The Widtsoe Family Photograph Collection, ca.1890-1950

A Register of the Collection at the
Utah State Historical Society

The machine-readable finding aid for this collection was created by the Collections Management staff, Utah State Historical Society.

Utah State Historical Society
Salt Lake City, Utah

Copyright, 2005, Utah State Historical Society. All rights reserved.
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Summary Description | Background | Scope and Content | Administrative Info | Container List

Summary Description

Repository:Utah State Historical Society
Call number:Mss C 92
Creator: Widtsoe family
Title:Widtsoe Family Photograph Collection, ca.1890-1950
Quantity:5 lin. ft. (10 boxes and 2 envelopes)
Abstract: The collection contains photographs of the family, missionary, civic activities, etc. pertaining to the John A. Widtsoe family. The collection also contains images of the Susa Young Gates family, Anna Widtsoe Wallace family, Franklin Y. Gates, etc.

Topics:

Family
Mormon Church--Apostles
Mormon Church--Education
Mormon Church--History
Mormon Church--Missions
Military
University of Utah
Utah State Agricultural College

Persons:

Gates, Franklin Y.
Gates, Jacob
Gates, Susa Young
Wallace, Anna G. Widtsoe
Widtsoe, John Andreas
Widtsoe, K. Marsel
Widtsoe, Leah Dunford
Young, Lucy Bigelow

Organizations:

Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
University of Utah
Utah State Agricultural College

Places:

California
England
Hawaii
Utah
Scandinavia

Form or Genre:

Photographs, negatives, albums, postcards

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

Background

Background Note

The Widtsoe Family Collection was donated to the Utah State Historical Society in 1966 by G. Homer Durham, Eudora Widtsoe Durham, and Anne Widtsoe Wallace. Originally the collection included the papers of Susa Young Gates and Emma Lucy Gates Bowen, but these have been separated from the overall collection and made into separate collections.
John Widtsoe's photographs include images of people, events and subjects that affected his life, with emphasis on his work with the LDS Church. Photographs of European missions and missionaries are included with his personal photographs. Photographs of the University of Utah, Utah State Agricultural College, and the Harvard Summer School are included his this collection.
The collection contains a section on Leah Dunford Widtsoe, John's wife that is largely biographical, school photographs and family photographs. Anna G. Widtsoe section includes family, Hawaiian mission and Hawaiian scenery.

Biographical Note

John A. Widtsoe, his brother Osborne, and their mother, a widow, immigrated to Logan (Utah) from Norway in 1883 as converts to the Mormon Church. To help support his family, eleven-year old John stacked firewood, delivered milk, worked as a printer's assistant, and clerked in a store. After working all day, he took instruction from tutors at night.
Later on, Widtsoe became one of the first "boys from Utah" to attend Harvard where he graduated summa cum laude in three years with a degree in chemistry. In 1898 he was awarded the Parker Fellowship to study at the University of Goettingen, Germany. On his return to the United States in 1900, he became, in succession, director of the Experimental Station at Utah State Agricultural College in Logan; founder and chairman of the department of agriculture, Brigham Young University in Provo; president of the Utah State Agricultural College, Logan; president of the University of Utah; and apostle of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Widtsoe married Leah Eudora Dunford, daughter of Susa Young Gates, in 1898. The Widtsoes had eight children, but only three reached maturity. One of these, K. Marsel Widtsoe, their only son, died in 1927. The two surviving children, Anna Widtsoe Wallace and Eudora Widtsoe Durham, donated the collection to the Utah State Historical Society.
Leah Eudora Dunford Widtsoe was born in Salt Lake City in 1874. Her parents were Susa Young, a daughter of Brigham Young, and Alma Dunford, a dentist. Her parents divorced when Leah was very young. Her mother later married Jacob F. Gates. Leah remained with her father until her mid-teens when she joined her mother's family, where she began building a closer relationship with her mother, Susa, a powerful woman in her own right.
Leah benefited from unusually extensive educational opportunities. She attended the University of Utah and Brigham Young University. She took courses at the Pratt Institute in Brooklyn and attended a summer session at Harvard in 1893 where she met her future husband, John A. Widtsoe. They were married in 1898. While her husband advanced from one position to the next, Leah developed some specialties of her own. She was a strong homemaker and parent. She was active in the Salt Lake Council of Women, the National League of Pen Women, the Women's Legislative Council, and was a founder of the Utah League for Women Voters.
Anna G. Widtsoe Wallace, daughter of John and Leah, was born 2 April 1899 in Goettingen, Germany, the eldest of the Widtsoe children. She served an LDS Church mission and married Lew Wallace in 1926. They had three children-John, Joanne, and Margaret-before being divorced in 1933. After the divorce, Anne went back to school and eventually became the librarian of the Widtsoe collection of books held by the University of Utah.

