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Charles Kelly Photograph Collection, 1910-1970
P0003

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Scope & Content:

The Charles Kelly collection consists of 574 photographs and a few accompanying negatives. The photographs, taken and collected by Kelly, consist primarily of landscapes of national parks and monuments in Montana, Wyoming, Utah, Arizona, Nevada, and Colorado. Also included are a number of family snapshots. Unfortunately, the bulk of the photographs are unidentified. Because different parts of the collection were discovered at different times, the arrangement may seem a bit disjointed. An organizational attempt of some kind has nonetheless been made as similar print types were assembled and the prints were put into a loose chronological arrangement. The bulk of the items are silver gelatin developing-out-paper snaps. Most of the negatives were nitrate, duplicated onto dry diazo film.

Biographical Note:

Charles Kelly was born February 3, 1889, in a roaring lumber camp in Cedar Springs, Michigan. As a boy of seven he learned to set type in a small print shop which his father used to turn out religious tracts. He attended college in Indiana for a short time, but when money ran out he began wandering as a tramp printer in the West and Far West. He served in the army during World War I, during which time he met and corresponded with Harriette Greener. In February 1919, he and Harriette married and settled in Utah. For the next twenty years Kelly continued to earn his living as a linotype operator and printer, eventually becoming a partner in the Western Printing Company. In the meantime, he became interesting in local history, as a result of a trip to the Great Salt Lake Desert in 1929. Although he continued in the printing business, his passion was to research and write about the stories of the old West. He was particularly interested in the Utah-Arizona-Nevada region. His publications included Salt Desert Trails (1929), Holy Murder (1934, the story of Porter Rockwell), Old Greenwood (1936, the story of Caleb Greenwood), Miles Goodyear (1937), and Outlaw Trail (1938, a history of Butch Cassidy). Kelly also edited the Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-1847 and 1859 (1938) and wrote numerous articles. He died on April 19, 1971.

Kelly was extremely bold in many aspects of his life- in outdoor adventures, in attitude, and in politics. He took the first automobile across the Salt Lake Desert on the Donner trail, and he floated Glen Canyon several times in the years when it was not generally known. As the first custodian of Capitol Reef National Monument, he compiled an immense body of interpretive information. Extremely antireligious, he lived squarely in the middle of Mormon country and dared the Mormons to do something about it. He was also one of the founding fathers of the Utah Ku Klux Klan in the 1920s.

For more information about Kelly see, A. Russel Mortensen, "In Memoriam," Utah Historical Quarterly 39 (Spring 1971): 199-200 and Gary Topping, "Charles Kelly's Glen Canyon Ventures and Adventures," Utah Historical Quarterly 55 (Spring 1987): 120-136.

Researcher Note:

The collection was transferred to Nelson Wadsworth, professor emeritus of journalism, by the Kelly estate. Wadsworth then gave them to USU Special Collections. The Charles Kelly manuscript collection can be found at the University of Utah Marriot Library (MS 0100), and the Kelly papers are at the Utah State Historical Society (Manuscript Collection B-114).

Nitrate negatives have been removed from this collection and placed in Cold Storage Box 1. Patrons must request to view these negatives 3 hours in advance. Register completed by Todd Welker, April 2001

Inventory:

Box 1. Miscellaneous Snapshots

1:01:01-1:01:08. Bryce Canyon National Park [Utah], 1927.

1:02:01-1:02:15. Bryce Canyon National Park [Utah], 1930.

1:03:01-1:03:21. Kaibab National Forest and Grand Canyon National Park, [Arizona] (North Rim), 1927. Photos of sheep, deer, and a camp scene with automobile.

1:04:01-1:04:25. Zion National Park [Utah], 1934.

1:04:02 image Zion National Park [Utah], 1934.

1:05:01-1:05:14. Yellowstone National Park [Montana and Wyoming], ca. 1920's.

1:06:01-1:06:15. Yellowstone National Park [Montana and Wyoming], ca. 1920's.

1:07:01. Capitol Reef National Park [Utah], ca. 1920's.

1:08:01-1:08:06. Crater's of the Moon National Monument [Idaho], 1931.

1:09:01-1:09:11. Flathead Lake [Montana], and vicinity around Polson, 1929. Includes photo of the St. Ignacio Mission church and of a Montana Indian village

1:10:01-1:10:08. Fossil [Wyoming], 1935. Includes some accompanying negatives. Camp scenes, R. See Craig, and fossil hunting

1:11:01-1:11:08. Great Falls [Montana], 1910's. Includes photos of Kelly in army uniform

1:12:01-1:12:13. Northwest Trip, 1931. Crater Lake [Oregon]; Lake Tahoe [Nevada]; Redwood National Park [California]; and San Francisco Bay [California].

1:13:01-1:13:12. Pendleton [Oregon], ca. 1920's. Children riding horseback; buffalo; John Kelly and Don Strain working in a printing shop.

The following dated snapshots were arranged chronologically. Where there is no state indicated for a place name, that place is in Utah. The folder level descriptions do not attempt to mention everything in the folder, but items thought to be of particular interest.

1:13a:01-1:13a:08. Postcards. 8 items. Several hand-tinted. Death Valley [California]; a Desert Tortoise; Mesa Verde National Park [Colorado].

1:14:01-1:14:16. Dated Snapshots, 1915-1922. The Greener Family; artist Gordon Ertz (Chicago); sculptor Jack Phillips; Julia Stack; Charles and Henrietta Kelly (on in City Creek Canyon, Salt Lake City); U.S. Army groups in Paris.

