Archives West Finding Aid

Charles Kelly was a man of many interest and talents: printer, linotype operator, writer, and river runner, as well as an amateur musician, geologist, archaeologist, artist, and photographer.

Born at Cedar Springs, Michigan, February 3, 1889, Charles Kelly was the oldest of six children. His father, a Baptist minister who started a religious movement of his own, set up a print shop to publish literature pertaining to his newly organized religious cult. Because of this, Charles learned the printing business at a very early age. At seventeen he went to work for a newspaper in Dixon, Tennessee, and from this job he saved enough money to attend Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, for three years. Mr. Kelly's father would not allow him to attend public schools, believing they would corrupt his faith, so Charles never graduated from high school. His mother, however, had been a good teacher and he was able to keep up with his peers at the University.

After this period of formal education, Kelly returned to the printing trade. He got a job with the Salina Sun in Salina, Kansas, where he learned to be a linotype operator and repairman, which assured him good employment on almost any newspaper in the country. From Salina, he went on to Pendleton, Oregon, and then to Great Falls, Montana, working on linotype machines at various newspapers.

In 1919, because of his love of music and the hope that he might make that his career, Kelly moved to Salt Lake City where he tried to affiliate with musical groups and continue his study of music. He had studied music since he was eight years old and could play several instruments. That same year he married Harriette Greener, who would be his wife for the next fifty-two years. When he was unable to find work with any of the musical companies in Salt Lake City, he set up his own printing business. In 1924 he sold his business and bought interest in the Western Printing Company, where he remained until 1941.

Kelly's natural curiosity and interest in the West led him to explore the Salt Desert, in western Utah, looking for old trails and gathering information on the trails from every available source. After he accumulated a great deal of information he wrote an article about the trails and the Donner Party of 1846, but it was not accepted for publication. He then decided that he had enough material for a book, called "Salt Desert Trails", which he published himself and it is now a collector's item. In eight years, from 1930 to 1938, he produced four more books: Holy Murder: The story of Porter Rockwell; Old Greenwood: The story of Caleb Greenwood; Miles Goodyear: First citizen of Utah; and Outlaw Trail: A history of Butch Cassidy and his Wild Bunch. He also edited for publication the Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-1847 and 1859 during this time. A second, revised and enlarged edition of Outlaw Trail was published in 1959, and in 1965, a revised edition of Old Greenwood, with collaboration by historian Dale Morgan, was released. Kelly also edited three journals from participants in the John Wesley Powell Colorado River expeditions, which were published in the Utah Historical Quarterly during 1947-1949. Numerous other articles and book reviews were written by Kelly and published in western journals and magazines. Throughout his life, Kelly nursed an abiding mistrust and active dislike of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, and his writings reflect that prejudice.

Kelly also explored western rivers by boat. His first river trip was in 1932, when he accompanied a survey party from the University of Utah, led by Julian Steward that was seeking archaeological sites in Glen Canyon. With Dr. Russell G. Frazier and others, Kelly also floated the Yampa River in western Colorado, as well as the Middle Fork of the Salmon River in Idaho. The Saturday Evening Post for May 6, 1939, featured an article by Kelly about a boat trip down Glen Canyon of the Colorado River.

Kelly developed a keen interest in archaeology and visited sites throughout Utah in search of rock art and artifacts. He assisted in many excavations, and for years explored the deserts of Utah with Frank Beckwith, among others. It was through these exploratory trips that Kelly became familiar with the little community of Fruita in Wayne County, Utah. Capitol Reef National Monument surrounded Fruita, and Kelly recognized in the village an ideal place to retire and pursue his research and writing career. Accordingly, he sold his interest in the Salt Lake City printing company in 1941 and moved to Fruita.

In 1943, Kelly was appointed the custodian of Capitol Reef National Monument. It was an unpaid position, but he lived in the Monument in a two-room government house and was allowed to see the fruit grown on the property. Kelly served in his position until 1950 when he received a civil service appointment as the official superintendent of Capitol Reef. In 1959, at the age of 70 and faced with failing eyesight and health, Kelly retired from the National Park Service. Despite his poor vision, he was able to revise and reissue two of his books and continued his research on a variety of subjects. He was named an Honorary Life Member of the Utah State Historical Society in 1960, and in 1969 was chose to receive the Award of Merit by the American Association of State and Local History.

Charles Kelly died on April 19, 1971, followed by Harriette Greener Kelly on July 13, 1974.

[adapted from the Register of the Papers of Charles Kelly (1889-1971), Ms100, by Della Dye.]