Utah History: Some Dimensions for Further Study

UTAH HISTORY: SOME DIMENSIONS FOR FURTHER STUDY

By G. Homer Durham

All history may be said to be "local." That is, events happen, movements become identified, forces appear at some particular place. But is all local history important? How important, to how many, and for what reasons?

The first element in this case is the obvious one that history is a literary enterprise. That is history is written. If well written, history has a better chance of being remembered. This is true also of thee historian who writes. Escalante lives. He wrote. But who remembers Dominguez — except for a few gathered around this table tonight? Father Escalante wrote about the things that he and others did. But supposing he were a graduate student or had available to him the modern resources of historiography. About what should he write today; what could be his choices if he were concerned with Utah history?

As all history is local, so, all localities produce material for history. Some also produce historians of better quality than others. This last factor makes the events, the life, the culture of a locality, influential. And the better the writing, the more the history may have influence in the future. Ur of the Chaldees was a locality. So were ancient Thebes, Hebron, Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Athens, Sparta, Rome, Florence, Venice, Hastings, Boston and all the rest.

There are matters besides the literary facts of written history which bring the influence of Athens, Rome, Venice, Paris and London to our times with great force. But the facts of historiography also remain. Are there some dimensions, therefore, which this Society might consider in order to vouchsafe the possibility that the history made in this locality may acquire the importance it deserves; or, reach the potential influence of which it is capable?

This, of course, raises the interesting problem as to whether people should attempt to "make" history as well as write it. I will not proceed into the maze posed by this question. I will confine my remarks to the proposition that we should make the best and most intelligent effort to write about what has been and is being done. A future Toynbee may then have something more to note, concerning Utah, than the two passages found in his ten volumes, A Study of History.

A cursory review of what has been important to report in history might be noted under four headings:

1. Culture and civilization — literature, art, science, and education.

2. The power struggle — politics, fortresses, weaponry — who bears rule — how, when and where.

3. Religion and religions — the founders, the doctrines, the practices, the religious configurations among peoples.

4. Agriculture, commerce and navigation — the search for sustenance, survival and affluence.

Ur, Babylon, Thebes, Jerusalem, Persepolis, Athens, Sparta, Rome, Paris, Peiping, Hastings, Boston, appear to live in history today because of "local" history that seemed important, or was described as important, in one or more of the foregoing four categories.

All four categories bear heavily in Utah history, as in any community. The history of power and conflict is writ large in Utah history in terms of the Utah War, the Nauvoo Legion, the Liberal vs. Peoples party struggles, and so forth. Commerce and navigation are writ large in terms of the trek that penetrated a land mass, the Mormon migration, the Overland Trail, the Forty-Niners, Jedediah Smith, and the others. True, this was land navigation, but it was navigation nonetheless and ranks with at least the lesser ocean voyages. The story of irrigation and copper is also heavily laden in this category. But past evidence suggests that prominent opportunities are open to future Escalantes (if they are seeking an important means of influencing the future) in selecting materials from the fields of culture and religion.

May I outline some areas, however, under each of the four headings where, in my opinion, more history needs to be written of Utah's past. When this task is done, it may be more clear as to what area a future Escalante might select in order for him, as well as his story, to assist in shaping the future. I will rearrange the order of analysis.

THE FIELD OF ECONOMIC ENTERPRISE — AGRICULTURE, COMMERCE AND NAVIGATION

Despite what exists in archives, in university and college libraries, and in other resources, may I suggest that history needs to be written, from many angles, of the following:

The Utah Copper Company The history of the uranium industry in Utah Thiokol — history of a chemical and a new weapons system Western Air Lines (taking for the point of departure the first commercial flight with a paying passenger from the Salt Lake Airport) The Christensen Machine Company The story of the Rosenblatts and their Utah industries Charles Steen The history of irrigation — institutions Below the ditches' fall line Geneva Steel More about gilsonite Oil — especially new developments at Four Corners.

And, let us not forget George Romney, the compact car, and possible Utah connections therewith. (Is the Rambler a practical compromise between the prairie schooner and the handcart?)

