Utah Women in World War I: Stories of Utah Women

Maren Peterson History, Research

When World War I started in 1914, the U.S. started with a strict policy of neutrality. The policy was tested when German U-boats sunk the Lusitania in 1915, killing 124 Americans. The U.S. demanded that Germany stop engaging in unrestricted warfare, and Germany agreed, allowing neutral ships with non-military passengers to pass without attack. However, in 1917 Germany resumed unrestricted …

Mae Timbimboo Parry: Stories of Utah Women

Maren Peterson Digital Archives, History, Research

Mae Timbimboo was born in Washakie, Utah in 1919. Washakie was a community of the Shoshone tribe, made up of descendants of the people who survived the Bear River Massacre in 1863. Mae attended boarding school at Washakie Day School. Boarding school was common for Indigenous Americans at the time and was designed to force Indigenous American children to assimilate …

Geneal Anderson: Stories of Utah Women

Maren Peterson History

Geneal Anderson was born in 1952 and grew up in Cedar City, Utah and Las Vegas, Nevada. She was born into the Paiute tribe of Native Americans. Just two years after her birth, a law was passed declaring the Paiute tribe was no longer recognized nationally and their lands were no longer protected. This was part of the belief that …

Stories of Utah Women: Dr. Ellis Reynolds Shipp

Maren Peterson History

The story of Ellis Reynolds started in 1847 in Iowa. Her family converted to the LDS church and moved to Utah when she was five years old. In a speech about her early life, Ellis relates one of her strongest memories of the trip. One of her fellow travelers, Sister Winters, contracted cholera and died. Ellis’s grandmother was the nurse …

Topaz Internment Camp: Stories of Utah Women

Maren Peterson Digital Archives, History, Research

Pearl Harbor and Alien Enemy Registration After the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor on December 7, 1941, the U.S. was suspicious of Japanese citizens. They were afraid that those who had immigrated to the U.S. from Japan were secretly spies for their birth country. As tensions rose, people of Japanese descent were evacuated from the Pacific Coast due to fears …

Women in Law: Stories of Utah Women

Maren Peterson Digital Archives, Research

First Female Lawyers in Utah The Utah Bar admitted Phoebe Couzins and Georgia Snow on the same day in 1872. Couzins studied law at Washington University Law School in Missouri, and had been admitted to the bar in Missouri and in Arkansas. The Utah bar accepted her automatically, as she had credentials and experience practicing in other states. Judge McKean, …

Martha Hughes Cannon, First Female Senator: Stories of Utah Women

Maren Peterson History, Research

Early Life Martha Hughes was born in Wales in 1857. Her parents were recent converts to the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, immigrating to Utah when Martha was four years old in 1861. Martha’s father, Peter Hughes, died of consumption just days after they arrived. Her mother remarried about a year later and the family settled in Salt …

Women in the LGBTQIA+ Community: Stories of Utah Women

Maren Peterson Digital Archives, History, Research

The Utah State Archives and Records Service is the repository for government records. Historically, these records have not provided a voice for underrepresented groups in Utah. As we work to amplify all voices in Utah, we are shining the spotlight on the LGBTQIA+ community. History Although homosexuality was not always widely accepted, there were still communities in which those of …

Women in World War II: Stories of Utah Women

Maren Peterson Digital Archives, History, Research

Utah women volunteered in droves to help the war effort in the 1940’s. There were several different ways to volunteer and serve. If women were trained medically they could be a nurse in the American Red Cross or any military division. The United States Coast Guard (USCG) Women’s Reserve, known as the SPARS, was the World War II women’s branch …