet of the Year by the Western Music Association, inducted into the Cowboy Poets of Idaho Hall of Fame, named Humorist of the Year and Will Rogers Award winner by the Academy of Western Artists, and National Cowboy Rodeo winner. A popular performer, Sam appears on stages all over the West. Past President of Cowboy Poets of Utah, she currently serves as president of the Wordsmiths Chapter of the Western Music Association.
This will be an unforgettable and entertaining evening that you won’t want to miss. In fact, you would do well to invite a guest to enjoy this unique event with you.
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