Research for A History of Washington County: From Isolation to Destination
Scope and Contents
This collection contains Douglas D. Alder and Karl F. Brooks’ research for their book, A History of Washington County: From Isolation to Destination, which details the history of the area that is now Washington County, Utah. Materials in the collection date from 1850 to 2016 and include government and school records, newspapers articles, census data, some interviews and personal stories, photocopies of images, and handwritten notes from the two researchers. A draft of the book is also present in this collection.
The main topics in this collection are Alder and Brooks’ research on geographical and sociological topics, local people, government, recreation, and education. The largest topic in this collection is geographical. This topic includes research on Saint George, Atkinville, Bloomington, Castle Cliffs, Enterprise, Gunlock, Ivins, Leeds, New Castle, New Harmony, Pine Valley, Pinto, Rockville, Santa Clara, Springdale, Toquerville, and Virgin. The ghost towns Grafton, Duncan’s Retreat, Hebron, Shonesburg, and Silver Reef are also represented in the collection, as are Zion National Park, Snow Canyon State Park, and the historic pioneer fort Pipe Springs, Arizona.
Dates
- Creation: 1850 - 2016
Creator
- Brooks, Karl F. (Person)
- Alder, Douglas D. (1932-2023) (Person)
Conditions Governing Access
The collection is open and freely available to researchers during Special Collections’ hours or by appointment. Researchers must complete an Application for Use and show a photo ID prior to accessing materials.
Conditions Governing Use
Copyright restrictions may apply. Permission to publish, quote, or reproduce must be obtained from the Special Collections and Archives.
Biographical / Historical
Douglas D. Alder (1932-2023) was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. He earned his B.A. and M.A. degrees from the University of Utah. His doctorate in history was awarded by the University of Oregon and included a Fulbright Fellowship at the University of Vienna in Austria. He then taught at Utah State University for 23 years. He was the 14th president of Dixie College [Utah Tech University], serving from 1986 to 1993, after which he returned to teaching history full time. Alder wrote about southern Utah history and Dixie State College history, and served on community boards, including the Washington County Library, Historic St. George LIVE, Celebrity Concert Series, and the St. George Neighborhood Preservation Committee.
Karl F. Brooks (1935 - 2015) was born and raised in St. George, and was a graduate of Dixie College. He earned his B.S. and M.S. degrees from Brigham Young University and a PhD from the University of Utah, and then became an educator in California, Nevada, and Utah. For 25 years, he served Dixie College as teacher, Director of High School Relations, Vice President, and Athletic Director. Brooks was mayor of St. George for 12 years and had been president of the St. George Area Chamber of Commerce and the Utah League of Cities and Towns. He also served as Chairman of the Zion Natural History Association, the Dixie Center Control Board, and the Municipal Finance Cooperative Agency.
Full Extent
3 Linear Feet (3 blue gray cubic foot boxes)
Language of Materials
English
Metadata Rights Declarations
- License: This record is made available under an Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International Creative Commons license.
Abstract
This collection consists of government and school records, newspapers articles, census data, some interviews and personal stories, images, and photocopies used by Douglas D. Alder and and Karl F. Brooks in writing their book A History of Washington County: From Isolation to Destination. Notes from the two researchers as well as a draft of the book are present as well.
Arrangement
The Research for A History of Washington County: From Isolation to Destination collection is arranged into 22 series beginning with Series 1, Introduction, which maintains its original order. Each subsequent series contains material grouped by topic and arranged alphabetically.
- Status
- In Progress
- Author
- Alyssa Thomas, Special Collections Paraprofessional
- Date
- 2024
- Description rules
- Describing Archives: A Content Standard
- Language of description
- English
- Script of description
- Latin
Repository Details
Part of the Utah Tech University Special Collections and Archives Repository
330 Holland Centennial Commons
225 South 700 East
Saint George 84770 United States
(435) 634-2087
specialcollections@utahtech.edu