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Joel Edward Ricks papers, 1846-1972

Overview of the Collection

Title
Joel Edward Ricks papers
Dates
1846-1972 (inclusive)
Quantity
25 boxes, (12.5 linear feet)
Collection Number
UUS_COLL MSS 114
Summary
Contains the personal and professional papers of Utah State University history professor Joel E. Ricks. The bulk of the collection centers around Utah and The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints settlement history. Also contains Ricks' lecture and class notes.
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
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Biographical Note

JJoel Edward Ricks was born October 18, 1889, in Rexburg, Fremont County, Idaho, the son of Nathan and Sarah Ann Taylor Ricks. In 1908, Ricks enrolled at the University of Utah and graduated in 1912 with a BA in history. He then took a teaching position at South Sanpete High School in Gunnison, Utah, where he taught and served as the school's principal until 1917. In 1917, Ricks found employment at Weber College where he worked as a teacher until 1920, and from 1920 to 1922, he served as president of the college. During this period, he married Katherine "Kitts" McKay of Huntsville, Utah on June 8, 1917 in the Salt Lake Temple.

While working at Weber College, Ricks also enrolled at the University of Chicago where he received an MA (1920) and later a PhD (1930) in American history. His PhD dissertation was entitled "Forms and Methods of Early Mormon Settlement in Utah and the Surrounding Regions: 1847-1877."

On July 1, 1922, Ricks began his career at the Utah Agricultural College (now Utah State University). He taught at USU from 1922 to 1967, serving as head of the History Department from 1922 until 1955. While at USU, Ricks served on many committees, including chairman of the Awards and Honors Committee, president of the Faculty Association, president of Phi Kappa Phi, and as chairman of the University Semi-Centennial Committee. He also served on the Board of Trustees for the Utah State Historical Society (USHS) and was its president from 1949 to 1957. He worked to ensure that the USHS was a state-wide organization with its membership open to all, and he established branches or county chapters throughout the state, the first of these being the Cache Valley Historical Society (see Coll Mss 43: Cache Valley Historical Society papers). He was also an ardent supporter of the Sons of the Utah Pioneers organization.

Ricks was the author of a number of publications, including A History of Fifty Years (1938), the semicentennial history of the Utah State Agricultural College, and he was the co-author and editor of A History of a Valley (1956), a centennial history of Cache Valley. In 1964, Ricks' PhD dissertation was published as a monograph by USU. Ricks was engaged in a project to write a book entitled Mormon Colonization Under John Taylor at the time of his death on November 27, 1974.

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Content Description

This twenty-five-box collection contains the professional papers of Joel Edward Ricks and spans the period of 1846 to 1972. This collection contains Ricks' correspondence (1907-1969), diaries (1944 and 1947), research papers, an unpublished manuscript, photographs, and other papers. Of particular interest are the materials in Boxes 5-9 which contain both original and transcriptions of original diaries, correspondence, and other similar materials that Ricks collected and used for his personal research on Utah history and the history of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

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

Permission to publish material from the Joel Edward Ricks papers must be obtained from the Special Collections and Archives anuscript curator and/or the Special Collections and Archives department head.

Preferred Citation

Initial Citation: Joel Edward Ricks papers USU_COLL MSS 114, Box [ ]. Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah.

Following Citations:USU_COLL MSS 114, USUSCA.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Arranged by material type and dates.

Acquisition Information

The materials in this collection were donated to USU Special Collections and Archives in various batches during the early 1980s by S. George Ellsworth, the trustee of the Joel E. Ricks estate.

Related Materials

Cache Valley Historical Society papers Coll Mss 43

USU Special Collection and Archives also contains another Joel E. Ricks collection, Coll Mss 46: The Joel E. Ricks Cache Valley History Collection, which contains transcriptions of autobiographies, diaries, and family histories of early Cache Valley residents.