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

Scope and Content

The collection includes family photographs, LDS Church mission to the Denmark and England, Hawaii, University of Utah, Utah State Agricultural College, Pratt Institute, etc.

Series Descriptions

Family
Military
Mining
Missions/Mission Homes
Schools
Vacations/Leisure Time
Albums
Seperations

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

Administrative Information

Preferred Citation:

Widtsoe Family Photograph Collection, ca.1890-1950, Utah State Historical Society.

Acquisition Information:

Gift of G. Homer Durham, Eudora W. Durham, Anna W. Wallace

Restrictions on Use

The Widtsoe Family Photograph Collection is 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 Susan Whetstone, 2005

Finding aid compiled by Susan Whetstone, 2005

Finding aid edited by Linda Thatcher, 2005

Collection cataloged by Linda Thatcher, 2005

Finding aid encoded for the World Wide Web by Craig Ringgenberg, 2005

Sources:

Jenson, Andrew, Latter-day Saint Biographical Encyclopedia, (Salt Lake City: Andrew Jenson History Company, 1901).

Parrish, Alan K., John A. Widtsoe, A Biography, (Salt Lake City, Deseret Book, 2003).

Related collections

The photographs in this collection were separated from Mss B 92, Mss B 95, and Mss B 97.


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

Container list

Box

Folder

Contents

Family

1

1

Widtsoe, John A., ca. 1890s (original in vault)

1

2

Widtsoe, John A., ca. 1920s

1

3-4

Widtsoe, John A. ca. 1940s

1

5-6

Widtsoe family (parents, brothers, sisters)

1

6

Tintype (original in vault)

1

7

Leah, ca.1880s

1

8

Leah, ca. 1890s

2

1

Leah, ca.1890s (Pratt Institute)

2

2

Leah, ca. 1940s

2

3

Dunford family

2

4-5

Gates family

2

6-7

Young family

2

8

Leah and John, ca. 1900

2

9

Leah and John (1 color separation)

3

1-7

John A. and Leah Dunford Widtsoe, children, family

3

8-10

Wallace, Anna (daughter)

4

1

Anna Wallace portraits

4

2-5

Anna's children: Joanne, John, Margaret

4

6

Joanne (Anna's daughter), schoolmates, friends

4

7-9

Joanne with friends, schoolmates, bridesmaid

4

10

Anna Wallace mission (8 photos)

4

11

John Wallace (2 photos)

4

12

Anna Wallace, Leah Eudora Widtsoe Durham, friends

4

13

Anna G. Wallace family (misc. 35mm negatives)

4

14

Anna G. Wallace, Joanne and friends (color available)

4

15

Miscellaneous--Unidentified young man

4

16

35mm negatives of family

5

1

Family: Bigelow, Gates, Young (11x14 prints)

Box

Folder

Contents

Military

5

2

145th Field Artillery, Camp Kearny (Nebraska)

Box

Folder

Contents

Mining

5

3

Dolomite mining/smelters

Missions/Mission Homes

5

4

Smith, Joseph Fielding--Family

5

5

Missionaries

5

6-11

Missions/Mission homes (Europe), 4 color separations

5

12

Cardston Temple

5

13

Danish Mission

5

14-15

England Mission

5

16

England Mission--Welsh District

5

17

Hawaiian Mission

5

18

Hawaiian Temple

5

19

Japanese Mission

Box

Folder

Contents

Schools

6

1-2

University of Utah

6

3-6

Utah State University

Box

Folder

Contents

Vacations/Leisure Time

6

7

Saltair

6

8

Miscellaneous photographs

Box

Folder

Contents

Albums

7

Victorian album

8

Three albums belonging to Anna G. Widtsoe Wallace

9

Three photo albums:

. Franklin Y. Gates on his European mission
. John A. Widtsoe survey of the Colorado River
. Marsel Widtsoe on British mission (fd. of photographs)

10

Postcards of travels (202 images)

10

Missionary portraits (63 photos)

Box

Folder

Contents

Seperations

1

Tintypes (vault) (Box 1, Fd. 1)

2

Color (cold storage) (Box 4, Fd.14)