If you were at the Museum of Fine Arts at the University of Utah and someone started carving their initials into a sculpture, you’d do something to stop it, right? Then why don’t we do more to stop people from defacing rock art found throughout Utah’s landscape? Archaeologists from more than a dozen agencies and private organizations invited the public to tackle this issue … [Read more...]
Sherlock Holmes in Salt Lake City
A young writer is facing a blank page. What to write about? He's got it! A detective solving a case involving murder revenge, sexual predation … and Brigham Young! Throw in as a sidekick, Dr. John Watson, late of the Afghan Wars, and you have the makings of A Study in Scarlet. And the detective? None other than the esteemed Sherlock Holmes with the mailing address 221B Baker … [Read more...]
Utah’s Disappearing Past
“Don’t it always seem to go, you don’t know what you’ve got till it’s gone. They paved paradise and put up a parking lot.” ~Joni Mitchell The 1960s and 70s were a great time to be a kid. Utah was less cosmopolitan back then and our fun was homegrown. I remember the ride from Granger (now West Valley City) to Saratoga Springs, an amusement park and resort on the northwest … [Read more...]
Delta’s Topaz Museum Brings Life to a Difficult Time in Our Past
It was 30 years in the making when the Topaz Museum finally opened in July. Its director, Jane Beckwith, said, “We come together today as a community that balances immigration … with kindness, or in this case, a lack of kindness.” The museum commemorates the internment of Japanese-Americans in southwestern Utah after Japan’s attack on Pearl Harbor. President Franklin … [Read more...]
Through God’s Typewriter
Marie Ogden claimed a direct communiqué with God via divine manipulation through her typewriter. She began touring the country, lecturing, slowly gaining a devout and following congregation, and would eventually establish the little-known pious commune, the Home of Truth, in 1933 … You probably haven’t heard of Marie Ogden. Hell, most of the people living in Monticello, … [Read more...]
Revisiting Utah’s Mining Past
Utah’s Underground Legacy Utah’s mining history is rich in ore, lore, and gore. Tales of lost mines guarded by winged seraphim and the spirits of Native American warriors have become the stuff of legend, recounted in campfire tales at Boy Scout camps and lauded by authors eager to exploit the greedy tendencies of gullible readers. It’s fascinating stuff, and fables, true or … [Read more...]
Babs De Lay – Repurposing History
I have a home for sale that has hardwood floors re-purposed from the old Deseret Gym. Don’t you love it when people salvage great old hardware, doors, windows, and flooring to put into their new homes? It’s like adding instant history as well as charm. There are two types of people in Utah: 1) those who went to the Deseret Gym, and 2) those who didn’t. The gym/spa closed in … [Read more...]
Salt Lake City Painter Combines Art and History to Make a Living
Anthony Ithurralde is a Salt Lake City-based artist best known for his historical illustrations that depict styles influenced by the 1920’s through the 1960’s. His art captures a certain essence of each decade and reflects a mix of Max Fleischer cartoons with vintage hand painted advertisements. Ithurralde's love for painting is intertwined with a love for history. “I’ve … [Read more...]
How Ogden Trappers and Pioneers Celebrated Christmas
Beginning in the 1820s, mountain men were lured to northern Utah by promises of wealth in the lucrative beaver pelt trade. Frontier trappers were the first inhabitants who kept records of events in the Ogden Valley. This was before there were trails through the mountains. The beauty of the wilderness was immaculate, but there was hardness and danger in that beauty. The … [Read more...]
The Face of Utah During the Great Depression
Utahns are a resilient lot, hearty and self-reliant. The Mormon Church teaches its members to be prepared in the event of a national or world-wide economic crisis, natural disaster, or other unforeseen calamity, and yet, in spite of advanced preparation by many of its citizens, Utah was one of the states hardest hit by the Great Depression of the 1930s—the result of a Stock … [Read more...]