Bibliography

Obituary, The Herald Journal , November 27, 1974.
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Detailed Description of the Collection

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Subject Terms

  • Agricultural credit--Cache Valley (Utah and Idaho)
  • Agricultural extension work--Utah.
  • Agriculture--Uinta Basin (Utah and Colo.)--History.
  • Baseball--Uinta Basin (Utah and Colo.)--History.
  • Bears--Utah--Cache County.
  • Black Hawk War, 1832
  • County extension agents--Utah--Records and correspondents.
  • Danish Americans--Utah--Biography.
  • Depressions--1929--Cache Valley (Utah and Idaho)
  • Education--Utah--Logan.
  • Education--Utah.
  • Freight and freightage--Utah--Cache County.
  • Games--Uinta Basin (Utah and Colo.)--History.
  • House construction--Utah--Logan.
  • Indians of North America--Wars--Utah--1815-1875.
  • Irrigation canals and flumes--Utah--Cache County.
  • Irrigation--Uinta Basin (Utah and Colo.)
  • Log buildings--Utah--Logan.
  • Midwives--Utah--Biography.
  • Mormon Church--History--Sources.
  • Mormon Church--Southwest, New--History--Sources.
  • Mormon handcart companies--Biography.
  • Mormon pioneers--Cache Valley (Utah and Idaho)--Biography.
  • Mormon pioneers--Utah--Biography.
  • Mormon women--Diaries.
  • Mormon women--Illinois--Biography.
  • Mormon women--Utah--Biography.
  • Mormon youth--Utah--Biography.
  • Mormons--Idaho--History--Sources.
  • Mormons--Illinois--Biography.
  • Mormons--Social life and customs.
  • Mormons--Utah--Biography.
  • Mormons--Utah--History--Sources.
  • Music--Utah--Cache County.
  • Pony express
  • Sawmills--Cache Valley (Utah and Idaho)
  • Stakes (Mormon Church)--Utah--Deseret.
  • Stakes (Mormon Church)--Utah--Emery.
  • Stakes (Mormon Church)--Utah--Garfield.
  • Stakes (Mormon Church)--Utah--Kanab.
  • Stakes (Mormon Church)--Utah--Panguitch.
  • Stakes (Mormon Church)--Utah--San Juan.
  • Stakes (Mormon Church)--Utah--Uintah.
  • Stakes (Mormon Church)--Utah--Wayne.
  • Ute Indians
  • Wards (Mormon Church)--Idaho--Worm Creek.
  • Wards (Mormon Church)--Utah--Orderville.
  • Working class--Utah--Logan--Biography.

Geographical Names

  • Beaver (Utah)--History.
  • Beaver (Utah)--Social life and customs.
  • Brigham City (Utah)--History.
  • Cache County (Utah)--History, Local.
  • Cache Valley (Utah and Idaho)--Emigration and Immigration.
  • Cache Valley (Utah and Idaho)--History, Local.
  • Cache Valley (Utah and Idaho)--History--Sources.
  • Castle Valley (Utah)--History.
  • Cedar City (Utah)--History.
  • Cedar City (Utah)--History.
  • Chimney Rock (Neb.)--History.
  • Clarkston (Utah)--History.
  • Council Bluffs (Iowa)--History.
  • Cove Fort (Utah)--History.
  • Dayton (Idaho)--History.
  • Desert Wells (Utah)
  • Devil's Gate (Wyo.)--History.
  • Farmington (Utah)--History.
  • Florence (Neb.)--History.
  • Fort Bridger (Wyo.)--History.
  • Fountain Green (Utah)--History.
  • Franklin County (Idaho)--History, Local.
  • Hyde Park (Utah)--History.
  • Laramie (Wyo.)--History.
  • Leeton (Utah)--Social life and customs.
  • Logan (Utah)--History.
  • Logan Canyon (Utah)--History.
  • Marysvale (Utah)--History.
  • Myton (Utah)--History.
  • Newton (Utah)--History.
  • Ogden (Utah)--History.
  • Orderville (Utah)--History.
  • Paris (Idaho)--History.
  • Parowan (Utah)--History.
  • Petersboro (Utah)--History.
  • Preston (Idaho)--History.
  • Price (Utah)--History.
  • Roosevelt (Utah)--History.
  • Salt Lake City (Utah)--Social life and customs--19th century.
  • San Luis Valley (Colo. and N.M.)--History.
  • Sanford (Colorado)--History.
  • Santaquin (Utah)--History.
  • Scottsbluff (Neb.)--History.
  • Sevier County (Utah)--History.
  • Smithfield (Utah)--History.
  • Sugar House (Utah)--History.
  • Uinta Basin (Utah and Colo.)--History.
  • Warsaw (Ill.)--History.
  • Wellsville (Utah)--History.
  • Worm Creek (Idaho)--History.

Form or Genre Terms

  • Overland journals--1866.

Titles within the Collection

  • Farm credit act of 1933.

Finding aid/Register created by Special Collections & Archives
2012

CC Attribution
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.

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