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William Lee Stokes papers, 1844-1996

Overview of the Collection

Creator
Stokes, William Lee, 1915-
Title
William Lee Stokes papers
Dates
1844-1996 (inclusive)
Quantity
162.50 linear feet
Collection Number
MS 0675
Summary
The William Lee Stokes papers (1844-1996) contain news clippings, journal articles, and magazine articles on geology, geophysics, dinosaurs, archeology, biology, religion, evolution, and other scientific topics. The collection also contains office files, teaching materials, and technical reports, research notes, maps, field reports, journals, daily planners, geological reports, personal and professional correspondence, essays, lectures, manuscripts, and books. William Lee Stokes (1915-1995) was the head of the Geology Department at the University of Utah from 1954 to 1968, organizer and director of the Earth Science Museum from 1960 to 1965, a professor of Geology at the University of Utah from 1947 to 1982, and a successful writer. His focuses of study were on geology, mineral deposits, creationism vs. evolutionism, dinosaurs, earthquakes, archeology, time line development, and the dependence of science on religion.
Repository
University of Utah Libraries, Special Collections
Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library
University of Utah
295 South 1500 East
Salt Lake City, UT
84112-0860

Telephone: 8015818863
special@library.utah.edu
Access Restrictions

Twenty-four hour advanced notice encouraged. Materials must be used on-site. Access to parts of this collection may be restricted under provisions of state or federal law.

Languages
English
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Historical Note

Dr. William Lee Stokes (1915-1994) was the chairman of the Geology Department at the University of Utah from 1955 to 1968. Stokes' focus of study was geology, mineral deposits, stratigraphy, dinosaurs, creationism vs. evolutionism, and religion's dependence on science. Stokes published seven books and more than 100 journal articles from 1949 through 1994. During his life, he gave many lectures on geology, science and religion, dinosaurs, and earthquakes. His first invited lecture was held at the University of Nebraska in 1970.

Stokes was born in Hiawatha, Utah on March 27, 1915. He entered Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1933. There he studied under George H. Hansen at a time when the BYU Geology Department was a small organization. He was a student assistant for most of his five years at BYU, and earned a bachelor's degree in 1937 and a master's degree in 1938. His masters thesis on stratigraphy in Emery County, Utah, was awarded the Sigma Xi Medal as the best graduate research project for 1938. He married Betty Asenath Curtis on September 7, 1939, with whom he raised a family of four children.

Stokes received a number of offers to continue his graduate work, and in 1938 he accepted a position as a research assistant at Princeton University, where he commenced a Ph.D. program studying the uranium- and dinosaur-rich Morrison Formation of the Colorado Plateau. He remained at Princeton for three years and received his degree in 1941. From 1942 to 1947, following graduation and as a result of his intensive studies of the Morrison Formation, he was offered a job with the United States Geological Survey team for the western United States. He remained with the federal government during the World War II period, mapping and evaluating deposits of vanadium and uranium in the western United States.

In 1947, Stokes accepted employment at the University of Utah, as he could spend more time with his family as an academician than as a field geologist. After progressing through the ranks of instructor, assistant professor, associate professor, and professor, he became chairman of the Department of Geology in 1955 and served in that position until 1968. He served on a number of university committees, including the Publications Committee (1955-1957), the Tenure Advisory Committee (1970-1973), and the subcommittee of Promotion and Tenure Advisory Committee (1972-1973). He also supervised two National Science Foundation projects on the teaching of geology to gifted high school students. In addition, from 1965 to 1973 he was on the advisory board of the Utah Geological and Mineralogical Survey. During the next two years, he advised the Utah State Parks and Recreation Division on the signs placed in the Utah State Parks. After a thirty-six-year career, Stokes retired from the University of Utah in 1983.

