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Utah & Western American Literature is part of the 19th Century Western and Mormon Americana Collection

Utah & Western American Literature

Introduction

Primary source materials in the L. Tom Perry Special Collections document the history and development of Western American, Utah, and Mormon literature. These unique manuscript materials facilitate the study of an author’s literary and intellectual growth and they trace the development of Mormon and Western literature.

Secondary Sources and General information

The following print and electronic resources are available in Special Collections and online to aid researchers and students in their work.

  • Bibliographies
  • Surveys and Anthologies
    • A Believing People. (ed. Richard Cracroft and Neal Lambert, Brigham Young University Press, 1974.)
    • Twenty-two Young Mormon Writers (ed. Richard Cracroft and Neal Lambert, Provo, UT: Communications Workshop, 1975)
    • Greening Wheat: Fifteen Mormon Short Stories (ed. Levi S. Peterson, Midvale, UT: Orion Books, 1983)
    • Harvest: Contemporary Mormon Poems (ed. Eugene England and Dennis Clark, Signature, 1989)
    • Mormon Literature: Progress and Prospects. (Eugene England, BYU Studies, ps. 483-505, 1995)
    • Tending the Garden: Essays on Mormon Literature ( ed. Lavinia Fielding Anderson, Eugene England, Signature, 1996)
  • Sample Collections
    • Dean Hughes (MSS 1981)

      Collection contains correspondence, magazine articles, newspaper clippings, photographs, programs, and book drafts. The materials relate to Hughes' writing and publishing career. The correspondence is between Hughes and his publishers.

    • Eliza R. Snow (MSS 1081) and (MSS 607)

      Handwritten poem and a copy of the item in print. The poem apparently is an attempt to help someone facing bereavement.

      Also two handwritten letters. The items are addressed to "Dear Nephew and Niece" and to "Brother and sister Young and children." Snow writes about family matters and about her life in the "Lion House" as a wife of the president of the Mormon Church, Brigham Young.

    • Elizabeth Kane (MSS 792)

      Publications derived from manuscripts in the collection include: Elizabeth W. Kane, Twelve Mormon Homes (1874); A Gentile Account of Life in Utah's Dixie, 1872-73: Elizabeth Kane's St. George Journal (1995).

    • Clinton Larson (MSS 1984)

      Typewritten poems and correspondence related to Larson's poetry. The poems are on numerous topics.

    • Virginia Sorensen (MSS 2242)

      A collection of letters written by Sorensen to members of her family. Sorenson was the author of adult and children's literature.

    • Zane Gray (MSS 507 and MSS P85)

      Includes 35 literary manuscripts of published and unpublished Western romances and sports writings. The bulk of the items are first draft pencil holographs written on one side of legal sized paper. Of those in print their publication dates range from 1912 to 1963. Some of these titles include "Desert Gold," "The Rainbow Trail," "The Border Legion," "To the Last Man," "Tappan's Burro," "The Shepherd of Guadaloupe," and "Robbers' Roost." The collection also includes some minor correspondence and memorabilia. Photographs of Zane Grey; his homes, horses, and areas he visited. 190 items are from a photo album of a trip to Colorado in the Flattop Mountains in 1917. They include scenes of horseback riding, fishing, hunting, hiking, and life in camp. Many include a number of unidentified men and women.

    • Emmeline B. Wells (MSS 1407)

      Vol. 1 tells of Wells' overland journey from Nauvoo, Illinois to Garden Grove, Iowa in 1846. Opening pages of the diary tell of Wells' departure from Massachusetts in 1844 to join with the body of the Mormon Church at Nauvoo, Illinois. Some genealogy is also included. Wells writes detailed entries about daily chores, children, difficult traveling conditions, and her relationships with other women on the journey to Iowa. She frequently mentions the status of neighboring Mormon companies. Vol. 1 concludes with an emotional entry about her husband's apparent desertion.

      Holograph diaries and two linear feet of typed transcripts including the years 1844-1846 and 1874-1920. Her entries are daily, tell of her activities, and often present her opinions and impressions as well. The accounts are often lengthy and detailed. General Relief Society President of the Mormon Church, editor of the "Women's Exponent," an advocate of women's suffrage in 19th and 20th century Utah.

    • Mary Woolley (MSS SC 1099 and 452)

      Bound typewritten autobiography of Mary Woolley Chamberlain. Mary lived in St. George, Kanab, Provo, and Salt Lake City, Utah. She gives detailed accounts of family life, Mormon Church activities, and events in these towns and in Utah in general from her birth to 1936 when she wrote her history. This record was compiled, typed, and put with genealogy work-sheets and photographs probably in 1981. Also included are tributes to Mary by family members.

      Typewritten autobiography which tells of her children, friends, labors, marriage and travel. Also includes short typewritten description by Jonathan Chamberlain of his activities as an officer in the Thomas Chamberlain Family Organization.

This Popular Search Topics page offers only samplings of materials included in the 20th-21st Century Western and Mormon Americana Collection . To examine the complete collection inventory (and any other additional manuscript materials related to this topic), go to the L. Tom Perry Special Collections EAD Search page, and enter the term "Utah and Western American Literature".