THE FIELD OF GOVERNMENT AND POLITICS

In the field of government and politics — who bears rule in Zion

— we need more studies of the following than we have now:

Brigham Young — someone needs to write the story of Brigham Young from the standpoint of his impact on the world (and vice versa) in his own day. Think of the interaction with the world growing from his 1851 and 1852 discourses alone.

Reed Smoot and world affairs: Neutrality 1914-17, World War, Russia, China. The "American Party" in Salt Lake City around 1905. The "Loyal Order of Sevens" in the 1920's. Ezra T. Benson, eight years as Secretary of Agriculture.

Top: General John K. Cannon (1892-1954). Utah's highest ranking military figure, one of the world's foremost specialists on tactical aviation. Courtesy, Mrs. John K. Cannon Middle: United States Delegation to the Pan-American Conference at Montevideo, December, 1933, office of Secretary Hull, Hotel Parque, Montevideo. Left to right: Ambassader Alexander W. Wedell: Secretary of State Cordell Hull: J. Reuben Clark, Jr.: Minister J. Butler Wright; Spruille Braden. Courtesy, J. Reuben Clark Bottom: George Romney, president American Motors Coroporation, a descendant of Utah pioneers. Courtesy, Fabian Bachrach

J. Reuben Clark, Jr., a history of the U.S. negotiations in which he participated, alone, would have interesting value. His private papers, I understand, can be made available for dedicated study.

And what about Culbert L. Olsen and Goodwin Knight, the Utah-born boys who became governors of California, a neighboring state? What was the history of Olsen's years as governor of California? It ran from 1938 to 1942 — not an uninteresting period in American, world and California history. What about Knight's?

What about a history of Utah-born men who have served the United States Navy, Air Force and Army? There recurs in my memory the story of one son of Ogden, skilled in the German language, who reportedly did something quite interesting and significant in the negotiation of the cease fire on the western front in World War II. What else?

A history of the ROTC at Utah State and the University of Utah — and the leadership produced.

THE FIELD OF CULTURE AND CIVILIZATION

It is a tremendous fact that an examination of listings in American Men of Science indicates the possibility that for every 381 babies born in Utah, one will find a listing in this important scientific biographical reference, whereas from some other states, as high as 3,000 babies have to be born. What goes on here? As with the record of Utah-born men in the Navy, Army and Air Force, there may be great challenge here to capture and record history for the future. There has been much editorial comment recently on the fact that such native Utahns, or near native Utahns, as J. Roscoe Miller, V. O. Knudsen, John T. Wahlquist, O. Meredith Wilson, James Jarrett, A. Ray Olpin, ErnestWilkinson, Sterling M. McMurrin, and others, preside over such institutions as Northwestern, the University of California at Los Angeles, San Jose, the University of Minnesota, the U.S. Office of Education, and so forth, as well as local campuses. Not all these men may have time (I can testify) to dictate a diary every night for posterity. Yet here is something unique for a small desert population.

And could not someone, now that the record is closed, be persuaded to write the history of that young, vital Utahn who represented the radio and television industry before the Congress of the United States in the most volatile period of the growth and development of television, as well as the day of the radio networks ? I refer, of course, to the history of the late Ralph W. Hardy. Maybe I am speaking about biography. I think not. I am thinking, in mentioning individuals, of biography as related to history, events, social forces in our times.

Top: Westminster College Campus in 1910, view looking east. Converse Hall left: Ferry Hall, right. Courtesy, Westminster College

Bottom: First passengers, Ben Redman, left and J.A. Tomlinson, right, pose at Salt Lake City before boarding Western Air Lines first passenger flight on May 23, 1926. The history of the nation's pioneer airline has been linked with that of Salt Lake City since Western first took to the skies on April 17, 1926, on a flight linking Salt Lake City with Los Angeles, via Las Vegas. Courtesy, Western Air Lines

Have the archives anything on Grant Johannesen, his world travels and experiences, for example? What about Emma Lucy Gates, who sang in the German state opera for a decade — and who inspired a new generation of Utah musicians to look upward and outward? Spencer Cornwall has given us his volume on the Tabernacle Choir. Should there be others? Is there a life of John Hafen, the Springville artist?

