Utah State University Digital Library Collections Copyright (c) 2013 Utah State University All rights reserved. http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib Recent documents in Utah State University Digital Library Collections en-us Sun, 27 Jan 2013 06:49:08 PST 3600 Utah's Most Elusive: Hard-to-Find Government & Scientific Reports http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/27 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/27 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:30 PST This digital collection brings to light many elusive reports written about Utah by state and government agencies, but not widely distributed. Full of interesting and significant research, these hard-to-find reports contain baseline data as well as perspectives from earlier eras. Each title is presented as a color image, with fully searchable text, a printable pdf version, and accompanying metadata record with descriptive summary, subject headings, etc. We are using a wide net to gather together this rich collection about Utah 's history, geography, natural resources, politics, society, economy, etc.

]]> Utah Folklorist Image Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/26 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/26 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:29 PST Austin and Alta Fife, Wayland D. Hand, William A. Wilson, Hal Cannon, Carol Edison, Wallace Stegner and Juanita Brooks are just some of the prominent Utah folklorists pictured in this collection of photographs from the 1930s to the present. Digitized from originals housed at the Utah Folk Arts Program in Salt Lake City, many of these images also appear in David Stanely's Folklore in Utah: A History and Guide to Resources (Utah State University Press, 2004). For more information about Utah folklorists, see the Folklore Society of Utah Collection (FOLK COLL 28), the official repository for the Folklore Society of Utah housed at Utah State University's Fife Folklore Archive. Since 1958, the Society has promoted and nurtured the study of folklore by collecting, preserving, and interpreting the folklore of Utah and surrounding areas.

]]> Utah State University Historical Photographs Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/25 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/25 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:27 PST A century’s worth of images from Utah State University’s past (1880s-1980s) depict the changing faces and landscape on campus, from the university’s early years when women’s gym classes and military cadet formations took place inside Old Main's auditorium (1890s), to 1906 when football scrimmages were held on Old Main's front lawn, to the 1920's when the campus housed a poultry yard and hosted milking contests, to the 1960s' student bathtub races, and up through the 1980s when the University Inn was built. Teachers, students, activities, clubs, athletics, ceremonies, buildings, and more are featured in over 2,000 photographs collected by a former director of the Library's Special Collections and Archives, A. J. Simmonds. He used many of these photographs in his book published in 1988, Pictures Past: A Centennial Celebration of Utah State University. Complete information on the collection can be found on the collections finding aid. To further explore and explain the past, also see University Archivist Robert Parson's An Encyclopedic History of Utah State University to find out the origins of Aggie ice cream, read about the old feud between USU's Foresters and Engineers, and look up facts and figures about campus buildings, programs, and people. Aggies with information to add to the photographs or Encyclopedic History are invited to contact Bob at bobpar@library.lib.usu.edu.

]]> Utah State University Buzzer Yearbooks Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/24 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/24 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:27 PST Continually published from 1909 to 1971, Utah State University's yearbook, the Buzzer, captures in its pages a rich history of small-town college life in Logan, Utah. Stroll back through time via the Buzzer' s many photographs, cartoons, drawings, and advertisements. Read about the University's traditions, student accomplishments and high jinks, and school organizations with intriguing names such as the Periwig Club, the Benedicts Club, Vaudeville and Bazzaar, and the Scabbard and Blade Fraternity. This digital collection contains all of the Buzzers that were published (1909 through 1971, 1978 and 1981) as well as the 1909 alumni publication called The A.C.U. Graduate and an anecdotal history called How the Buzzer Got Its Name.

