Archives West Finding Aid

Born at Cedar Springs, Michigan, on 3 February 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 young age. At seventeen he went to work on a newspaper in Dixon, Tennessee, and from this job he saved enough money to attend Valparaiso University in Valparaiso, Indiana, for three years. Kelly never graduated from high school because his father believed the public schools would corrupt his faith and he was not allowed to attend, but his mother had been a good teacher. He was able to assimilate much 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 to Pendleton, Oregon, and then to Great Falls, Montana, working as a linotype operator on various newspapers.

In 1919, because of his love of music and the hope that he might make music his career, Charles 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 of age and could play several instruments. When he was unable to secure employment 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 looking for old trails and gathering information on the trails from every available source. After he accumulated considerable material he wrote an article about the trails and the Donner Party and submitted it for publication, only to have his manuscript rejected. He decided he had enough data for a book which he would publish himself. Salt Desert Trails was the result of his research--his first published book, reprinted in 1969, and now a collector's item. In eight years, 1930-1938, he authored four books besides Salt Desert Trails. The books were: Hold 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 the Journals of John D. Lee, 1846-1847 and 1859 during this time. The second edition of Outlaw Trail was revised and enlarged, and published in 1959, and a revised edition of Old Greenwood: The Story of Caleb Greenwood, with Dale L. Morgan collaborating, was published in 1965. Three journals, "Captain Francis Marion Bishop's Journal," "Journal of W. C. Powell," and "Journal of Robert Chalmers" were edited by Charles Kelly and published in the Utah Historical Quarterly. Numerous articles and book reviews dating from 1930-1971 appeared in many western publications.

The Saturday Evening Post of 6 May 1939 featured an article by Charles Kelly of a boat trip down the Glen Canyon of the Colorado River. This was one of six river trips Charles Kelly made, the first being in 1932 with Julian Steward of the University of Utah to assist in an archaeological survey of Glen Canyon. With Russell G. Frazier, he also boated the Yampa in Dinosaur National Monument and ran the Middle Fork of the Salmon River.

Kelly developed a keen interest in archaeology and visited sites throughout Utah in search of petroglyphs and artifacts. He assisted in many excavations and for years, with Frank Beckwith and others, explored the desert studying Indian petroglyphs, searching for trilobite fossils, studying geology, and researching various subjects. It was through these archaeological pursuits that he came to know the little community of Fruita within the Capitol Reef National Monument, and chose it as an ideal place to retire in 1941 when he sold his interest in the printing business. Here he could pursue his research and writing.

In 1943 Charles Kelly was appointed custodian (without pay) of Capitol Reef National Monument. He lived on government land in a two-room frame house free of charge and was allowed to sell the fruit grown on the property as income for taking charge of the Monument. Kelly served in this position until 1950 when he received a civil service appointment as superintendent. It is this beautiful Red Rock Country he loved that he depicted so well in his paintings.

In 1959 at the age of seventy, Charles Kelly retired as superintendent of Capitol Reef National Monument. Faced with failing eyesight he was, nevertheless, able to revise and reissue two of his books and continued to research on some of his favorite subjects. He was named an Honorary Life Member of the Utah State Historical Society in 1960, and in 1969 he was chosen to receive an Award of Merit by the American Association of State and Local History.

Charles Kelly married Harriette Greener in 1919. He died 19 April 1971; Harriette Greener Kelly died 13 July 1974.