In This Issue

It is not always easy to recognize pivotal points in the writing of history. But for the history of Utah, one occurred in 1954 with the publication in the Utah Historical Quarterly of Helen Zeese Papanikolas’ article, “The Greeks of Carbon County.” That article expanded the horizon of Utah history to recognize and to include long ignored but important groups. It was the first of several other articles published in the Utah Historical Quarterly in the 1950s that examined aspects of ethnic life in Utah among the Scandinavian, Irish, and German communities in the state. Subsequent articles in the 1960s and 1970s considered the Utes, Chinese, Scots, African Americans, Italians, Hispanics, and the Southern Slavs. A special Summer 1972 issue of the Quarterly was devoted to Utah’s ethnic minorities. These articles helped lay the groundwork and stimulate interest for the compilation and publication in 1976 of The Peoples of Utah, as part of the bicentennial celebration of the Declaration of Independence. Edited by Helen Zeese Papanikolas, the book contains fourteen chapters on various ethnic groups and nationalities that helped build Utah. In 2001, twenty-five years later, Stanford Layton compiled a collection of fourteen articles from the Utah Historical Quarterly in a volume entitled, Being Different: Stories of Utah’s Minorities.

These two important books help us to understand Utah history through the eyes and experiences of our neighbors and in doing so add depth and richness to our history. In this first issue for 2010 we continue to probe and examine our ethnic heritage with four stimulating articles.

From 1850 until the beginning of the twentieth century, the Scandinavian countries of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway sent more immigrants to Utah than any other area of the world. Almost all came as converts to The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the story of preserving their language and customs during the integration process in Utah is the subject of our first article. On one hand LDS church leaders urged assimilation including learning English so that Scandinavians could interact with the majority of Saints. On the other hand, those same leaders tolerated and even supported Scandinavian language church services, publications, classes, theatrical productions, reunions, and other gatherings. In this complicated process, community building was the primary objective.

William Jefferson Hardin arrived in Park City in 1883. An African American born about 1831, Hardin was raised in the Shaker Community of South Union, Kentucky. After leaving the Shakers, Hardin served in the Union army during the Civil War and lived in Colorado and Wyoming before moving to Utah. In our second article, we are offered an insightful perspective on the life of a post-Civil War African American in the Rocky Mountain West. Hardin faced economic, political, social, and personal challenges—the latter leading him to end his life in Park City in 1889.

The word Zion, historically the name for the land of Israel and its capital Jerusalem, was also adopted by Mormons in the nineteenth century to designate their new homeland in the Great Basin. It persists today. Banks, stores, businesses, even a national park carry the name.

Zionism, a term coined in 1891, has as its purpose the establishment of a Jewish state in the land of Palestine. A Zionist movement was launched at a congress in Basel, Switzerland, in 1897 and the movement gained momentum especially in light of the World War II Holocaust. Given Salt Lake City’s long established Jewish community dating back to the 1860s, it is not surprising that an organization emerged in Utah embracing Zionism. Our third article recounts the twenty-year effort of Salt Lake City’s Hadassah women’s organization to foster the establishment and continuance of the Jewish state of Israel.

Our final article for this issue continues our examination of Utah ethnic groups as it looks at the experience of Hispanic women in Carbon County in recent decades. Like Utah Scandinavians during an earlier era, Hispanic women of Carbon County sought to preserve language and tradition as part of family heritage and as part of the larger community.

These four articles continue the Utah State Historical Society’s endeavor launched in the pages of the Utah Historical Quarterly fifty-six years ago. We hope that the next years will bring the publication of additional articles and books from Utah’s ethnic communities to help us more fully understand and appreciate “The Peoples of Utah.”

PHOTO - Members of the Manti Scandinavian Choir prepare to board a passenger car. PEOPLES OF UTAH COLLECTION, UTAH STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY