Mosiah Hall papers, 1880-1952

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Hall, Mosiah, 1862-1949
Title
Mosiah Hall papers
Dates
1880-1952 (inclusive)
Quantity
5.5 linear feet
Collection Number
MS 0248
Summary
The Mosiah Hall papers (1880-1952) deal with education and Hall's time as an educator. The collection contains two memoranda books Hall kept as institute teacher, lecturer, visitor, and inspector of high schools for the state of Utah. The rest of the papers include a small amount of correspondence of a very general nature, two notebooks, some articles he wrote on education, a few poems Hall wrote, several certificates relating to his teaching assignments, and a copy of the Course of Study of the High Schools of Utah Territory.
Repository
University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860

Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu
Access Restrictions

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Languages
English

Historical NoteReturn to Top

Mosiah Hall (1862-1949) was an educator who devoted fifty-seven years of his life to the field of education. He was born on 12 March 1862 in Kaysville, Utah, to William and Susanne Felstone Hall. Mosiah Hall began his long career in education in 1889 when he completed the Normal Course at the University of Utah and started teaching school at the age of 18. He later taught high school in Ogden from 1884 to 1888. From 1893 to 1898 he served as the superintendent of Weber County Schools. In 1898 he was appointed professor and head of the Department of Education at Brigham Young College in Logan where he remained until 1905. While there he received his B.S. degree in 1898.

Hall continued his education and in 1902 he graduated from the University of Chicago with a Masters in philosophy and education. From 1905 to 1907 he taught at the LDS University in Salt Lake City. In 1907 he was appointed professor of education at the University of Utah. His duties included lectures at the University as well as lectures throughout the state as institute instructor. In 1908 he was appointed Inspector of High Schools for the state of Utah, a position he held until 1921 when the position was done away with. During his tenure in this position the number of high schools in Utah increased from five to forty-five and the number of pupils increased from two thousand to twenty-four thousand. In 1921 Hall was appointed Director of Vocational Rehabilitation by State Superintendent George Thomas, where he remained until his retirement in 1937. Hall also helped organize the State Teachers Organization.

Hall wrote two books. The first book, entitled Child Study and Training, was the third volume of a three volume set under the series title Parent and Child that was put out by the Deseret Sunday School Union; it was published in 1916. His other book, Practical Sociology, was published in 1918. He also did the Utah supplement for Alex Everett Frye's Complete Geography published in 1896. He was the author of many other pamphlets and articles on education. He also wrote poetry, some of which were published.

Hall married Rose Ann Walton in 1884; they had eleven children, five sons and six daughters. Mosiah Hall died at age eighty-six, on 11 February 1949 in Los Angeles, California, while visiting his son Ernest M. Hall.

Content DescriptionReturn to Top

The Mosiah Hall papers (1880-1952) mostly deal with education and Hall's time as an educator. The most interesting items in this collection are the two memoranda books Hall kept as institute teacher, lecturer, visitor, and inspector of high schools for the state of Utah. In these, he records details of his visits to various cities and high schools of the state between 1907 and 1912. The rest of the papers include a small amount of correspondence of a very general nature, two notebooks, some articles he wrote on education, a few poems Hall wrote, and several certificates relating to his teaching assignments. One other item worthy of note is a copy of the "Course of Study of the High Schools of Utah Territory" dated 6 October 1894.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Restrictions on Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Preferred Citation

Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Acquisition Information

Gift of Rose Walton Hall in 1950.

Processing Note

Processed by James Bolt in 1981.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Box Folder
1 1 Biographical information
This folder contains a short autobiography. It also contains a letter to Superintendent Fowler, with sketches on Hall's life, for publication in the Utah Educational Review; there is also a typed copy of the article. There is also an article entitled "Retiring with Independence and Honor," from PANLACO (Pacific National Life Assurance Company), which is a brief biography of Hall and his wife, for the occasion of Hall's retirement. Finally there is a copy of the remarks of Charles H. Skidmore at Mosiah Hall's funeral on 14 February 1949.
1880-1949
1 2 Correspondence
This folder contains correspondence for Harold W. Bentley, John Dewey, Mosiah Hall, Judge Loofbourow, Elmer Peterson, Frederick Cuthbert Potter, E. J. Norton, and the University of Utah Alumni Association.
1921-1952
1 3 Certificates
This folder contains teacher certificates from Weber County and Farmington, and a Superintendent certificate for District Schools of Weber County.
1884-1895
1 4 Legal items
This folder contains contracts between Hall and Huntsville School District, a letter of recommendation from A. J. Anderson, "Course of Study for High Schools of Utah Territory," a copyright receipt, and a plat done by Hall.
1892-1903
1 5 Physiography Laboratory Manual
This is Mosiah Hall's personal, handwritten laboratory manual for physiography at the LDS University of Salt Lake City; it includes maps, sketches, illustrations, and text.
1 6 Memoranda books
These memoranda books contain Hall's notes of his trips to various sities and schools around the state. Hall also pasted newspaper clippings relating to his visits into these books.
1907-1912
1 7 Book manuscript and articles 1921-1925
1 8 Notebook
This notebook contains various newspaper clippings in which Hall makes comments about various towns follwed by copies of town's replies. He also copies several quotes from the Digest, and recorded some notes on Monroe's book Education Tests and Measurements.
1917-1919
1 9 Notes, poems, and stories 1945
1 10 Newspaper clippings
This folder contains two obituaries of Hall, three articles on education, and an editorial comment that Hall submitted to a newspaper.
1 11 Miscellaneous
This folder contains Character Education Supplement to the Utah State Course of Study for Elementary and High Schools, 1925, and Frederick Cuthbert Potter's The World Wants the Golden Rule, 1926.
1926

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Education--Study and teaching
  • Education--Utah

Form or Genre Terms

  • Autobiographies