In Memoriam

A. Russell Mortensen

ARLINGTON RUSSELL MORTENSEN, HONORARY LIFE MEMBER and former director of the Utah State Historical Society, died February 19, 1995, in Escondido, California, at age eighty-four. His professional career spanned more than four decades and earned him distinction as a historian, teacher, editor, and administrator.

Born in Salt Lake City on January 30, 1911, Russ grew up in California, then returned to Utah for college. After graduating from Brigham Young University in 1937, he taught high school in Garfield County and Provo for a time but interrupted his professional career by volunteering for navy service in World War II He served nearly three years, mostly in the Western Pacific, as a communications officer Following discharge he began a postgraduate program at UCLA There he studied under John C Caughey, who had studied under Herbert E. Bolton, who had studied under Frederick Jackson Turner, and it was always with special pride in years to come that Professor Mortensen spelled out this academic lineage to his own graduate students. During his graduate school days he also taught history at San Bernardino Valley College.

Beset by personal tragedy—the death of his wife, Bessie Burch Mortensen—upon completion of his doctoral program in 1950, Russ moved with his six small children to Salt Lake City where he accepted the offer to direct the Utah State Historical Society. As the agency's first full-time professional director he launched several initiatives that ushered the Society into the modern era. He changed the look of Utah Historical Quarterly and began attracting submissions to it from established scholars, founded the Utah State Historical Society Newsletter, and instituted the annual meeting and awards program. He succeeded in gaining a viable appropriation from a tight-fisted legislature and hired a small but professionally trained staff. He drafted legislation, soon passed into law, creating the State Archives, and served as state archivist in collateral capacity. He also lobbied for and obtained the magnificent Kearns Mansion as the Society's new home, liberating the agency from cramped quarters in the Capitol, and promoted an inviting and stimulating environment that appealed to a broad range of researchers and other patrons Within the warmth and comfort of the mansion, the energetic Russ Mortensen organized and hosted public lectures, invited and gained donations to the library, and began a microfilm collection. It is axiomatic among Utah historians today that no one had a greater impact in shaping the image, standards, and traditions of the Society than this dynamic and talented man.

Russ Mortensen's years at the Historical Society were his most productive as a researcher and writer He authored a series of essays on historic buildings and places in Utah, published by the U of U Press under title of Early Utah Sketches: Historic Buildings and Scenes in Mormon Country. In partnership with William Mulder he edited and introduced the classic collection of historic documents, Among the Mormons, originally published by Alfred A. Knopf and still in print today. He also authored and edited several articles for Utah Historical Quarterly and read numerous papers at conferences and gatherings.

Ready for new challenges, Russ left the Historical Society in 1961 for the University of Utah—as director of the press and as professor of library science and history His life was again touched by sadness with the death of his second wife, Florence Page Mortensen, the following year. But the decade of the 1960s was a great time to be on campus, and Professor Mortensen obviously enjoyed this period of his life. He began a new partnership in love and respect with his marriage to Dorothy Z. Summerhays in 1963, and he made sure she was never very far away as he scurried from one administrative or professorial tasking to another. Russ helped found the Western History Association and, along with C. Gregory Crampton, served as founding editor of The American West magazine His office was always a lively center of business and conversation. The graduate students who paid this grand mentor a visit could be assured of a friendly greeting, scholarly guidance, encouragement, and an entertaining story or two. If undergraduate students were sometimes unsure what to make of this iconoclastic and sometimes shrill instructor who could shift in an instant from decorous lecturer to mischievous storyteller, they never had any doubt about his effectiveness as a teacher. The Mortensen classes and seminars were always full.

A new decade brought new yearnings In 1970 Russ and Dorothy left for Washington, D.C, and a return to public history with his appointment as chief historian, Branch of Park History, National Park Service. His last year with the NPS, 1973, was as assistant director. In these roles he had a large voice in shaping standards for historic preservation and in promoting public enthusiasm for them throughout the nation. After official retirement he stayed close to the profession, returning to the U of U for a stint as visiting professor, serving as executive director of the Alabama Historical Commission as late as 1979, attending various association annual meetings, and indulging his everlasting love affair with good history books and journals.

Those who knew Russ Mortensen will recall his gregarious nature and noisy personality, his spontaneous and contagious smile, his earthy language and endless similes, his sense of loyalty to profession and colleagues, and, always, his candor Russ was just as honest with and about himself as he was with and about anyone or anything else. "I think I am good for the National Park Service," he reflected in 1972, "but I don't think they could stand too many like me, if you know what I mean." No need to worry. There simply was no one else like Russ Mortensen.

In 1978 the American Association for State and Local History honored Russ with its highly coveted Award of Distinction. It was a fitting tribute to a man who had served the association so long and faithfully-—in such capacities as editor, councilman, secretary, president, and advisor—and who had spent a lifetime promoting history and the historical profession. The citation read simply "for inspiration and energy in activating the cause of state and local history across the nation." Those few words will long ring in the appreciative hearts of the countless people whose lives were touched by this oneof-a-kind man.

STANFORD J LAYTON