The David Eugene Miller Papers, 1948-1978

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Utah State Historical Society
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Utah State Historical Society
Salt Lake City, Utah

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Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Summary Description
Repository:Utah State Historical Society
Call number:Mss B 311
Creator: Miller, David Eugene, 1909-1978.
Title:David Eugene Miller Papers, 1948-1978
Quantity:11 lin. ft. (22 boxes)
Abstract:Historian. Correspondence, notes, manuscripts, maps, photographs, teaching material.

Topics:
Dominguez-Escalante Expedition
Fur trade -- West (U.S.).
Golden Spike Centennial.
Historic trails.
Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition.
Mormons and Mormonism -- History.

Persons:
Ogden, Peter Skene, 1790

Organizations:
University of Utah

Places:
Glen Canyon (Utah).
Great Salt Lake (Utah).
Nauvoo (Ill.) -- Expulsion of the Mormons.
Oregon Trail.
United States -- History -- Study and teaching
Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Background

Biographical Note

Often referred to informally as the "dean of Utah historians," no one, perhaps, deserved the title more than David Eugene Miller (1909-1978). Competent in virtually every aspect of the history of his native state, Miller distinguished himself especially as an authority on the Great Salt Lake and Utah's historic trails, though his expertise extended as well into the entire trans- Mississippi West, the Nauvoo period of Mormon history, and United States Constitutional history. Miller spent his entire teaching career (1947-1977) at the University of Utah, where he was a founder of the Alpha Rho Chapter of the national history honorary society Phi Alpha Theta (one of the first chapters), a head of the History Department, a president of the Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters, and a founder of the American West Center. His professional influence extended far beyond the University, however, and he served in various capacities with the Utah State Historical Society, the Organization of American Historians, and as a Visiting Professor in Germany.
Miller sometimes jokingly called the Great Salt Lake "my lake," and few, if any, could come closer, through long association and profound knowledge, to sustaining the claim than he. Born in Syracuse, on the shore of the lake, Miller was a great-grandson of Henry W. Miller, who had created in 1859 the family sheep grazing business on Fremont Island (once known as Miller Island). Thus it was natural that, after completing his undergraduate and master's work at Brigham Young University, he should choose the history of the lake as the topic for his doctoral dissertation at the University of Southern California. The dissertation was never published, probably because of the appearance in the year of its completion (1947) of Dale L. Morgan's similar book on the topic, but Miller nevertheless achieved recognition, which he retained to the end of his life, as a premier authority on all aspects of the lake.
Miller also shared with Morgan an interest in Utah's fur trappers and historic trails, an interest that first manifested itself in the early 1950s as he participated in the Hudson's Bay Records Society's publication of the journals of Peter Skene Ogden. Miller distinguished himself during his study of the Ogden journals by adding to his mastery of the written sources an intimate knowledge of the actual terrain. A strong geographical emphasis, which had first appeared in his study of the Great Salt Lake, became his hallmark in his work on Ogden, the Oregon Trail, the Hole-in-the-Rock expedition, and the Dominguez-Escalante trek.
His award-winning work on the Hole-in-the-Rock episode was arguably Miller's greatest achievement as a historian. One of the great set-pieces of Mormon history, the San Juan Mission had become clouded by myth and hagiography when Miller first became attracted to its study in the 1950s, and few reliable sources were at that time available. Not content with exhausting archival material, Miller contacted all locatable descendants of the members of the original party, and thereby brought to light a great number of previously unexploited sources. As his previous work, the Hole-in-the-Rock study achieved additional depth from his intimate knowledge of the actual trail acquired on repeated traverses by Jeep and on foot. The thoroughness of his research surprised even Miller, who was able to begin the preface to the second edition of the book (1966) with the statement that "Contrary to my expectations very little new information regarding the Hole-in-the-Rock trek has come to me since the first edition of this work in 1959."
As a member of the LDS Church, Miller wrote of the Mormons with sympathy and understanding, but with a commitment as well to the critical standards of the historical profession. It was no doubt largely as a result of the searching impartiality with which he wrote of the Hole- in-the-Rockers that he was approached by Nauvoo Restoration, Inc. in 1962 to prepare a thorough history of the period of Mormon occupation of that city as a guide to its preservation.
Miller's interest in historic trails persisted throughout his life. In addition to researching portions of the Oregon Trail through Wyoming and Utah, during which he was able to revise considerably the current understanding of the routes, Miller was chosen during the Bicentennial year to supervise the Utah portion of the retracing of the route of the Dominguez-Escalante expedition. Though Miller earned an impressive reputation as a writer, he also took seriously his responsibilities as a teacher in the history department of the University of Utah. In addition to the undergraduate survey of American history, he offered courses in the Trans-Mississippi West, Utah history, and U.S. Constitutional history. A popular teacher, Miller was known for his lavish use of photographs and other visual materials by which he brought into the classroom the sites he had visited. Much of the visual orientation of his courses no doubt came from his experience in pioneering the teaching of history by television. His television courses in American and Utah history were immensely popular and offered repeatedly over many years. Another highlight of his teaching career was a visiting professorship at Christian Albrechts University, Kiel, Germany, during the summer of 1967, which inaugurated an exchange program of students and teachers between that institution and the University of Utah.
Miller's death on 21 August 1978 left a void in Utah history that was noted by many, and tributes were not slow in coming. A lecture series at the University has brought a number of distinguished scholars of the American West to Utah, and the Utah State Place Names Committee designated a point on Fremont Island "David E. Miller Point" in his honor.
Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Scope and Content