1:15:01-1:15:11. Dated Snapshots, 1923-1930. Includes photo of (?) Huber, Henrietta Kelly, and Viola Bridgood in front of the Stationery Press, Salt Lake City; the Kelly family in front of the Utah State Capitol; Fred and Elsie Albers with the Kellys and their first Model A Ford on the Salt Lake Flats.

1:16:01-1:16:14. Dated Snapshots, 1931-1933. Ice caves near Shoshone [Idaho]; Blue Lakes and Twin Falls areas [Idaho]; Hoffman Briney standing at the grave of Dr. King Robinson in Salt Lake City; Mirror Lake.

1:17:01-1:17:13. Dated Snapshots, 1934-1938.

1:17:01 image Kelly holding a Kentucky rifle he found on the Donner Trail;
a group in front of the Western Printing Co., Salt Lake;
Monument Valley; Skull Valley;
1:17:07 image Colorado National Monument;
a group after a river trip on the Yampa (Cap Mowery; J. E.Broaddus;
Henry Millecam;
Dr. Frazier; Alton Hatch);
the Kelly home in SLC.

1:18:01-1:18:21. Dated Snapshots, 1939-1940. Includes an excursion on the Donner Trail.

1:19:01-1:19:19. Dated Snapshots, 1941-1942. Includes artist Bill Flemming working on a Coca-Cola sign; Capitol Reef; Floral Ranch.

1:20:01-1:20:19. Dated Snapshots, 1943-1944. Some accompanying negatives. Cathedral Valley; Capitol Reef National Monument; home in Fruita.

1:21:01-1:21:19. Snapshots, 1945-1949. Capitol Reef National Monument, etc.

1:22:01-1:22:15. Dated Snapshots, 1950-1952. Bryce Canyon National Park; Virginia City [Nevada].

1:23:01-1:23:16. Dated Snapshots, 1953-1954. Includes Fred Greener on the summit of Starved Rock State Park [Illinois].

1:24:01-1:24:18. Dated Snapshots, 1955-1958. Some accompanying negatives.

1:25:01-1:25:11. Dated Snapshots, 1959-1968. Includes view of the visitor center at Zion National Park.

Box 2. Undated Snapshots.
A highly miscellaneous box of photographs, some identified as to place. They were arranged loosely by size and type of print, with a view to bring at least general time periods together. Much southwestern scenery, family, friends, etc..

2:01:01-2:01:16. Snapshots, ca. 1910's. Includes photo of Kelly as a Boy Scouts leader.

2:02:01-2:02:16. Snapshots, ca. 1910's.

2:03:01-2:03:16. Snapshots, ca. late 1910's. Some negatives included. Southwestern scenery, including Indian ruins; photos taken in Glacier National Park [Montana], and other probably taken in Montana when Kelly lived there just before entering the Army. Some of the shots in this folder seem to aim for a painterly look.

2:04:01-2:04:11. Snapshots, ca. 1910's.

2:05:01-2:05:15. Snapshots, ca. 1910's. Many probably taken in Montana; some probably the Sun River near Great Falls, as one print is positively identified as such in Folder 7.

2:06:01-2:06:15. Snapshots, ca. 1910's. Many probably taken in Montana.

2:07:01-2:07:14. Snapshots, ca. 1910's. Scenery, including Sun River near Great Falls.

2:08:01-2:08:15. Snapshots, ca. 1910's. Scenery.

2:09:01-2:09:16. Snapshots, ca. 1910's. Scenery; portraits; Kelly posed with a four-piece band.

2:10:01-2:10:12. Snapshots, ca. late 1910's. Scenery; portraits, including one of western artist Charles M. Russell working on a canvas in his studio (Kelly took lessons from him in Montana).

2:11:01-2:11:17. Snapshots, ca. 1920's. Indian ruins; Utah scenery including Mt. Timpanogas, mine at Lake Solitude, and the Uintahs.

2:12:01-2:12:15. Snapshots, ca. 1920's-1930's. Interiors, Timpanogas cave [?]; Salt Lake City scenes including Brigham Young's Beehive House, view south/southwest over the city from the Capitol, and a view south from the mouth of Parley's Canyon.

2:13:01-2:13:15. Snapshots, ca. 1930's-1950. Includes photos of Kelly as a ranger at Capitol Reef National Monument.

2:14:01-2:14:08. Photographs, 1950's-1960's. Mainly photographs of Kelly, one standing before one of his paintings.

2:15:01-2:15:01. Interior photograph mounted on board, Kelly at work in the Western Printing Co., Salt Lake City, ca. 1924.

2:16:01-2:16:01. Interior photograph mounted on board, Kelly at work in the Western Printing Co., Salt Lake City, ca. 1924.
2:16:01 image Interior photograph mounted on board, Kelly at work in the Western Printing Co., Salt Lake City, ca. 1924.

2:17:01-2:17:12. 35 mm Slides, ca. 1940's-1950's. Subjects include Mt. Rushmore, pictographs, and Capitol Reef National Monument.

2:18:01-2:18:06. Petroglyphs and Pictographs.

2:19:01-2:19:17. Miscellany.

2:20. Miscellaneous textual materials.

Box 3. Miscellaneous Negatives

3:01. Sleeve #1 Entrance to Gypsum Cave (Nitrate Negative)

3:02. Sleeve #2 Pueblo (Nitrate Negative)

3:03. Sleeve #3 Pueblo (Nitrate Negative)

3:04. Sleeves #4 through #29 Glacier National Park in 1928 (Nitrate Negatives)

[The rest of the box contains unnumbered and uncategorized negatives for which prints do not yet exist]

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Special Collections & Archives, Merrill Library, Utah State University Libraries, Logan, Utah, 84322-3000