Stanley S. Ivins papers, 1850-1968

Stanley S. Ivins was born on 27 July 1891 in St. George. His father was Anthony W. Ivins, a prominent leader in the L.D.S. church, and his mother was Elizabeth A. Snow Ivins. When Stanley's father was appointed president of the Juarez stake in 1895, the Ivins family moved to Mexico where Stanley lived until 1907. After returning to Utah, Stanley graduated from LDS High School in Salt Lake City and continued his educational pursuits earning a bachelor's degree from Utah State Agricultural College and a master's degree in animal husbandry at Iowa State College. He was an active member of the L.D.S. Church until the death of his father in 1934. Ivins held several jobs, working as an instructor at the College of Southern Utah, serving as a manger of the Ivins Investment Company, and operating as an insurance salesman.

Stanley's first love was the study of Utah and Mormon history. An avid researcher, Ivins visited many libraries and repositories, including the Library of Congress, the New York Public Library, Yale University, Stanford University, the Bancroft Library, and the Utah State Historical Society. One of his primary interests was the investigation of Mormon polygamy. Appearing in twelve articles published between 1943 and 1957, the fruits of his research focused upon the life of Anthony Woodward Ivins, the Deseret alphabet, Utah education, Mormon polygamy, and the Utah constitution. These publications were printed in the Instructor, the Utah Humanities Review, the Utah Historical Quarterly, and the Western Humanities Review. During his many years of historical inquiry, Stanley acquired a vast amount of information which he shared with many visitors to the Utah State Historical Society's archives and library. Ivin's generosity was not limited to the time which he spent discussing a variety of historical topics with scholars. In his last will and testament he bequeathed to the Utah State Historical Society his personal library which numbered more than a thousand items such as manuscripts, books, pamphlets, periodicals, newspaper transcripts, correspondence, notebooks, and family records. As a triibute to Stanley's contributions to the study of Utah history, the Utah State Historical Society decided in1967 to grant Ivins an Honorary Lifetime Membership.

Stanley S. Ivins died on 5 July 1967.