Charles Kelly photograph collection
Collection
Identifier: P0100
Scope and Contents
In addition to a few personal family portraits, the Charles Kelly collection contains photographs pertaining to western history and lore that were gathered during the course of his research for his books and articles. Included are pictures of Donner Summit and members of the Donner party, various outlaws of the West, and other men and women of western history.
During the summer of 2000 Capitol Reef National Park loaned the University of Utah five boxes of photographs and slides to scan. One box contained images of, and related to, Charles Kelly's service as the custodian of the park during the 1940s and 1950s. The Kelly images were added to the Charles Kelly photograph collection, P0100, in April 2003. The new digital images comprise the second addendum to the Kelly collection and are of various locations in and around the National Park. Included are images of Zion National Park, Grand Canyon, Goblin Valley, Cathedral Valley, Mountain Meadows, Fish Lake, and many other scenic southern Utah locations. The majority of the scans were taken from 35mm and Kodachrome slides dated during the 1940s and 1950s. Few of the slides had identification, when available the brief descriptions were included on the register below.
Capitol Reef retained the originals.
During the summer of 2000 Capitol Reef National Park loaned the University of Utah five boxes of photographs and slides to scan. One box contained images of, and related to, Charles Kelly's service as the custodian of the park during the 1940s and 1950s. The Kelly images were added to the Charles Kelly photograph collection, P0100, in April 2003. The new digital images comprise the second addendum to the Kelly collection and are of various locations in and around the National Park. Included are images of Zion National Park, Grand Canyon, Goblin Valley, Cathedral Valley, Mountain Meadows, Fish Lake, and many other scenic southern Utah locations. The majority of the scans were taken from 35mm and Kodachrome slides dated during the 1940s and 1950s. Few of the slides had identification, when available the brief descriptions were included on the register below.
Capitol Reef retained the originals.
Dates
- circa 1847-1971
Creator
- Kelly, Charles, 1889-1971 (Person)
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 Sketch
Charles Kelly was a man of many interest and talents: printer, linotype operator, writer, and river runner, as well as an amateur musician, geologist, archaeologist, artist, and photographer.
Born at Cedar Springs, Michigan, February 3, 1889, Charles Kelly was the oldest of six children. His father, a Baptist minister who started a religious movement of his own, set up a print shop to publish literature pertaining to his newly organized religious cult. Because of this, Charles learned the printing business at a very early age. At seventeen he went to work for a newspaper in Dixon, Tennessee, and from this job he saved enough money to attend Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, for three years. Mr. Kelly's father would not allow him to attend public schools, believing they would corrupt his faith, so Charles never graduated from high school. His mother, however, had been a good teacher and he was able to keep up with his peers at the University.
After this period of formal education, Kelly returned to the printing trade. He got a job with the Salina Sun in Salina, Kansas, where he learned to be a linotype operator and repairman, which assured him good employment on almost any newspaper in the country. From Salina, he went on to Pendleton, Oregon, and then to Great Falls, Montana, working on linotype machines at various newspapers.
In 1919, because of his love of music and the hope that he might make that his career, Kelly moved to Salt Lake City where he tried to affiliate with musical groups and continue his study of music. He had studied music since he was eight years old and could play several instruments. That same year he married Harriette Greener, who would be his wife for the next fifty-two years. When he was unable to find work with any of the musical companies in Salt Lake City, he set up his own printing business. In 1924 he sold his business and bought interest in the Western Printing Company, where he remained until 1941.
