Alberta Henry photograph collection

Collection

Identifier: P1158

Staff Only

Scope and Contents

The Alberta Henry photograph collection spans four decades, from the 1950s through 1980s. The collection includes personal family portraits, candid photographs, and images of Alberta Henry with Governor Calvin Rampton, Ted Kennedy, and Wayne Owens.

Dates

1950s-1980s

Creator

Henry, Alberta, 1920-2005 (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.

Historical Note

Alberta Hill Henry (1920-2005) was born in Hosston, Louisiana, where her parents worked as sharecroppers. The family moved to Topeka, Kansas in 1923. After graduating from high school in 1939, she and her husband bought a share in a restaurant in Topeka. Following a serious illness in 1948, Henry divorced her husband and moved to Salt Lake City, Utah to recover in 1949. She took a job as a housekeeper and met Harold Henry, whom she married in 1950. They adopted two children, Julia and Wendell. In 1965, she founded the Alberta Henry Education Foundation, which provides college scholarships to underprivileged students. In 1967 she was hired as a teacher's aide at the first Head Start Center in Salt Lake City and eventually became the parent coordinator. She left that job in 1972 to become a minority consultant for the Salt Lake County School District. She retired from that position in 1986. She recieved an honorary doctorate from the University of Utah in 1971, and a B.S. in Elementary Education in 1980 (at the age of 59). Henry was also the President of the Salt Lake City NAACP for twelve years, from 1980 to 1992. She has also been involved in numerous community and government organizations, including the Altrusa Club, Utah Commission on Civil Rights, and the Governor's Black Advisory Council.