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Industrialism Drives Utah Women to the Workplace
American industrialism at the turn of the 20th century brought Utah women out of their homes and into the workplace. There they faced inequality and wage disparity.The turn of the twentieth century saw dramatic changes that created new opportunities…
Convict Labor: Road-Building Backbone for Utah
Learn about Utah’s convict labor system and how prisoners actually formed the backbone of some of our early public works projects – especially road construction.The term "convict labor" usually conjures up images of men wearing black and white…
Utah Jobs Report, 1900
Learn about a variety of jobs done by Utahns at the turn of the twentieth century, and think about how jobs have changed - or not - over the last 100 years.According to the United States Census, there were 73,840 men and 10,764 women employed in Utah…
Oscar Eliason, Utah's Homegrown Magician
In 1899, the Utah illusionist known as “Dante the Great” died of a gunshot wound to the abdomen in the tiny Australian town of Dubbo.Born Oscar Eliason to Swedish immigrant parents, the magician began his career at the age of twenty with a…
Christmas in Early Utah
Christmas in early Utah was a festive event, filled with parties, gifts, and games. There’s a lot of debate these days about the place Christmas should occupy in American culture. Some, including Utahns, argue that we need to put Christ back into…
The 1872 Constitutional Convention
A bizarre political moment in Utah's long trek towards statehood exposes the tension between politics and religion in the Deseret. In 1872, delegates met at the Salt Lake City Hall to create a new state called Deseret out of the old Utah Territory.…
Women’s Home Missionary Society
Female Methodist missionaries in Utah forged relationships with women across religious lines, protecting and advocating for women in need throughout the state.Between 1880 and 1890, the number one recipient of resources from the Women’s Home…
John Lyon, Utah’s Own Robert Burns
John Lyon’s popular Mormon poetry and hymns secured his place in the hearts of many Mormon poetry lovers.In 1853, Scottish weaver and poet John Lyon immigrated to Utah after joining the LDS church. Born in Glasgow, Scotland, to working-class…
Utah Votes for Bryan
Voters from Utah went crazy for Democratic presidential hopeful William Jennings Bryan in the election 1896.When it comes to politics, these days national news outlets list Utah as among the reddest of the Red States. But it wasn't always so.…
Prohibition in Utah
Utah’s history of anti-liquor laws began before Prohibition in the United States.Years before the Eighteenth Amendment to the US Constitution was ratified in 1919, prohibiting the manufacture, sale, or transportation of "intoxicating liquors"…
The Ku Klux Klan
The presence of the Ku Klux Klan was not just limited to the southern United States. In fact, the KKK had grown enough to march through the streets of Salt Lake City in the early 1920s.In 1922, a small crowd of hooded and caped Ku Klux Klansmen…
Utah’s First Armistice Day
Across Utah, the end of World War I was met with large celebrations. The excitement across the state seemed to function like a collective sigh of relief.In 1918, the signing of the armistice with Germany that effectively ended World War I became the…
Women in Utah Politics
The early political history of Utah women began with the 1870 law that gave women the right to vote.With all of the attention on Hillary Clinton’s historic campaign for President, it might be interesting to take a look at the history of women’s…
The Bartleson Party
The first emigrant party to cross modern-day Utah on the way to the West Coast.In 1841, a small group of emigrants set out from Sapling Grove, Missouri, to begin a new life in the Far West. Scholars still disagree about how many were actually in the…
Marriner Eccles
The career of the Utahn who led the Federal Reserve Board through some of the darkest days of the Great Depression.With the Federal Reserve System so much in the news these days, let’s take a look at the Utahn Franklin Delano Roosevelt nominated to…
Simon Bamberger
The fourth governor of the state, Simon Bamberger, was Utah’s first non-Mormon and only Jewish governor.Ninety-two years ago, Simon Bamberger was elected governor of the state of Utah by more than 4,000 votes, leading what the Davis County Clipper…
Elizabeth Wood Kane
After Elizabeth Wood Kane arrived in Utah with her husband, her letters home became the manuscript for a book about Utah culture. Her writings shed some important light on the frontier and Mormon social customs.Most students of Utah history are at…
The Serracino Expedition
Persistent tales about a lost Spanish colony piqued the interest of Jose Rafael Serracino. Like many explorers before him, he was inspired to put together a search party and leave Santa Fe to explore the West. In 1811, more than three decades after…
VJ Day in Utah
Victory over Japan Day, the day that the Japanese government announced its surrender to the US, Utahns celebrated in the streets. Celebrations were complicated by uncertainty and fear from the Topaz Relocation Camp near Delta. On August 15, 1945, the…
Zane's Antipolygamy Crusade
A key figure in the struggle over polygamy was US Supreme Court Justice Charles Zane. His tenure on the bench saw hundreds of people convicted of illegal cohabitation or polygamy, leading some to call his work an “antipolygamy crusade”.The…