]]> Topaz Japanese-American Relocation Center Digital Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/23 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/23 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:25 PST In 1942 shortly after the bombing of Pearl Harbor, over 110,000 people of Japanese ancestry were forcibly removed from California, Oregon, and Washington and confined to relocation centers. One of these relocation centers was the Topaz Relocation Center located on 17,500 acres in the middle of the Sevier Desert just outside of Delta, Utah. Until the camp closed in Oct. 1945, over 8,000 men, women and children lived, worked, and went to school there; over 100 of its residents volunteered for and served in the U.S. armed forces. What was it like to be a resident of one of these relocation centers? School yearbooks and literary magazines written and illustrated by Topaz residents offer insight into the life, activities, and feelings of the Japanese Americans held there from 1942-1945. These and other items owned by Utah State University Library are being digitized as part of its Topaz Japanese-American Relocation Center Digital Collection.

]]> Special Collections & Archives Registers (EAD Finding Aids) http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/22 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/22 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:24 PST Over 600 collections are housed in the Special Collections and Archives division of Utah State University's Merrill-Cazier Library. The collections contain unique, primary-source material such as diaries, unpublished manuscripts, photographs, university records and oral histories. Each collection has a register (also called finding aid and inventory) with a detailed content description as well as an overview of the collection, historical and biographical notes, acquisition data, and related material. These registers are in EAD (encoded archival description) format, which creates advanced, searchable fields such as title, description and subject headings. The registers enable researchers to quickly and accurately access if material is pertinent to your research. They also provide contact information for Special Collection's staff for copies, policies and procedures, and suggestions for additional research.

]]> Special Collections Digital Exhibits http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/21 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/21 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:22 PST The materials housed by the Special Collections & Archives have been collected for the benefit of the public and are available for use by researchers. Historically, however, the public has not been aware of the research possibilities of archival material. Making digitized collections available through our website publicizes the many opportunities for use of our materials. Many of the materials in Special Collections are too fragile to allow repeated close examination. With digital technology we are able to provide access to these documents over the internet and to avoid inevitable wear and tear on these fragile resources. View the Special Collections Digital Exhibits. Collection Includes: Masaryk Collection; Jack London Book Collection; Sun Pictures of Rocky Mountain Scenery; Nibley Family Photograph Collection; Olesen Photograph Collection; Agricultural College of Utah Cyanotypes; Compton Photograph Collection; and Reynolds Photograph Collection.

]]> Singin' Sam Agins Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/20 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/20 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:20 PST Singin Sam Agins (1919-1996) was passionate about writing, collecting, and recording American folk songs, especially of the West. He shared his joy of music for four decades (1940s+) by teaching and performing before audiences of dude ranch guests, hospital patients, disabled children, military vets, and even incarcerated prisoners. This collection shows the joy Singin Sam found in playing music. It also contains many unpublished photographs taken for his photo essay Round Legs, showing a gentle humor about wheelchairs and the disability that limited his mobility, but never his spirit. Born weighing only two pounds and with congenital paralysis of both legs, Agins nevertheless grew into a man of many callings: musician, folksinger, poet, and a craftsman of leather, musical instruments and jewelry. The photographs and recordings in this digital collection are just a small portion of the Sam Agins materials in the Merrill-Cazier Library's Special Collections and Archives.

]]> Ridgway Brothers: Explorers, Scientists, and Illustrators http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/19 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/19 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:16 PST This digital collection highlights the art work, correspondence, and research of the Ridgway brothers, John and Robert, late nineteenth century naturalists and illustrators of the American West. In 1864, 14 year old Robert began a correspondence with noted naturalist Spencer Baird. This relationship led to Robert being asked to join geologist Clarence King as the zoologist of the 1867-69 United States Geological Fortieth Parallel Survey. Ridgway joined the expedition in San Francisco after traveling by steamboat through the Caribbean and the Isthmus of Panama. He accompanied the expedition through the Sierra Nevada Mountains, over the Great Basin desert and ended up in Utah . He left the expedition in fall of 1868 and returned the next summer to collect specimens around the Great Salt Lake and Wasatch Mountains. Robert's younger brother, John, rose to prominence in the field of scientific illustration, holding the positions of chief illustrator for the United States Geological Survey, and scientific illustrator for the California Institute of Technology and the Carnegie Institution. This digital collection is a subset of the much larger Ridgway Family Papers, 1864-1940's (Caine Mss 8); detailed inventory is available online.