The David E. Miller Papers have been arranged for the most part by specific research projects or areas of interest, and those have been placed in the rough chronological order in which he became interested in them. After two boxes of general personal and professional files, for example, one then finds his files on the Great Salt Lake, which was the subject of his doctoral dissertation and marked his entrance into the historical profession. The roughness of this chronology, however, will be immediately apparent to anyone familiar with Miller's career and writings, for he never abandoned interest in any subject that initially attracted him, and his publications on various subjects overlap chronologically.
Miller's historiographical method relied heavily on interpretation of original sources through on-site investigations, and generally featured a strong geographical orientation. Thus one finds a great number of maps and photographs in his papers. Many of the maps which bear none of Miller's personal marks and other notes, and which are only tangentially related to his specific research projects, have been removed from the collection and catalogued separately in the Society's map collection. Several research papers written by Miller's students have likewise been removed and catalogued separately.

Series Descriptions

General Files, Personal and Professional
Great Salt Lake
Peter Skene Ogden
Historic Trails
Hole-in-the-Rock
Nauvoo Restoration
Golden Spike Centennial
John Wesley Powell Centennial
Escalante Expedition and Glen Canyon Material
Utah's History; Academic Files
Academic Files
Visiting Professorship in Germany
Miscellaneous Mormon and Utah History Notes
Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation:

David Eugene Miller Papers, 1948-1978, Utah State Historical Society.

Acquisition Information:

Gift of David H. Miller.

Restrictions on Use

The David Eugene Miller Papers are the physical property of the Utah Historical Society, Salt Lake City, Utah. Literary rights, including copyright, may belong to the authors or their heirs and assigns. Please contact the Historical Society for information regarding specific use of this collection.

Processing Information:

Collection processed by Gary Topping, 1986

Finding aid compiled by Gary Topping, 1986

Finding aid edited by Linda Thatcher, 2000

Collection cataloged by Richard Saunders, 1988 (RLIN ID: UTSX88-A112).

Finding aid encoded for the World Wide Web by Craig Ringgenberg, 2000.

Separations

Maps have been removed and placed in the map collection.

Photographs and color slides are filed in Mss C 311.

Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Container list

Box

Folder

Contents

General Files, Personal and Professional

1

1

Maps

1

2

Miller, David E., "Bingham Canyon"

1

3

Ute Indian Commission

1

4

Publicity

1

5

BYU spy ring

1

6

Utah Academy of Sciences, Arts, and Letters

1

7

Todd, Sam, "A Pioneer Experience"

1

8

Miller, David E., "Utah's 70th Birthday"

1

9

Grolier Encyclopedia

1

10

McGrath, Ralph correspondence

1

11

Bibliography

1

12

Notes on Josephus

1

13

Notes on Iosepa

1

14

Notes on Abraham Lincoln

1

15

Slide lecture on field research

1

16

Miller, David E., articles

1

17

Miller, David E., articles and reviews

2

1

Correspondence

2

2

Correspondence

2

3

LDS teacher training

2

4

Salt Lake City notes: Twain, Greeley, Burton

2

5

Miller, David E., "The Use of Local Archives"

2

6

Utah Chronology

2

7

Sons of Utah Pioneers

2

8

Utah Westerners

2

9

Certificates

2

10

El Morro--Inscription Rock

2

11

Utah Bicentennial Commission

2

12

Utah State Historical Society--Salt Lake Valley Chapter

2

13

Miscellaneous

Great Salt Lake

3

1

Correspondence

3

2

Miller, David E., "Great Salt Lake"

