Biographical Note:
Mary Lucetta Shumway Thompson was born on November 13, 1883 in Clarkston, Utah, to Charles M. and Agnes Jardine
Shumway. She was raised and educated in Cache County, Utah. On February 4, 1902, she was married to James J. Thompson
in the Logan LDS Temple.
Mrs. Thompson was a practicing member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and with her husband, raised
eight children in Garland, Utah. The children, three boys (J. Delos, Odell S., and W. Blaine Thompson) and five girls
(Agnes, Blanche, Melba, Laura, and Lola Ruth) remained close to their mother until her death on February 29, 1976 at the age of 92.
(Biographical information obtained through obituary contained in the March 4, 1976 issue of the Tremonton Leader/Garland
Times.)
Scope and Content:
Exemplifying a senior woman’s life in rural Utah from the 1930's to the 1970's, the Shumway Thompson collection focuses
on the daily activities of Mary Lucetta Shumway Thompson, including what she termed in her diaries as “Mormon handicraft,”
or netting and sewing, and her daily interactions with her family members, particularly her daughters. Mrs. Thompson was
constantly surrounded by family, and she noted in her 1958 journal that until her husband’s death that year, she had spent
only a few nights alone.
The collection also contains routine events Thompson encountered as a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints, including her weekly attendance of Sunday School, and her interactions with local ecclesiastical leaders.
Inventory
Box 1 : 14 Journals from January, 1933 to December, 1945 Folder 1 : 1936 Letter to Mary Lucetta Shumway Thompson from sister Maud
Box 2 : 12 Journals from January, 1946 to December, 1957
Box 3 : 9 Journals from January, 1958 to December, 1966
Box 4 : 6 Journals from January, 1967 to December, 1972