Stokes named thirteen new geological formations important in deciphering the geologic history of eastern Utah. He also organized the Earth Science Museum, forerunner of the present Utah Museum of Natural History, and was its director from 1960 to 1965. In addition, he organized and directed the University of Utah Cooperative Dinosaur Project. This project was self-supporting and its chief field operations were carried on at a "dig" now known as the Cleveland-Lloyd Quarry near Cleveland, Utah. The project has provided material for forty-two complete, mounted skeletons on display throughout the world. Several new species have been identified at this quarry, including the Stokesosaurus, named for Stokes by his colleague in paleontology, James H. Madsen, Jr.

Stokes served as director of the program that compiled the first state geologic map of Utah to help the Utah State Land Board assess mineral resources located on state lands. Today, that map is considered a classic, and it is actively sought by collectors. Stokes was also a prolific writer. He authored or co-authored 125 technical papers and twenty-eight books from 1948 to 1993. His texts have been best sellers, and have been used in colleges and universities in all fifty states and some foreign countries. Stokes was a writer for geological conventions and field trips, having contributed about thirty papers to guidebooks for these events in Utah, Nevada, Wyoming, Colorado, New Mexico, and Arizona. He wrote about 100 other articles for a variety of national and international technical journals. For many years he wrote the review article on geology for the Encyclopedia Americana Annual Yearbooks. In addition, he was a published poet.

The recipient of many honors during his career, Stokes was elected to honorary membership in the Utah Geological Association in 1976. He received the University of Utah's 1980 Best Teacher Award and Brigham Young University's 1985 Achievement Award. In 1987, the Museum of San Rafael in Castle Dale named a hall for him. In 1994, Stokes was honored by Utah Governor Michael O. Leavitt with the Governor's Medal for Science and Technology. Governor Leavitt cited his "truly extraordinary impact on how Utahns view the present landscape of Utah and its ancient habitats." Stokes died on December 12, 1994, due to complications related to Adult Onset Diabetes.

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Content Description

The William Lee Stokes papers (1844-1996) contain newspaper clippings, journal articles, and magazine articles on geology, geophysics, dinosaurs, archaeology, biology, religion, evolution, and other scientific topics. The collection also contains office files, order forms, teaching materials, and technical reports from Stokes' work as a professor of geology, director of the Earth Science Museum, and as the Head of the Geology Department at the University of Utah. In addition, there are research notes, maps, field reports, journals, daily planners, geological reports, and correspondence from his field work and personal research on geology and dinosaurs. The collection contains manuscripts of Stokes' essays, lectures, articles, and books; as well as personal correspondence, news clippings on Stokes, and biographical information about Stokes.

This collection is divided into four sections. Section One, Personal Papers, consists of mementoes about Stokes' friends and family, correspondence, and his journals and day books. His personal and professional correspondence in boxes 1-14 is arranged in chronological order whenever possible. Some folders span several years, as they contain correspondence related to a specific subject or project. His journals, daily planners, calendars, and field notes are located in boxes 15-16, while information on Stokes' professional training and the papers from his collegiate studies are in boxes 17-19. Finally, box 20 contains mementoes and background information on Stokes, such as his curriculum vitae, awards, and news clippings.

Section Two, Professional Papers, consists of Stokes' teaching materials, some of his geology student's papers, theses and dissertations, and material derived from his duties as chair of the University of Utah Geology Department, including invoices, brochures, catalogs, receipts, newsletters, travel vouchers, and other general office files. The material Stokes used as a professor of geology and geophysics at the University of Utah is contained in boxes 21-31. Box 21 contains teaching items of an unspecified level of study, while material in boxes 22-25 is arranged alphabetically by class subject and level. These items are followed by papers written by Stokes' students in boxes 26-29 and theses and dissertations in boxes 30-31. These documents are arranged alphabetically by title. His general office material, located in boxes 32-52, includes conference and seminar packets, order forms, invoices, receipts, newsletters, brochures, book reviews, catalogs, and reports. Maps, charts, tables, and oversized drawings are in boxes 53-64 and the Manuscripts Division's map cases. A list of the map case material is located in this inventory following the listing for box 64.

