Archives West Finding Aid

Alice was a member of the General Relief Society board of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and the wife of W. Whitney Smith, professor and mission president.

(Collector: Kenneth W. Godfrey)

Kenneth Godfrey interviewed his father, Wendel Godfrey, and Asael Buttars as part of a history of Cornish, UT. Wendel and Asael had been friends for many years and they talked about Cornish, their memories, and other experiences.

30 Years of USU in Space: In October 1976, then USU faculty member, R. Gilbert Moore attended a conference where NASA administrators announced the development of a new opportunity for space research aboard the newly-designed space shuttle. Moore was so enthused with the educational possibilities of the program that he stood up in the middle of the presenter’s speech and wrote a check for the first Get Away Special (GAS) payload reservation. He donated it to Utah State University, and the GAS program was born. Through the program, Utah State has sent 11 payloads into space. Since the first GAS payload, members of the team have also participated in other microgravity research projects involving NASA’s “Vomit Comet” and the International Space Station. For more information on the Get Away Special: http://digitalcommons.usu.edu/gas_educ/13/

This collection includes interviews with former faculty of USU's LAEP Department. The interviews were conducted by Aaron Smith, USU graduate student, who used the interviews for his master's thesis: The History of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning at Utah State University, 2014; and for the LAEP 75th Anniversary Celebration: The History of the Department of Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning 1939-2014, a publication prepared for the department's 75th anniversary under the supervision of Michael Timmons, editor, Associate Professor Emeritus and Aaron Smith, 2014.

This collection includes interviews with managers and workers of Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saint (Mormon) owned farms. The interviews were conducted by Anthony Ross Garner, USU folklore graduate student, who used the interviews to inform his master's thesis: Self-Reliance, Social Welfare, and Sacred Landscapes: Mormon Agricultural Spaces and Their Paradoxical Sense of Place Garner notes: as case studies, this thesis examines the motives and methods of an industrially scaled Church welfare farm in Blue Creek, Utah and a Mormon family garden in Bluffdale, Utah. Contextualized within relevant American and Mormon history, I explore the paradoxical sense of place of Mormon agricultural landscapes where ideals of self-reliance and social welfare thrive and social isolation and emotional interconnection coexist, which makes room for principles of economic efficiency and environmental conservation to find a compromise.

Heinz and Gisela Rahde, a married couple who emigrated from Germany to America in 1952, talk about their experiences living in Germany before, during, and after World War II. They provide the perspective of average German citizens during this time in history. Heinz speaks of his schooling, military experience as Luftwaffenhelfer [air force helpers], his activity in the German Stadthagen Branch, near Hanover, and being called as one of the first missionaries from the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints to serve in Germany soon after the war. Gisela talks about her experiences as a dental hygienist, their courtship and subsequent marriage, and coming to the United States as newlyweds. They also tell about Heinz’s continued education at the University of Utah, raising a family in Utah, and his work at the University of Utah as a German language professor. The interview was conducted at the request of Professor Ross Peterson, Emeritus USU History Department.

Patrick and Patricia Preston share their memories growing up skiing in Utah, as well as their memories and experiences running a ski shop in Logan, Utah. They talk about the history of skiing, their experiences skiing for university ski teams, competing, and their lives in the ski culture and community. The interview was conducted at the request of Professor Joyce Kinkead, USU English Department.

This collection includes interviews with community members, teachers, mine workers in two Wyoming uranium mine communiites. The interviews informed Zachary R. Larsen's master's thesis: In Defense of the Modern Company Town: Wyoming's Uranium Communities.

Oral History. From CD notes: Al Gabrielsen's life has always been characterized by persistence, dogged, determined problem-solving, and unconventional thinking.... [G]rowing up in small-town Mormon, Utah, fighting across Europe in World War 11, and serving a mission in impoverished post-war Norway. How did Al Gabrielsen: soldier, father, architect, scout leader, grandfather, temple worker become who he is? How do any of us become who we are? Read this and see. Ogden, Utah. March 2007

Oral history with LaRue H. Jardine and Alice Merrill, 14 July 1985, Transcribed 23 July 2009. Transcription made possible by a grant from Utah Humanities/Utah State History. Corrected April 2018.