Northern Utah Mormon Food Storage Fieldwork collection, 1975-2002

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Utah State University, Special Collections and Archives
Title
Northern Utah Mormon Food Storage Fieldwork collection
Dates
1975-2002 (inclusive)
Quantity
5 boxes, (4 linear feet)
Collection Number
UUS_Folk Coll 59
Summary
This collection represents interviews and documentary photographs regarding Mormon food storage activities carried out by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Cache Valley, Utah, during 1992-2002.
Repository
Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections and Archives Division
Special Collections & Archives
Merrill-Cazier Library
Utah State University
Logan, UT
84322-3000
Telephone: 4357978248
Fax: 4357972880
scweb@usu.edu
Access Restrictions

No restrictions on use, except: not available through interlibrary loan.

Languages
English

Historical NoteReturn to Top

This collection represents interviews and documentary photographs regarding Mormon food storage activities carried out by members of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints from Cache Valley, Utah, during 1992–2002. The collection includes information surrounding key aspects of this foodways tradition, including gardening, food processing, food storage systems, food storage usage, and beliefs surrounding the Church members’ food preservation practices.

The collection stems from Randy Williams’s (USU Fife Folklore Archives Curator and folklorist) research on the belief attitudes surrounding the Church of Jesus Christ members’ food storage activities. Williams writes, “foodways are a conduit of culture used to teach and perpetuate group identity and values. Ripe with semiotic meaning and functions, foodways are often used to express a group’s collectively held beliefs (think eggs used for Christian Easter celebrations, roasted lamb shank bone during the Jewish Passover Seder, or dates to break fasting during the Muslim commemoration of Ramadan). Because folk ideas reflect a group’s ‘traditional notions’ about their place in the world, folk ideas contain their ‘underlying assumptions’ and serve as the ‘building blocks’ used to construct the group’s worldview.” For many members of the Church of Jesus Christ, the belief in and practice of food storage conceptualizes their millennial worldview.

Use of the CollectionReturn to Top

Alternative Forms Available

Cassette Tapes

Images, slides, prints

Fieldnotes

Ephemera

Northern Utah Mormon food storage fieldwork collection (digital version of collection; includes images, audio recordings, and transcripts).

Restrictions on Use

It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.

Permission to publish material from the Northern Utah Mormon food storage fieldwork collection must be obtained from the Curator of the Fife Folklore Archives and/or the Special Collections Department Head.

Preferred Citation

Initial Citation: UUS_Folk Coll 59; Northern Utah Mormon Food Storage Fieldwork collection; Fife Folklore Archives, Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah.

Following Citations:USU_Folk Coll 59, USUSCA.

Administrative InformationReturn to Top

Arrangement

Collection arranged by interview chronologically by date and year.

Preservation Note

Materials in this collection include interview media (sound), transcript and associated materials, such as photographs, slides, and curriculum vitae, etc.

Custodial History

After the deposit of interview materials by the collector (interviewer) and/or interviewee, Utah State University Special Collections become the custodian of the material.

Acquisition Information

This collection was acquired by Randy Williams (USU Fife Folklore Curator and folklorist). The collection represents interviews and documentary photographs related to William's fieldwork.

Processing Note

Processed in December of 2019

Related Materials

Folk Collection 17: The Jay Anderson Foodways Collection donated by folklorist Jay Anderson. The collection includes historic cookbooks.

Folk Collection 17a - Foodways Collection includes books on foodways purchased by USU Libraries.

Folk Collection 17b The Jay Anderson Foodways Research Collection.

Detailed Description of the CollectionReturn to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Box
2 1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
2001 May 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 June 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
1995 May 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
2002 September 01
1983 September 01
1979 October 01
1994

Fieldwork and WritingReturn to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Box Folder
3 1 1995 June 30
3 2 1995 June 29
3 3 1995 June 29
3 4 1995 June 29
3 5 2002 September 09
3 6
Transcript of interview with Virginia Carlson Parker; September 13, 2002
2002 September 13
3 7
Transcript of interview with Jerry A. Wilson; September 13, 2002
2002 September 13
3 8
Transcript of interview with Cari D. Storwold; April 4, 1995
1995 April 04
3 9
Transcript of interview with Julie Huppi; 1991
1991
3 10
Summary of interview with Reva Wallis with obituary
3 11
Interview with Roma Freeman; 1991
1991
3 12
Interview with Ruth Allen Skidmore; 1991
1991
3 13
Interview with Ann Gardner; 1991
1991
3 14
Interview with Lucille Campbell; 1991
3 15
Interview with Brent Bastian; 1991
1991
3 16
Interview with Edna Griffiths Thompson; 1991
1991
3 17
Interview with Lisa Hales McBride; 1991
1991
3 18
Interview with Joyce Johnson Stuart; 1992
1992
3 19
Interview with Barbara Walker; December 16, 1992
1992 December 16
3 20
Release Forms for Interviews
3 21
2002 Food Storage Survey with releases
3 22
Various Notes by Randy Williams; 1992
3 23
1992 Food Storage Minimums
1992
3 24
Recipes from various wards in Logan, UT
3 25
Food Storage ephemera
3 26
lds.org search results for food storage
2002
3 27
Graduate School Paper, "Food Storage and Narrative", March 1993
1993 March 23
3 28
Presentation for Folklore Society of Utah and Governor's Conference of History; 1992
1995 October
3 29
1993 Fife Concerence Paper, "Prepare Ye, Prepare Ye For That Which Is To Come": Temporal Practices, Yet Spiritual Beliefs of Mormons
1993 January 08
3 30
1995 Fife Conference Presentation
1995
3 31
Shaping Papers for Randy Williams' essays and presentations
3 32
American Folklore Society Paper 2002
3 33
Journal of American Folklore Submission (not accepted)
3 34
"Food Storage: A Performance of Mormon Worldview", 22 December 2016 version for "This is the Plate"
2002 December 16

Fieldwork, 1937-2002Return to Top

Container(s) Description Dates
Box Folder
4 1
USU Student Collection, Mormon anecdote about the Teton Dam Disaster and food storage
1981
4 2
Newspaper Clippings
1992
4 3
Online queries
2002
4 4
Journal articles (up to 1993 in prep for 1993 authored paper)
1945-1987
4 5
Literature produced by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on food storage
1937-2002
4 6
Daughters of Utah Pioneers materials on foodways
2002
4 7
Online foodways research from lds.org
2002
4 8
Online foodways research from lds.org
2002
5 1
Online foodways research from lds.org
5 2
Online foodways research from lds.org
5 3
Online foodways research from Deseret News archive

Names and SubjectsReturn to Top

Subject Terms

  • Tillage--Utah--Photographs
  • Irrigation--North Logan(Utah)--Photographs
  • Dwellings--Utah--Photographs
  • Folklore--Utah
  • Food--Storage--Utah--Photographs
  • Oral history--Utah
  • Vegetable gardening--Utah--Photographs
  • Water--Storage--Utah--Photographs
  • Weeds--Control--Utah--Photographs

Personal Names

  • Osborne, Julie, Interviews
  • Albrechtson, Rulon, Interviews
  • Balls, Kendall, Interviews
  • Draxler, Marilyn, Interviews
  • Gates, Ora, Interviews
  • Larson, Doxie, Interviews
  • Mays, Debbie, Interviews
  • Skidmore, Ruth, Interviews
  • Skidmore, William, Interviews
  • Thompson, Edna, Interviews
  • Thompson, Lili, Interviews
  • Williams, Fragne, Interviews

Corporate Names

  • Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Daughters of Utah Pioneers