Kelly's natural curiosity and interest in the West led him to explore the Salt Desert, in western Utah, looking for old trails and gathering information on the trails from every available source. After he accumulated a great deal of information he wrote an article about the trails and the Donner Party of 1846, but it was not accepted for publication. He then decided that he had enough material for a book, called "Salt Desert Trails", which he published himself and it is now a collector's item. In eight years, from 1930 to 1938, he produced four more books: Holy Murder: The story of Porter Rockwell; Old Greenwood: The story of Caleb Greenwood; Miles Goodyear: First citizen of Utah; and Outlaw Trail: A history of Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch. He also edited for publication the Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-1847 and 1859 during this time. A second, revised and enlarged edition of Outlaw Trail was published in 1959, and in 1965, a revised edition of Old Greenwood, with collaboration by historian Dale Morgan, was released. Kelly also edited three journals from participants in the John Wesley Powell Colorado River expeditions, which were published in the Utah Historical Quarterly during 1947-1949. Numerous other articles and book reviews were written by Kelly and published in western journals and magazines. Throughout his life, Kelly nursed an abiding mistrust and active dislike of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his writings reflect that prejudice.
Kelly also explored western rivers by boat. His first river trip was in 1932, when he accompanied a survey party from the University of Utah, led by Julian Steward that was seeking archaeological sites in Glen Canyon. With Dr. Russell G. Frazier and others, Kelly also floated the Yampa River in western Colorado, as well as the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. The Saturday Evening Post for May 6, 1939, featured an article by Kelly about a boat trip down Glen Canyon of the Colorado River.
Kelly developed a keen interest in archaeology and visited sites throughout Utah in search of rock art and artifacts. He assisted in many excavations, and for years explored the deserts of Utah with Frank Beckwith, among others. It was through these exploratory trips that Kelly became familiar with the little community of Fruita in Wayne County, Utah. Capitol Reef National Monument surrounded Fruita, and Kelly recognized in the village an ideal place to retire and pursue his research and writing career. Accordingly, he sold his interest in the Salt Lake City printing company in 1941 and moved to Fruita.
In 1943, Kelly was appointed the custodian of Capitol Reef National Monument. It was an unpaid position, but he lived in the Monument in a two-room government house and was allowed to see the fruit grown on the property. Kelly served in his position until 1950 when he received a civil service appointment as the official superintendent of Capitol Reef. In 1959, at the age of 70 and faced with failing eyesight and health, Kelly retired from the National Park Service. Despite his poor vision, he was able to revise and reissue two of his books and continued his research on a variety of subjects. He was named an Honorary Life Member of the Utah State Historical Society in 1960, and in 1969 was chose to receive the Award of Merit by the American Association of State and Local History.
Charles Kelly died on April 19, 1971, followed by Harriette Greener Kelly on July 13, 1974.
[adapted from the Register of the Papers of Charles Kelly (1889-1971), Ms100, by Della Dye.]
Born at Cedar Springs, Michigan, February 3, 1889, Charles Kelly was the oldest of six children. His father, a Baptist minister who started a religious movement of his own, set up a print shop to publish literature pertaining to his newly organized religious cult. Because of this, Charles learned the printing business at a very early age. At seventeen he went to work for a newspaper in Dixon, Tennessee, and from this job he saved enough money to attend Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, for three years. Mr. Kelly's father would not allow him to attend public schools, believing they would corrupt his faith, so Charles never graduated from high school. His mother, however, had been a good teacher and he was able to keep up with his peers at the University.
After this period of formal education, Kelly returned to the printing trade. He got a job with the Salina Sun in Salina, Kansas, where he learned to be a linotype operator and repairman, which assured him good employment on almost any newspaper in the country. From Salina, he went on to Pendleton, Oregon, and then to Great Falls, Montana, working on linotype machines at various newspapers.
In 1919, because of his love of music and the hope that he might make that his career, Kelly moved to Salt Lake City where he tried to affiliate with musical groups and continue his study of music. He had studied music since he was eight years old and could play several instruments. That same year he married Harriette Greener, who would be his wife for the next fifty-two years. When he was unable to find work with any of the musical companies in Salt Lake City, he set up his own printing business. In 1924 he sold his business and bought interest in the Western Printing Company, where he remained until 1941.
