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Show Utah Historical Quarterly State Capitol, Salt Lake City Volume I JANUARY, 1928 Number 1 SALUTATORY To The People of Utah: On July 22, 1897, the Utah Historical Society was founded, and was incorporated December 28, 1897, under the laws of the State. Its purpose, as its name indicates, is to collect data pertaining to the history of Utah, a state which has more history connected with it than any other west of the Mississippi River. During the decade ending March 7, 1907, several meetings of the Society were held, a number of relics were collected and stored in the State capitol, and on the day mentioned, in an Act passed, and which was approved by the Governor on March 8, 1917, recognized the Society as a State Institution, endowing it with full power to carry out the objects and purposes for which it was organized. The Act of March 8, 1917, provided among other things, that: "The said Society shall hold all its present and future collections of property for the State, and it is hereby made custodian of all records, documents, relics and other material of historic value, which are now or hereafter may be in charge of any State, County, or other official not required by law to be kept as a part of the public records, ten years after the current use of same, or earlier in the discretion of the heads of such departments; and copies thereof, when made and certified by the secretary of said Society under oath and seal, shall have the same force and effect as if made by the original custodian." Efforts are now being made to obtain from the above named officials of the State and its counties and from the settlements and towns the various papers and articles relating to early occurrences and deliberations, so that the same may be filed or placed on display with the Utah Historical Society. Among the principal acquisitions the Society desires are early manuscripts, documents and journals which may be in the hands of the descendants of the Utah Pioneers or other early residents of the State. Should the holder of these writings prefer to retain them, rather than surrender them permanently to the Society, copies of same would nevertheless be appreciated. If the originals are sent to the Society with request that they be copied and returned, the request will be promptly and faithfully complied with; or the 4 THE UTAH HISTORICAL QUARTERLY Society may arrange to have the papers copied under the direct supervision of the holders thereof. Of the founders of the Society, the large majority have long since crossed the Great Divide. While they operated, however, they gathered a number of relics pertaining to the early history of Utah; but manuscripts, journals, diaries and so forth, they did not obtain; and these are what are now most desired for publication and preservation by the Society for public information and benefit. As was set forth by the President of this Society in his latest Annual Report to the Governor, the Society is handicapped by having to operate on meagre funds and with modest facilities; and also to a certain extent by the competition of other State and private organizations which are now and have for many years been collecting material pertaining to the history of Utah. Obviously these historic treasures cannot well be consolidated in the archives of any one department of the State, because they have originated largely from private sources, and have been definitely transferred to the specific institutions mentioned. But the Utah Historical Society nevertheless may be in a better position than most of the State's archivists, for reproducing many of these valuable papers, in its Quarterly magazine, to the advantage of the possessors, and for the ready use of all. . A great deal of such material in existence has already been removed from the State through private channels, into the hands of private collectors. Out-of-the-State libraries, with large funds for acquiring such historic treasures have obtained for their shelves and for their States, valuable collections of material pertaining solely to Utah, which rightfully belonged here. With ample publication resources and facilities the Utah Historical Society may be able to reclaim to the people of the State many such documents, journals and records. Every reader of this Magazine is invited to become a member of the Society. The initiation fee for membership, as fixed in the By-Laws of the Society, is $2, plus an additional sum of $2 as annual dues. The fund derived from the memberships will be used to defray part of the expense of gathering and publishing collections of historical matter. These funds, together with such additional appropriations as the legislature may see fit to make, will enable the Society to function as it should, possibly placing it ultimately on an equal with other States in the preservation of records and valuable manuscripts with its Historical Society. May we have your support, your subscription, and your membership? ALBERT F. PHILIPS, President, Utah State Flistorical Society. |