THE FIELD OF RELIGION

Andrew Jenson is gone. But what a treasure-trove he left behind and what a challenge to those who work in archives today! What a history could be written of Andrew Jenson as a historiographer. To anyone who has examined the notes, the history of stakes, of missions, the memorabilia, and the other documents gathered throughout the world which he brought to Salt Lake City, must only marvel and admire. The rough configuration of his work challenges what many graduate students in our colleges and universities and others interested in the writing of history might do in their generation.

Each of the missions of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints has a remarkable history. Each needs to be written, rewritten, and added upon. Then in a few years someone can write the history of the missions of the nineteenth century, of the twentieth century, and thereafter. What happened in Chile in 1849 ? In China with the group in the 1850's? In Gibraltar, the British West Indies, India, Siam?

We have a number of distinguished volumes on the founding of the Utah empire, the gathering, the trek west. To these need to be added volumes on the dispersion, the Diaspora, the spread of the stakes. Then there is the great, still largely unwritten story of the Presbyterian missions and schools in Utah. And all the rest. True, much has been done along these lines. But, generally speaking, it has been written in the anecdotal, biographical sense, or as chronicles. Of course, because of the influential role played in Utah history past, one is tempted to comment more on the opportunity with respect to the history of L.D.S. religious ideas and practices. May I be forgiven if I do so. But may I also call attention to the opportunity that awaits more enterprising scholars in the future to call attention to the debt Utah owes the other religions for the growth of the splendid public school system of Utah, for public improvements in Salt Lake City, including paving projects and the water system, and other very practical and significant details which need to be rendered into rich history.

Projecting the foregoing thoughts into the future, I would urge that the history of L.D.S. religious ideas and practices, when tackled by young scholars, should be reviewed against the broad, rich background of western civilization and the lesser configurations therein, as suggested by the work of Spengler, Toynbee, and others. Among the religious ideas and practices which would bear such historical study and literary treatment are, obviously, the marriage customs and the family life of the Mormons. What happened to the Brigham Young family after 1877? The Kimballs? The George A. Smiths, Wells, and others? Where else are there such rich materials for the study of family history through generations? These histories can now be proudly written.

Then, what about that unique unit of religious practice — the Mormon ward ? What light on man's culture and civilization might be thrown by means of a history of the Eighteenth Ward of Salt Lake City, its people, the scope of its program and organizational life ? Compared with Garden Park, Scottsdale, Bartlesville, Oklahoma or Manchester, England, what could be learned here about social organization ?

Dr. Leonard Arrington has shown us the way with respect to the economic practices. But could a history of the Corporation of the President be written, the welfare plan? Obviously, all materials are never available, even when they are extant, for any historian. This should excuse no one with interest from writing with what materials are available. We know more about Thomas Jefferson and John C. Calhoun today than we did when their early biographers went to work. What light on the behavior patterns of men might be gained from a history of some of the doctrines, such as the dietary practices, the notion of the necessity of activity (perhaps as viewed through one of the general boards), or even as a social process in religious societies, as well as obedience and faith?

Well, here are some ideas for future master's and doctor's theses, if nothing else. What shall a present-day Escalante select for his topic? Reinforced by ancient evidence, as well as Toynbee's doctrine, if a present-day Escalante wants to be long remembered, he may well sharpen his historical tools in the field of religious history. Material respecting religious ideas and practices is found in rich abundance on the Utah scene. The book of Genesis persists and is found in a volume that continues to lead all bestsellers. The Battle of Bunker Hill will not be forgotten. But the story of Jonathan Edwards and Roger Williams has found its way into the tradition of the race also.

I make this point because sometimes, in our anxiety to capture the durable and significant, we overlook the obvious opportunity.

All history is local. All localities make history. But is all history made by a locality important ? What should be captured and recorded ?

"What is written is written," and it depends on us. Accordingly, nothing should be overlooked. We cannot always tell, in our own times, what is important. Having learned this, the State Historical Society has been established in order to encourage, develop, and broaden the scope of our historical sensitivity and search. Thereby, our historical production may one day reflect more that is important. Thereby, those who come later may have a wider choice, choice with respect to the richness and rewards of life itself, as well as choice with respect to the range of influence their light and their times may bear for others yet to come.

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