Kelly's natural curiosity and interest in the West led him to explore the Salt Desert, in western Utah, looking for old trails and gathering information on the trails from every available source. After he accumulated a great deal of information he wrote an article about the trails and the Donner Party of 1846, but it was not accepted for publication. He then decided that he had enough material for a book, called "Salt Desert Trails", which he published himself and it is now a collector's item. In eight years, from 1930 to 1938, he produced four more books: Holy Murder: The story of Porter Rockwell; Old Greenwood: The story of Caleb Greenwood; Miles Goodyear: First citizen of Utah; and Outlaw Trail: A history of Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch. He also edited for publication the Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-1847 and 1859 during this time. A second, revised and enlarged edition of Outlaw Trail was published in 1959, and in 1965, a revised edition of Old Greenwood, with collaboration by historian Dale Morgan, was released. Kelly also edited three journals from participants in the John Wesley Powell Colorado River expeditions, which were published in the Utah Historical Quarterly during 1947-1949. Numerous other articles and book reviews were written by Kelly and published in western journals and magazines. Throughout his life, Kelly nursed an abiding mistrust and active dislike of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his writings reflect that prejudice.
Kelly also explored western rivers by boat. His first river trip was in 1932, when he accompanied a survey party from the University of Utah, led by Julian Steward that was seeking archaeological sites in Glen Canyon. With Dr. Russell G. Frazier and others, Kelly also floated the Yampa River in western Colorado, as well as the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. The Saturday Evening Post for May 6, 1939, featured an article by Kelly about a boat trip down Glen Canyon of the Colorado River.
Kelly developed a keen interest in archaeology and visited sites throughout Utah in search of rock art and artifacts. He assisted in many excavations, and for years explored the deserts of Utah with Frank Beckwith, among others. It was through these exploratory trips that Kelly became familiar with the little community of Fruita in Wayne County, Utah. Capitol Reef National Monument surrounded Fruita, and Kelly recognized in the village an ideal place to retire and pursue his research and writing career. Accordingly, he sold his interest in the Salt Lake City printing company in 1941 and moved to Fruita.
In 1943, Kelly was appointed the custodian of Capitol Reef National Monument. It was an unpaid position, but he lived in the Monument in a two-room government house and was allowed to see the fruit grown on the property. Kelly served in his position until 1950 when he received a civil service appointment as the official superintendent of Capitol Reef. In 1959, at the age of 70 and faced with failing eyesight and health, Kelly retired from the National Park Service. Despite his poor vision, he was able to revise and reissue two of his books and continued his research on a variety of subjects. He was named an Honorary Life Member of the Utah State Historical Society in 1960, and in 1969 was chose to receive the Award of Merit by the American Association of State and Local History.
Charles Kelly died on April 19, 1971, followed by Harriette Greener Kelly on July 13, 1974.
[adapted from the Register of the Papers of Charles Kelly (1889-1971), Ms100, by Della Dye.]
Extent
2 Boxes : 72 black and white prints of varying size, 4 slides (3 color and 1 black and white). 596 digital scans.
Language of Materials
English
Abstract
The Charles Kelly photograph collection contains portraits of Charles Kelley, members of the Kelly family, and Frank Beckwith; photographs of persons and sites important in Western history and folklore.
Arrangement
Collection is arranged topically and contains two addenda.
Separated Materials
Manuscript materials were transferred to the Charles Kelly papers (Ms 100)
Processing Information
Processed by Dale Nelson, Mary Ann Curtis, and Alison Christensen in 2000 and by Roy Webb in 2003.
Creator
- Kelly, Charles, 1889-1971 (Person)
- Title
- Guide to the Charles Kelly photograph collection
- Author
- Finding aid prepared by Dale Nelson.
- Date
- 2000
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
- Language of description note
- Finding aid written in English.
Revision Statements
- 2016: Finding aid revised and re-encoded by Margaret Benson.
- 2019: Finding aid revised and re-encoded using Adobe Dreamweaver by Sara Davis.
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