Section Three, Stokes' Writings and Research, consists of articles, speeches, manuscripts, and study guides that Stokes wrote, as well as his research files and bibliographic reference system. Boxes 65-70 contain the articles, speeches, poems, reports, and papers that he wrote, while his full-length manuscript drafts, many of which remain unpublished, are in boxes 71-82. All of Stokes' writings are arranged in alphabetical order by the title of the document. These are followed by his research files, which are divided into three groups of material: court documents that deal with scientific or religious cases (boxes 83-88), research on various subjects (boxes 89-98), and his bibliographic reference system (box 99). The court documents are in chronological order by case number. The research files are arranged in alphabetical order by topic. These topics are in the original groupings assigned to them by Stokes, and they include biology, Brigham Young University, carbon dating, water, geology, climate, the creation and evolution debate, dinosaurs, fossils, the Ice Age, the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and its leaders, mining and mineral resources, oceanography, outer space, the Soviet Union and its dissolution, stratigraphy, and transcontinental drift theory. Many of the notes in his research are unidentified typescripts, and could be early, untitled drafts of his books and articles. The bibliographic reference system is also in Stokes' original order.

The last section, Writings by Others, contains articles, reports, speeches, and pamphlets written by authors other than Stokes. Much of this material was collected by Stokes while researching information for his own writings. Stokes could read French and German, and many of these articles are written in these languages, as well as French, Russian, Chinese, and Italian. Boxes 100-107 contain the material which originates from a religious viewpoint, and it is arranged in chronological order by publication date. These writings concern publications by or about various religious organizations, as well as the debate regarding the origin of man in the context of the debate between creationism and evolution.

Boxes 108-169 of this section contain material that is scientifically based, and is divided into two groups. The first group, boxes 108-126, contains technical papers on water development projects, geological interests, atomic energy reserves, stratification correlations across the country, biological movements and patterns, mineral deposits, archaeology and time period research, seismic activity, and other topics. These papers are arranged in alphabetical order by title. The second group, boxes 127-169, contains journal, magazine, and newspaper articles that are grouped in six categories and then arranged in chronological order by publication date. Information about geology and geophysics (earthquakes, volcanoes, topography, and mineral deposits) is located in boxes 127-143. Items written about archaeological events and covering topics such as fossil discoveries, paleontology, time lines, and carbon age dating are contained in boxes 144-154. Articles written about the development of dinosaur attractions, theories of extinction for the dinosaurs, and information about dinosaurs themselves can be found in boxes 155-157. Articles relating to genetics research, modern medical advances, and more on the origin and evolution of man are found in boxes 158-159. Articles dealing with outer space exploration and related technology are located in boxes 160-163. Lastly, additional scientific topics, such as meteorology and climate control, psychology, oceanography, nuclear energy, fusion, biology, zoology, physics, art or cultural history, and entomology are contained in boxes 164-169.

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Use of the Collection

Restrictions on Use

The library does not claim to control copyright for all materials in the collection. An individual depicted in a reproduction has privacy rights as outlined in Title 45 CFR, part 46 (Protection of Human Subjects). For further information, please review the J. Willard Marriott Library’s Use Agreement and Reproduction Request forms.

Preferred Citation

Collection Name, Collection Number, Box Number, Folder Number. Special Collections, J. Willard Marriott Library, The University of Utah.

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Administrative Information

Arrangement

Organized in four series: I. Personal Papers; II. Professional Papers; III. Stokes' Writing and Research; IV. Writings by Others.

Acquisition Information

Donated by Betty Asenath Curtis Stokes in 1992, 1995 and 1997.

Boxes 170-171 were donated by the Geology Department, University of Utah.

Processing Note

Processed by Debra Penman in 1998.

Addendum processed by Emma McFarland in 2011.

Separated Materials

Photographs have been transferred to the Multimedia Division of Special Collections (P0529).

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Detailed Description of the Collection

Finding aid prepared by Debra Penman
1998 (last modified: 2011 and 2019)

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