3

3

Miller, David E., "Great Salt Lake: An Historical Sketch"

3

4

Discovery of Great Salt Lake

3

5

Great Salt Lake Railroad Crossing

3

6

Great Salt Lake National Park

3

7

Transportation

3

8

Wildlife

3

9

Antelope Island

3

10

Fremont Island

3

11

Adamson, Norma, "Great Salt Lake"

3

12

Wenner material

3

13

Miller, S. L., "Experiences on GSL and Its Islands"

3

14

Conyers, Lloyd, "Strivings on Salt Water"

3

15

Noble, Kate Wenner, "A Fragment. . . "

3

16

Salt Works

3

17

Speed on Salt

3

18

Birds

3

19

Maps and Miscellaneous Notes

3

20

Newsclippings on GSL

Peter Skene Ogden

4

1

Correspondence--Hudson's Bay Record Society

4

2

Correspondence

4

3

Research Grants

4

4

Miller, David E., "Trapper War on Weber River, 1825"

4

5

Miller, David E., "Peter Skene Ogden Discovered Indians"

4

6

Miller, David E., "Peter Skene Ogden in GSL Region"

4

7

Black, Samuel

4

8

Ogden, Peter Skene--Maps

4

9

Miscellaneous marked maps of Ogden's routes

5

1

Ogden, Peter Skene--Journal, 1827-1828

5

2

Ogden, Peter Skene--Route, 1827-1828, notes

5

3-4

Ogden, Peter Skene, 1827-1828

5

5

Ogden, Peter Skene, 1828-1829

5

6

Ogden, Peter Skene--Routes, 1828-1829

5

7

Ogden, Peter Skene--Miscellaneous Notes

Historic Trails

6

1

Correspondence

6

2

Zeamer, Jeremiah--Diary

6

3

DEM [?] "Fort Bridger and the Mormons"

6

4

Hoffman, Alice M., "L.A. to Salt Lake Road"

6

5

Russell, Osborne

6

6

Fremont

6

7

Bidwell

6

8

Smith, Jedediah

6

9

Zweig, "Discovery of Eldorado"

6

10

Willis, Ira J.

6

11

Donner party

6

12

Walker, Joseph Reddeford

6

13

Northwestern Utah Journals

6

14

Cramer, Howard Ross, "Hudspeth's Cutoff"

6

15

Hill, Nancy--Grave

6

16

Kinney Cutoff

6

17

Trails Brochures

6

18

Miller, David E., "Oregon Trail Revisited"

6

19

Oregon Trail Research Grants

6

20

Oregon Trail in Wyoming

6

21

Oregon Trail--Miscellaneous

6

22

Miller, David E. [?], "Salt Lake Cutoff"

6

23

Salt Lake Cutoff--Contract and Notes

7

1-7

Salt Lake Cutoff--Notes

7

8

Sublette Cutoff

7

9

Sublette Cutoff--Journals

7

10

Oregon Trail Maps

Hole-in-the-Rock

8

Hole-in-the-Rock Manuscript

9

1

Barton, Joseph F.

9

2

Barton, Morgan Amasa, "Back Door to San Juan"

9

3

Jones, E. Lenora, "Life of Parley Butt"

9

4

Collett, Reuben

9

5

Dalley, Neilson B.

9

6

Dalton, Luella A.

9

7

Davis, James

9

8

Decker Family

9

9

Dunton, R. V.

9

10

Eyre, William Naylor

9

11

Hobbs, George

9

12

Hobbs, George--Inscription

9

13

Holyoak, Henry John

9

14

Jensen, Josephine A.

9

15

Jones, Kumen

9

16

Larson, Mons

9

17

Lyman, Platte D.

9

18

Nielson, Beatrice P., "Hole in the Wall"

9

19

Neilson, Jens

9

20

Nielson, Maggie, "History of San Juan County"

9

21

Redd, Caroline Nielson

9

22

Smith, Joseph Stanford

9

23

Smith, Silas

9

1-3

Correspondence

9

4

Aleson, Harry Correspondence

9

5

Clark, Don Forrest, "History of San Juan"

9

6

Explorers, 1879

9

7

Lyman, Joseph A., "Early Pioneer Battle With Bandits"

9

8

Personnel Research

9

9

Trail Marking

9

10

Notes on The Call

9

11

Research Grants

9

12

Bibliography--Book Design

9

13

Hole in the Rock--Ensign Pictures

9

14

Ensign Pictures-- Correspondence

9

15

Reid, Kenneth--Articles

9

16

Miller, David E., "Hole-in-the- Rock"