]]> Practicing Medicine: A Historical Glimpse at Utah and Beyond http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/18 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/18 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:15 PST "Usually, when we think about medicine and its remarkable abilities, what comes to mind is the science and all it has given us to fight sickness and misery," says Dr. Atul Gawande, in his award-winning book Complications: A Surgeon's Notes on an Imperfect Science. But, when you get sick, he says "it is not science you call upon but a doctor. A doctor with good days and bad days. A doctor with a weird laugh and a bad haircut. A doctor with three other patients to see and, inevitably, gaps in what he knows and skills he's still trying to learn." It's no mistake that we speak of doctors and nurses practicing medicine, for mastery remains elusive. Gawande's candid book about medicine exemplifies essay writing at its best and is Utah State University 's choice for the 2007 Common Literature Experience. Created to support reading and discussion of Complications, the digital collection Practicing Medicine: A Historical Glimpse at Utah and Beyond explores three centuries of medical practice and instruction, with particular focus on Utah. These historical materials take us back to the roots of medical practice and a time when remedies consisted of such easily recognized ingredients as "earth-worms, well washed." Perhaps they will lend perspective to, and renewed appreciation for, the unpronounceable medicines and modern treatments, however imperfect, that Dr. Gawande and his colleagues apply today.

]]> Old Ephraim Digital Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/17 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/17 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:14 PST One bear was very well known to all of the local sheepherders of Cache Valley in Utah. At first they called him Old Three Toe and then later Old Ephraim. He had a deformed foot with only three toes which made it very easy for the sheepherders to know when Old Ephraim attacked their sheep, and to track him.

In the early 1900’s the raising of sheep was an important part of Cache Valley’s agricultural industry. Every spring herders would drive their sheep into the hills where they would graze until the fall. At that time bears still roamed the hills and mountains of Cache National Forest. Since bears like to eat sheep, problems between the sheepherders and the bears were common. Frank Clark, a sheepherder, and part-owner of the Ward Clark Sheep Company, counted over 154 adult sheep killed the summer of 1911.

By 1913 Frank Clark was determined to catch and kill Old Ephraim. But at nine feet and eleven inches tall, Old Ephraim was a very large bear, and he was clever. Catching him did not turn out to be easy. Over the next ten years Clark tried everything he could think of to catch Old Ephraim but nothing worked.

Then, on the night of August 21, 1923, Clark was awakened by a loud roaring. Stopping just long enough to put on his shoes and grab his gun, he ran out of his tent to investigate the noise. In the darkness Clark didn't know that it was Old Ephraim roaring until he went past him. Then Clark knew that he was in a dangerous situation. So he decided to go further up the hill and wait until morning rather than try to get back to camp. In the morning Old Ephraim was still there hiding in some willows. Clark threw sticks at him hoping to scare him out. Instead, Old Ephraim ran to some willows by Clark's tent. Clark crept down close to the tent and shot at the bear. Injured by the shot, Old Ephraim stood up to his full height, and attacked. It was then that Clark saw that Old Ephraim's right front paw was stuck in a trap and that the chain attached to it was neatly wrapped around his right arm. Clark froze for just a moment and then shot again. It took seven shots to finally bring the bear down.

Clark then found another sheepherder who helped him skin and bury Old Ephraim. Later, a Logan Boy Scout troop went to the grave and dug up Old Ephraim's remains. Members of the troop took his massive jawbone and some of his vertebrae to use as kerchief slides for their scout uniforms. His jawbone went to the Smithsonian for a period of time, and then in 1978 was returned to Utah State University.

The jawbone is now on display in the Special Collections and Archives area of the Merrill-Cazier library along with other interesting items from the Old Ephraim collection which are available for public examination.

