Everett Ruess Family photograph collection
Collection
Identifier: P1194
Scope and Contents
The Everett Ruess Family photograph collection contains 8 boxes. Box 1 contains images of Everett Ruess and of locations in Utah and other western states. Box 2 contains photographs of Stella Knight Ruess and her family. Box 3 contains photographs of Waldo Ruess, his family, and his travels. Box 4 contains photographs and albums of Ruess family travels and family friends. Box 5 contains photographs of events for the Ruess family and their friends and general photographs of artwork, statues, and landscapes. Boxes 6 and 7 contain glass slides. Box 8 contains oversized images. The collection spans about 1900 to approximately 1985.
Dates
- 1900-1985
Language of Materials
Collection materials are in English.
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
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the Everett Ruess Family photograph collection must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator.
Permission to publish material from the Everett Ruess Family photograph collection must be obtained from the Special Collections Manuscript Curator.
Biographical Note
The Everett Ruess Family photograph collection contains photographs of Everett Ruess, an American poet and artist who disappeared in Utah in 1934, and the Ruess family. Christopher George Ruess (1878-1954), Everett’s father, was born in Kansas on December 10, 1878 to William Emil and Catherine Heit Ruess. Stella Knight (1879-1964), Everett’s mother, was born on July 9, 1879 in Ohio to William Henry and Ella Joana Waters Knight. Stella Knight and Christopher Ruess married in Los Angeles, California, on April 2, 1905. Together, they had three children: Christella, a daughter who died soon after her birth in 1908, Waldo (1909-2007), and Everett (1914-1934).
Christopher Ruess was a Unitarian minister whose job required the family to move frequently. Stella Knight Ruess was an artist and dancer who was active in arts communities in the various places that the family lived. In addition to their frequent moves, the Ruess family were avid travelers. Waldo Ruess, their older son, embraced traveling as he grew into adulthood. After attending Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, he studied at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Waldo joined the United States Foreign Service, a job that led him to live and work in 10 countries and travel to 100 more between 1935 and 1958. He was stationed in Tokyo, Algiers, and Moscow during World War II, between 1939 and 1946, where he worked primarily as a cryptographer. Waldo was a conscientious objector to war, and spent his travels attempting to learn about different cultures and build relationships with individuals. In addition to his diplomatic service, Waldo worked for Lockheed in Iceland in the 1950s and spent the latter part of his career working as a purchasing agent for the United States Forest Service in the Los Padres National Forest. Waldo married a Spanish woman named Conchita in the 1950s; the two settled in Santa Barbara, California, where they raised four children. Waldo Ruess died on September 6, 2007.
Stella Ruess passed her interest in the arts to her younger son, Everett, teaching him linoleum block printing. Everett also pursued clay modeling and sketching as a child, and by age 12 he began a literary diary and began composing essays and poems. While Waldo Ruess embraced world travel, Everett was drawn to the American West. Beginning in 1931, he traveled alone by horse or donkey through Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, documenting the structures of Ancestral Puebloans and exploring national parks like Yosemite and Sequoia. In 1934, working with University of California archaeologists, he participated in Hopi religious ceremonies and worked to learn the Navajo language. Everett documented his travels in art, writing, and letters to his family. He was not commercially successful as an artist or writer in his life, and his travels were supported by his parents. In 1934, Everett Ruess disappeared while traveling alone in the Escalante area of the Utah desert.
After Everett’s disappearance, Stella Knight Ruess worked to make his writing and art available to a larger audience. She arranged the posthumous publication of Everett’s first book, On Desert Trails, in 1940. The Ruess family searched for Everett for years, taking regular trips to Utah to search for him and contacting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to aid them. Christopher died in 1954 and Stella died in 1964. In 1983, a new collection of Everett's prints, poetry, and journals was published titled Everett Ruess: Vagabond for Beauty.
Christopher Ruess was a Unitarian minister whose job required the family to move frequently. Stella Knight Ruess was an artist and dancer who was active in arts communities in the various places that the family lived. In addition to their frequent moves, the Ruess family were avid travelers. Waldo Ruess, their older son, embraced traveling as he grew into adulthood. After attending Antioch College in Yellow Springs, Ohio, he studied at the School of Foreign Service at Georgetown University in Washington, D.C. Waldo joined the United States Foreign Service, a job that led him to live and work in 10 countries and travel to 100 more between 1935 and 1958. He was stationed in Tokyo, Algiers, and Moscow during World War II, between 1939 and 1946, where he worked primarily as a cryptographer. Waldo was a conscientious objector to war, and spent his travels attempting to learn about different cultures and build relationships with individuals. In addition to his diplomatic service, Waldo worked for Lockheed in Iceland in the 1950s and spent the latter part of his career working as a purchasing agent for the United States Forest Service in the Los Padres National Forest. Waldo married a Spanish woman named Conchita in the 1950s; the two settled in Santa Barbara, California, where they raised four children. Waldo Ruess died on September 6, 2007.
Stella Ruess passed her interest in the arts to her younger son, Everett, teaching him linoleum block printing. Everett also pursued clay modeling and sketching as a child, and by age 12 he began a literary diary and began composing essays and poems. While Waldo Ruess embraced world travel, Everett was drawn to the American West. Beginning in 1931, he traveled alone by horse or donkey through Arizona, Colorado, Utah, and New Mexico, documenting the structures of Ancestral Puebloans and exploring national parks like Yosemite and Sequoia. In 1934, working with University of California archaeologists, he participated in Hopi religious ceremonies and worked to learn the Navajo language. Everett documented his travels in art, writing, and letters to his family. He was not commercially successful as an artist or writer in his life, and his travels were supported by his parents. In 1934, Everett Ruess disappeared while traveling alone in the Escalante area of the Utah desert.
After Everett’s disappearance, Stella Knight Ruess worked to make his writing and art available to a larger audience. She arranged the posthumous publication of Everett’s first book, On Desert Trails, in 1940. The Ruess family searched for Everett for years, taking regular trips to Utah to search for him and contacting the Federal Bureau of Investigation to aid them. Christopher died in 1954 and Stella died in 1964. In 1983, a new collection of Everett's prints, poetry, and journals was published titled Everett Ruess: Vagabond for Beauty.
Extent
8 Boxes
Abstract
Everett Ruess was an artist and writer who disappeared in the Utah desert in 1934. The Everett Ruess Family photograph collection contains photographs, negatives, postcards, albums, and glass slides of Everett, Stella, Christopher, and Waldo Ruess and their travels between 1900 and 1985.
Arrangement
Arranged by subject
Immediate Source of Acquisition
Donated by Waldo Ruess in 2005 with additions by Michelle Ruess in 2006.
Separated Materials
See also the Everett Ruess family papers (MS 0687) in the Manuscripts Division of Special Collections.
Processing Information
Processed by Special Collections staff.
- Title
- Guide to the Everett Ruess Family photograph collection, 1900-1985
- Author
- Finding aid created by Claire A. Kempa
- Date
- 2022
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid encoded in English in Latin script.
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
special@library.utah.edu
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City Utah 84112 United States
801-581-8863
special@library.utah.edu