9

17

Miller, David E., "Hole-in-the-Rock Expedition"

9

18

San Juan Hill

9

19

Knight, L. Clarinda, "Exploring Expedition"

9

20

Lyman, "Land of Pagahrit"

9

21

Sewell, Clarinda, "Hole in the Rock"

9

22

Reviews

9

23

Miscellaneous Hole-in-the-Rock Notes

Nauvoo Restoration

11

1

Correspondence

11

2

Legal-Financial

11

3

Jenson, Andrew

11

4

Mace, Wandle

11

5

Ford, Thomas, Gov., "Mormon Difficulties"

11

6

Notes on Commerce, Illinois

11

7

Kane, Thomas L., "The Mormons"

11

8

Snider, Cecil

11

9

Fowler, Melvin L., "Preliminary Archaeological Excavation at the Nauvoo Temple Site"

11

10

Maps

11

11

Miscellaneous Notes

11

12

Carson, Jane, "We Were There" (Williamsburg, Virginia)

11

13

Literature on Williamsburg, Virginia

12

Miller, David E. and Della S., Nauvoo: The City of Joseph Manuscript

13

1

Nauvoo notes from Hosea Stout

13

2

Taylor, Samuel on Nauvoo

13

3

Nauvoo Surrender

13

4

Smith, Joseph to Emma Smith, 1840

13

5

Jamestown-Yorktown

13

6

Early map of Nauvoo area

13

7

Hotchkiss and Tuttle property

13

8

Higbee, F. M. to Mr. Gregg, May 1844

13

9

Smith, Emma to Mr. Gregg, 21 April 1846

13

10

Pratt, Orson to Robert D. Foster, 20 October 1840

13

11

Smith and Rigdon's addition, 18 January 1842

13

12

Beach, Riley R. to John Gillett, 14 August 1838

13

13

Smith, Joseph to H. R. Hotchkiss, 13 May 1842

13

14

Hyde, Orson to H. R. Hotchkiss, 3 September 1844

13

15

Gillett, John to Smith Tuttle, 15 July 1844

13

16

Smith-Tuttle letters

13

17

John Gillett to Smith Tuttle, 14 November 1841

13

18

C. Robison to John Gillett, December 1854

13

19

Morgan, "Ownership of lots in Nauvoo"

13

20

"The Interpretive Philosophy of Colonial Williamsburg"

13

21

Williamsburg (Virginia) archives

13

22

Nauvoo land patents

13

23

Miller, David E., "1847 Mormon Migrations"

13

24

Richards, Willard to Mary Page, 25 November 1843

13

25

Nauvoo House

13

26

Chrisman letter, 4 July 1848

13

27

Miscellaneous primary documents (copies)

Golden Spike Centennial

14

1

Correspondence

14

2

News releases

14

3

Symposium

14

4

Myrick, David

14

5

Richardson, Reed

14

6

Biographies and photos of symposium participants

14

7

Golden Spike--miscellaneous

John Wesley Powell Centennial

14

8-10

Powell Centennial

14

11

Rusho, W. L., "Major Powell's Epic Canyon Voyage"

Escalante Expedition and Glen Canyon Material

15

1

Correspondence

15

2

Budget and Research Plans--Escalante Bicentennial

15

3

Miller, David E., "Paria Canyon: Scenic Wonder of Southern Utah"

15

4

Miller, David E., "Discovery of Glen Canyon, 1776"

15

5

Discovery of Glen Canyon TV Program

15

6

History of Glen Canyon slide lectures

15

7

Explorer Scout Trips in Glen Canyon

15

8

Crossing of the Fathers notes

15

9

Loper, Bert interview with Hector Lee

15

10

Miller, David E., "The Dominguez-Escalante Trail: A Re-examination"

15

11

Publicity

15

12

Dominguez-Escalante Bicentennial Trail Study

15

13

Minutes and reports, Bicentennial Trail Study

15

14

Miller, David E., "The Discovery of Glen Canyon. . . Ute Ford and Crossing of the Fathers"

15

15

Dominguez-Escalante diary translation

Utah's History; Academic Files

16

1

Utah's History: Correspondence

16

2

Utah's History: Outlines

16

3

Utah's History: Critics' Comments

16

4

Utah's History: DEM, Chapter 4

16

5

Miller, David E., "Reconstruction in Louisiana" (USC term paper) and USC history course examination paper

