Skip to main content

Trevor Southey papers

 Collection
Identifier: ACCN 2820

Scope and Contents

The Trevor Southey papers contains various materials that illustrate the personal and professional life of Southey as a successful artist. Boxes 1-23 contain biographical information and correspondence with various friends, business associates and family members arranged by year. Included in the correspondence are several boxes of letter written by his mother, Mary Southey.

Boxes 24-38 contain business materials related to his professional career as an artist. Included are materials related to art projects, galleries, general business records and collected articles. Also included in the collection are several working artist proofs of Southey's etchings.

Dates

  • 1917-2015

Creator

Conditions Governing Access

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Conditions Governing Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Biographical Note

Trevor Southey was born in Rhodesia, Africa (now Zimbabwe) in 1940. His African heritage can be traced to European colonists who settled in Cape Town, South Africa in the 17th century. In 1965, he emigrated to the United States, retaining an abiding sense of his African and British origins.

Southey's formal training includes two years at the Brighton College of Art in Sussex, England; a year in Durban, South Africa; and two degrees obtained from Brigham Young University (1967 and 1969). He taught at the University through 1977 and has since pursued his career independently, although he remains deeply interested in art education giving occasional workshops particularly in drawing.

In 1967, Southey married Elaine Fish of Utah. Their mutual vision and their four children became a vital and critical part of his life and work. For 15 years until their separation and divorce, together they evolved a personal sense of place and beauty in Alpine, Utah.

Environmental issues, especially relative to visual concerns such as urban planning, continue to command considerable attention from him. At its most personal level this is reflected in his ever evolving garden where he retreats for a few minutes several times each working day.

Up until his move to California, where he currently resides in the Bay area, he had concentrated his professional experience in the Rocky Mountain west. However, even then and since his move, his work has commanded an increasing breadth and intensity of appeal.

Many major commissions in various parts of the country and Britain in painting and sculpture have dominated his production in the last few years, demonstrating the rapid growth of interest by an ever widening group of collectors. Southey's work is included in numerous private collections in the United States and throughout the world, ranging from that of actress Brook Shields to Senator and Mrs. Orrin Hatch. His work is also included in a wide variety of institutional and corporate collections.

His media include drawing, printmaking, painting, stained glass, and sculpture. He has been increasingly interested in writing and has collaborated with K. Mitchell Snow of Washington D.C. in the production of a major, lavishly illustrated volume about his work entitled, Trevor Southey: Reconciliation.

(Biographical sketch was taken from the Trevor Southey website, http://www.trevorsouthey.com)

Extent

25.25 Linear Feet (47 boxes and 2 oversize folders)

Language of Materials

English

Abstract

The Trevor Southey papers (1917-2015) contains both his personal and professional records. These materials document Southey's career as a Utah artist and a gay activist.

Arrangement

This collection has been arranged into the following series: I. Personal and family materials; II. Educational and professional teaching materials; III. Correspondence; IV. Art business materials; V. Writings and notes by Southey; VI. Writings about Southey; VII. Collected writings by others; VIII. Travel materials; IX. General materials; X. Oversize materials.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Donated by the Southey family in 2016.

Separated Materials

Photographs and audio-visual materials were transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collections.

Processing Information

Processed by Betsey Welland in 2016.
Title
Inventory of the Trevor Southey papers
Author
Finding aid created by Betsey Welland.
Date
2016 (last modified: 2020)
Description rules
Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language of description
English
Script of description
Latin
Language of description note
Finding aid written in English.

Repository Details

Part of the J. Willard Marriott Library Special Collections Repository

Contact:
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
801-581-8863