]]> Northern Utah's Digital Newspaper Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/16 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/16 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:13 PST Mendon (Utah) Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/15 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/15 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:12 PST "...the town Mendon epitomized the landscape of the village type in significant ways. Like a page from the past, it was situated on the west side of Cache Valley snug against the Wellsville Mountains. In company with other pioneer Mormon settlements, it was located to take advantage of water, arable land,climatic attributes, and to some degree, with an eye to Indian relations and accessibility to other communities." -- From Charles S. Peterson's "Introduction" to the book History of Mendon: a Pioneer Chronicle of a Mormon Settlement by Isaac Sorenson

]]> Logan's Historical Newspaper Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/14 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/14 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:10 PST This digital collection of Logan's local newspaper spans 1879 to 1898 when Logan is busy building its infrastructure of roads , waterworks, and public buildings. During these years, Logan builds its Mormon temple, Ogden installs gas street lights, and the Territory of Utah becomes a state. The Utah and Northern Railway is the area's railroad while Utah Agricultural College is its first state college. Logging, railroads, and runaway horses account for most of the reported accidents. People entertain themselves with balls, lectures, traveling circuses and dramatic productions, as well as Mormon church activities. Ads are replete with miraculous curatives: cancer can be cured by drinking red clover tea; hop bitters can revitalize "feeble ladies"; Warner's "safe" remedies are good for just about everything, from constipation and diabetes to nervous prostration; and $10 audiophones can help the deaf hear through their teeth! The fashions, culture, and economy of the times can be gleaned from both articles and ads. Logan businesses tout their goods alongside ads for San Francisco hotels, retail stores, and professional services. In addition to news and ads, the paper offers cautionary tales, romances, and other stories to entertain and educate its readers. Quotations and sayings liberally sprinkle its pages. National and foreign news items cover politics, trade, trials, and wars, as well as chatty gossip about English royalty and the troubles in Ireland. Before becoming today's Herald Journal, Logan's newspaper had four different titles: Logan Leader (1879-1882), Utah Journal (1882-1889), Logan Journal (1889-1891), and Journal (1892-1931). This digitized collection begins in 1879 with the Logan Leader and ends in 1898 with the Journal.

]]> Latino/Latina Voices Digital Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/13 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/13 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:09 PST Cache Valley, Utah is home to a rich and varied Latino population whose voice is often underrepresented in local repositories. To rectify this, in the summer/fall 2007 Utah State University's Special Collections and Archives collected the voices of 45 local Latino/a residents which are now presented in this digital collection. The interviews feature people originally from Mexico, Guatemala, Brazil, California and yes, even Utah. The interviewees talk about family traditions, religion, jobs and interests, as well as challenges associated with relocation, cultural identity and cultural differences. USU-trained bilingual fieldworkers conducted the interviews. The collection is part of Northern Utah Speaks Oral History Collection, Folk Collection 38. The Project received generous support from the Utah Humanities Council and Utah Division of State History, Utah State Historical Records Advisory Board and the Marriner S. Eccles Foundation. Project directors: Randy Williams and Elisaida Méndez. The Latino/Latina Voices Project received a 2009 Utah Humanities Council Human Ties Award.

]]> Intermountain Indian School Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/12 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/12 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:07 PST In 1948 Bushnell Hospital in Brigham City, Utah was transformed into what would become the Intermountain Indian School, or, the "world's largest boarding school." The school opened its doors in January 1950 to five hundred Navajo students. Educational goals were to teach English and basic academic disciplines as well as vocational skills which, it was believed, would facilitate assimilation into mainstream America. Renamed the Intermountain Inter-Tribal School in fall 1974, the school enrolled students from twenty-six other tribes. Tensions ran high and in February of 1975 rioting erupted. During the riot, studentsinjured three officers and destroyed several police cars. After this incident, enrollment fell and the stability of the school was called into question. Moreover, the federal government reversed previous rulings regarding assimilation. The Intermountain Indian School closed its doors on May 17, 1984. Today there is widespread interest in the school from former students, historians of educational practices, and those studying Native American assimilation policies. This collection provides access to a wide assortment of rare sources such as student publications, classroom material, publicity photos, and congressional correspondence.