16

6

History 170

16

7

History 170: Expansion

16

8

The Confederate Constitution

16

9

Standing-Up Country Exhibit

16

10

History 76

16

11

Miller, David E., "The American Presidency"

16

12

Miller, David E., "Impeachments in U.S. History"

16

13

Jackson

16

14

French Colonization

16

15

Miller, David E., "Russia's First Iron Curtain"

16

16

New Deal--Foreign Affairs

16

17

Miller, David E., "Our Constitutional System"

16

18

Constitutional Convention

16

19

Government Regulations

16

20

Progressive Era

16

21

Foreign Relations--1790s

16

22

English and Colonial Background

16

23

Executive Branch

16

24

Reconstruction

16

25

Constitutional History Course

Academic Files

17

1

Garver, Frank H.-- "American Constitutional History"

17

2

Washington Administration

17

3

Constitutional Convention

17

4

Constitutional Convention

17

5

Constitutional History Course

17

6

Amendments

17

7

American Revolution

17

8

Articles of Confederation

17

9

Franklin's Plea for Prayer

17

10

Ratification

17

11

Reconstruction

17

12

Civil Rights Cases

17

13

Progressive Era

17

14

New Deal

17

15

Crampton, C. G., "American Historians"

17

16

Cheeseman, William E., "The Pony Express"

18

1

Correspondence

18

2

Lecture Notes--1920s

18

3

Constitutional History

18

4

Sectionalism

18

5

Supreme Court

18

6

Federalism--English Background

18

7

European Background

18

8

Miller, David E., "Educational Television"

18

9

Secession

18

10

Civil War

18

11

New Deal

18

12

Miller, David E., "Roosevelt's Part in the Venezuelan Crisis, 1902-1903" (USC term paper)

18

13

Miller, David E., "Japan's Bid for Power, 1931- 1942" (USC term paper)

18

14

Miller, David E., "Early History of the Supreme Court" (USC term paper)

18

15

Miller, David E., "History 172 Reading Notes" (USC term paper)

18

16

Miller, David E., "History 177 Reading Notes" (USC term paper)

18

17

Powell, Kent, "Western Overland Trail Guides, 1842-1865"

18

18

Roper, Glen, "Clarence King and the Fortieth Parallel Survey"

18

19

Rollins, Vance W., "The Fact and Fiction of John Colter"

18

20

Wankler, Carl, "Camp Floyd of Utah"

18

21

Beecher, Dale, "The Stansbury Expedition, 1849-1850"

19

1

Correspondence

19

2

Television Syllabus

19

3

Principles of Democracy test

19

4

Book contracts

19

5

Publications correspondence

19

6

Publications

19

7

History classes

19

8

Miller, David E., "Rise of Nationalism in the Germanies" [BYU term paper]

19

9

Miller, David E., "Gold Discoveries in Australia" [USC term paper]

19

10

Miller, David E., "Founding the Church of England" [BYU term paper]

19

11

Miller, David E., "Across the Sierras By Rail" [USC term paper]

19

12

Miller, David E., "The Utah Rebellion" [USC term paper]

20

1

Utah History Syllabus

20

2

American West Center

20

3

American West Center

20

4

Faculty Recruitment

20

5

Utah and the West Bibliography

20

6

Teaching material

20

7

Lecture Notes

20

8

Research Grants

20

9

Thompson-Coleman controversies

20

10

History 156 Outline

20

11

History 187R-TV

20

12

History 170

20

13

Graduate Program

20

14

Lecture to Traveling University, 1947

20

15

Patton Speech

20

16

New Deal--Domestic

20

17

Utah Place Names

20

18

Spain in America

Visiting Professorship in Germany

21

1-4

Correspondence

21

2

German Campus Center

21

3

Kiel Program

21

4

Students

21

5

Budget

21

6

Course evaluations

21

7

Miller, David E.--Diary

21

8

Bibliography

21

9

Brochures on the University and environs

Miscellaneous Mormon and Utah History Notes

22

1

Olson, Earl E., "The Mormon Migration Movement"

22

2

Murdock, Edmund H., "Mountain Meadow Massacre"

22

3

Notes on July 24

22

4

Reorganized LDS Church

22

5

MacLaine, Bruce, "What Happened at Mountain Meadows"

22

6

Mormonism and Masonry

22

7

Danger Cave

22

8

Polygamy

22

9

Alexander, Thomas G., "Ulysses S. Grant and the Mormons"

22

10

SUP Pioneer Stories

22

11

Jessee, Dean on Solomon Spaulding

22

12

Miscellaneous Mormon Notes