Mary Phoenix collection
Scope and Contents
This collection documents Mary Phoenix’s professional and personal life during her lifetime while living in St. George, Utah. The material collected is from 1860-2014, while the bulk of the material is from 1960-1995.
The Personal Papers Series contains a variety of awards, correspondence, family history, newsletters, news clippings, and genealogy. They are arranged in alphabetical order.
The Subject Series contains a variety of subjects that were of interest to Phoenix including programs, plays, skits, readings, music, newspaper clippings, poetry, book reviews, theater, rotary club, and St. George’s libraries, museums and history. They are arranged in alphabetical order.
The Manuscript Series contains plays, programs, newspaper articles that were written and produced by Phoenix. They are arranged in alphabetical order.
The Teaching Material Series is the smallest series and it contains teaching material used in plays, writings and publishing, competition rules, and education of the women’s movement. They are arranged in alphabetical order.
The Photographs Series is the largest series and it contains many old family photographs from 1860-1900 on cabinet cards, an original photograph scrapbook, photographs of Phoenix’s traveling, family and friends, reading group, plays, school groups, buildings and homes in St. George, Utah. They are arranged in chronological order.
The Object Series contains a Dixie High School basketball championship varsity cardigan sweater that belonged to Phoenix's son John Phoenix. It is arranged in alphabetical order.
The Pioneer Homes and Historical Buildings in Southern Utah Series contains the history and photographs of the historic pioneer homes and buildings in southern Utah. In 1979, Phoenix was on the Washington County Historical Society committee that helped with locating pioneer buildings and researching their history. She published two booklets titled “Historical Buildings of Washington County.” The sketches are by Jon Bowcutt and text by Mary Phoenix. They are arranged in alphabetical order.
Dates
- Creation: 1860 - 2014
Creator
- Phoenix, Mary Morris , 1916-1998. (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
Mary Lund Morris Phoenix was born June 2, 1916 in St. George, Utah to Mary Ann Romney Lund Morris and William Morton Morris. She graduated from Dixie High in 1933 and Dixie College in 1935 – later named a “Distinguished Alumnus”. Mary attended the University of Southern California where she studied pre-law at a time when it was unheard of for a woman to be a lawyer. Her studies were interrupted and terminated when her father was injured in a serious accident and her mother severely broke her leg. With degrees in History and English, instead of returning to school, Mary went to work for the Washington County School District, teaching elementary to help provide for the family.
Mary met John Jack Phoenix Jr from Greensboro, North Carolina who worked as a distributor for Standard Oil. They married June 6, 1940 in St. George, Utah. Their first son, John was born in 1941 and their second, William in 1945. Her husband died in 1962 of a heart attack and her son William in 1965 in a car accident. After Jack died in 1962, she began teaching at Dixie High School where she taught English and drama. Mary remained at Dixie High until her retirement.
Among her personal interests, which were many, was her love of books, literature, plays and history. She wrote many original scripts, taught LDS Relief Society lessons for fifty one years and was very active in political, civic, and social affairs. She volunteered untold hours and received numerous awards and honors. During WWII, she was co-chairman of the War Bond and Stamp Committee for Southern Utah for which she received one presidential and two governor’s citations. She co-chaired St. George’s Centennial Celebration in 1961. Mary wrote a column for The Spectrum newspaper (“Dixie Diary”) plus wrote for the “St. George Magazine” and prepared the script for the “Washington County Book of Historical Homes”. She received Washington County Chamber of Commerce’s Outstanding Woman and Teacher Award” as well as
“Woman of the year” by the Business and Professional Woman’s Club, BPOE, and Rotary.
Full Extent
5.75 Linear Feet (3 tan cubic foot boxes, 1 gray half letter document case, 1 gray letter document case, and 2 gray oversized 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 Mary Phoenix’s personal papers, correspondence, awards, personal interests, teaching materials, family papers, family history, genealogy, photographs, community interests, book review clubs, and the Dixie Diary newspaper column that she contributed to in St. George, Utah. The collection is from the years 1860-2014.
Arrangement
The Mary Phoenix Collection is arranged in seven series. Series 1. Personal Papers, 1923-2014. They are arranged in alphabetical order. Series 2. Subject Files, 1868-1994. They are arranged in alphabetical order. Series 3. Manuscripts, 1961-1998. They are arranged in alphabetical order. Series 4. Teaching Materials, 1986-1995. They are arranged in alphabetical order. Series 5. Photographs, 1860-1998. They are arranged in chronological order. Series 6. Object, 1958. They are arranged in alphabetical order. Series 7. Pioneer Homes & Historical Buildings in Southern Utah, undated. They are arranged in alphabetical order.
Genre / Form
Geographic
Topical
- Status
- Completed
- Author
- Kathleen Broeder, Head of Special Collections and Archives, and Tammy Gentry, Special Collections & Archives Paraprofessional
- Date
- December 2017 and October 2020
- 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