]]> History of Science Digital Collection http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/11 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/11 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:05 PST The History of Science Digital Collection presents some of Utah State University’s most beautiful and significant scientific treasures, many of them from the Merrill-Cazier Library’s recently acquired Peter W. van der Pas history of science collection, a treasure-trove of titles showing the development of scientific thought. Focusing on it's rarest, most exquisitely illustrated books from the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, this collection offers works by such major figures in the history of scientific inquiry as Otto Brunfels, Charles Darwin, Erasmus Darwin, Carolus Linnaeus Antony van Leeuwenhoek, Jan Swammerdam, James Sowerby, Andreas Vesalius, and others.

]]> Grouse Creek Cultural Survey: Mormon Buckaroo Territory, 1985 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/10 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/10 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:04 PST Imagine living in a small ranching and farming community of 80 people, where all the children attend the same tiny rural school until 10th grade, then go 150 miles out of town to finish up high school. Where the only store is a small cooperative called Gone Country that supplies food, gifts, pottery, and in hunting season becomes the "Hamburger Hut." Where the nearest Wal-mart today is 65 miles away in another state. Welcome to Grouse Creek, Utah, home of the Mormon Buckaroo. In the summer of 1985 a team of folklife specialists (folklorists, architectural historians, & historians) from the Library of Congress and Utah spent a couple of weeks living in Grouse Creek, interviewing its people and recording its history and culture. The survey's interviews, photographs, slides, and field notes presented here are digital facsimiles of originals deposited at Utah State University 's Fife Folklore Archives as Folk Collection 21. The digital collection includes a book summarizing the survey's research, written by fieldworkers Thomas Carter and Carl Fleischhauer: The Grouse Creek Cultural Survey: Integrating Folklife and Historic Preservation Field Research (Library of Congress, 1988). Access the complete Grouse Creek Collection online register.

]]> Fife Slide Collection of Western U.S. Vernacular Architecture http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/9 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/9 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:03 PST Mailboxes, quilts, murals, tree bark graffiti, fences, gravestones, and festivals are among the many examples of folklife and material culture visually recorded by folklorists Austin and Alta Fife and presented in this digital collection. Alta Fife wrote: "Since our first collecting ventures in the realm of the folklore of the Intermountain West, we have carried a camera and taken pictures of things, people, events. However it was not until we came to Utah to live in 1960 that we began to give folk life and material culture the interest it justifies, and to use the camera as the principal means for documenting our observation." While most of the slides in this collection were taken by Austin E. Fife, others, especially Wayland D. Hand, contributed slides as well. This collection is part of the Austin & Alta Fieldwork Collection, begun in 1966 with the Fife 's initial extensive fieldwork collections and added to up until 1982.

]]> Facing the Color Line: Race and Ethnicity in Cache Valley http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/8 http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/usudiglib/8 Thu, 10 Feb 2011 14:53:01 PST What was it like to be a minority in Cache Valley during the Civil Rights era? To support this year’s Common Literature Experience, Merrill-Cazier Library presents this digital collection of interviews, images, and documents illustrating attitudes toward race and ethnicity in Cache Valley before and after the events in Little Rock, Arkansas in 1957 described by Melba Beals in the book Warriors Don't Cry. Read USU President Daryl Chase’s letters responding to issues centering on black athletes and interracial dating. See the controversy in the pages of the student newspaper in 1969 about housing discrimination in Logan. Trace the evolution of mixed marriage laws in Utah from 1888 to the present. Examine the state of racial relations in Utah during the 1950s and compare them with national attitudes revealed by an excerpt from a 1958 hearing in the U.S. Congressional Record and other documents.

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