Utah State University, Merrill-Cazier Library, Special Collections & Archives
Alison Comish Thorne papers
UUS_COLL MSS 216
14 boxes
7 linear feet
1925-2003
This collection contains the personal and professional papers of Alison Comish Thorne pertaining to her time as a USU professor and equal rights advocate.
Material in English
Box 1, folder 14 contains a compact disc.
Donated in three batches, the first two by Alison Thorne in 1992 and 2002, and then by the family of Alison Thorne in 2005.
No restrictions on use, except: not available through interlibrary loan.
It is the responsibility of the researcher to obtain any necessary copyright clearances.
Permission to publish material from the The Papers of Alison Comish Thorne must be obtained from the Special Collections and archives manuscript curator and/or the Special Collections and Archives department head.
Initial Citation: Alison Comish Thorne papers USU_Coll Mss 216, Box [ ]. Special Collections and Archives. Utah State University Merrill-Cazier Library. Logan, Utah.
Following Citations: USU_Coll Mss 216, USUSCA.
Alison Comish Thorne was born May 9, 1914 in Chicago, Illinois, the daughter of Newel H. and Louise Larson Comish. Her scholarly pursuits began at the age of sixteen when she entered Brigham Young University where she earned her Bachelor's degree in Economics and Education in 1934. Thorne received a Master's degree in Consumption Economics at Iowa State University in 1935. She then pursued doctoral studies at the University of Chicago during 1935-36, before receiving her Ph.D. in 1938 from Iowa State University in the field of Consumption Economics. Her mentors, Elizabeth Ellis Hoyt and Margaret G. Reid, worked with Thorne to help her become the first woman to receive a Ph.D. in this field from ISU. Thorne married D. Wynne Thorne on August 3, 1937 in Salt Lake City.
After the completion of her graduate work, Thorne filled various instructor positions at Colorado State University, Iowa State University, and finally Utah State University. At USU she was given the title of lecturer from 1964 through the 1980s by both USU's Department of Sociology and the Department of Home Economics and Consumer Education. Due to anti-nepotism laws, Thorne was not allowed to secure a faculty position since her husband was already a faculty member. (Wynne Thorne served as USU's Head of Agronomy, Director of the Agricultural Experiment Station, and the Vice President of University Research.) This setback did not keep Thorne from establishing a solid reputation as a scholar. Thorne played a key role in the founding of the Women's Studies Program at USU and served as a chair in the Women's Studies Committee from 1977-1989. In addition, Thorne's devotion to increasing the opportunity for women can be seen in her involvement in the Women's Center, the Committee on the Status of Women, as well as the Women and International Development committee.
Moreover, Thorne gave many early feminist speeches, including "Let the Dishes Wait" (1949) and "Leave the Dishes in the Sink" (1973). These speeches encouraged women to focus more on personal hobbies, interests, education, and family rather than maintaining a "perfect" home. As result of her influential work, Thorne has been the recipient of many awards, such as Utah State University's Distinguished Service Award (1982), Woman of the Year for the Utah Chapter of the American Association of University Women (1967), and Utah Governor's Award for Volunteer Service (1980). She was also the author of numerous articles and books, including Women in the History of Utah's Land-grant College (1985), Visible and Invisible Women in Land-grant Colleges (1986), Vision and Rhetoric in Shakespeare: Looking Through Language (2000), Leave the Dishes in the Sink: Adventures of an Activist in Conservative Utah (2002), and Shakespeare's Romances (2003).
Thorne was active in many organizations during her retirement, such as the Utah State Historical Society, the Utah State Women's History Association, and the National Women's Studies Association. Thorne died in 2005 in Logan, Utah.
This thirteen-box collection contains the papers of Alison Comish Thorne and spans the period from 1925 to 2003. The collection contains Thorne's correspondence (1932-2000), professional papers, research papers, unpublished and published writings, autobiographical writings, papers concerning Thorne's involvement in the campaign for ERA, papers concerning USU's Women's Studies Program, Thorne/Comish family papers, and a batch of papers concerning Elizabeth Hoyt (Thorne's mentor at ISU). Thorne's correspondence (amounting to thousands of letters) documents her life as a college student, her feminist and ERA work, her university service, her service in Cache Valley's "Communities Against Poverty" program, as well as additional topics. Of particular interest are Thorne's unpublished writings concerning "Let the Dishes Wait" (1949) and "Leave the Dishes in the Sink" (1973), writings which challenged stereotypical perceptions of a woman's role in society.
The materials in this collection have been organized topically and chronologically reflecting their original order. Researchers should be aware that in addition to the identified boxes of correspondence, many of Thorne's subject files and research files also contain correspondence relative to the file's specific topic.
USU Special Collections and Archives also contains a small collection of Thorne's photographs. Those interested in viewing these materials should inquire with Special Collections' photograph curator. Special Collections also contains the professional papers of Alison's husband, Wynne Thorne catalogued as COLL MSS 299: D. Wynne Thorne Papers.
Women's studies--Utah.
Feminism--Utah.
Equal rights amendments--Utah.
Mormons--Utah--History
Home and Family
Correspondence
Civic Activism
Biographical Papers, Thesis and Dissertation, Writings, and Other
undated
Folder 14 contains a compact disc of correspondences
Vita and biographical information
undated
1
1
Autobiographical notes
undated
1
2
Thorne's grade transcripts from BYU
1930-1939
1
3
College papers, miscellaneous
undated
1
4
Newspaper clippings about Thorne
undated
1
5
Newspaper clippings kept by Thorne
undated
1
6
Thorne's Ph.D. dissertation; "Evaluations of Consumption in Modern Thought"
1938
1
7
ISU.
Thorne's MA thesis, "Credit Facilities Extended by the US Government for Home Ownership and Modernization"
1935
1
8
ISC.
Publications and writings of Thorne
undated
1
9
"Women Mentoring Women in Economics in the 1930s," Thorne
1994
1
10
"A Quick History of Agronomy Wives," Throne
1990
1
11
Cache Valley Migrant Council
1960-1979
1
12
Summary of Thorne's family correspondence, by Thorne
undated
1
13
CD-Rom with Thorne's correspondence
undated
1
14
Personal papers and notes, miscellaneous
undated
1
15
Thorne's Outgoing Correspondence
1932-1938
Outgoing correspondence
1932-1933
2
1
Outgoing correspondence
1934
2
2
Outgoing correspondence
1935
2
3
Outgoing correspondence
1936
2
4
Outgoing correspondence
1937
2
5
Outgoing correspondence
1938
2
6
Thorne's Outgoing Correspondence
1939-1976
Outgoing correspondence
1939
3
1
Outgoing correspondence
1940-1941
3
2
Outgoing correspondence
1942-1944
3
3
Outgoing correspondence
1945-1947
3
4
Outgoing correspondence
1950-1954
3
5
Outgoing correspondence
1957
3
6
Outgoing correspondence
1959-1960
3
7
Outgoing correspondence
1961-1962
3
8
Outgoing correspondence
1963-1965
3
9
Outgoing correspondence
1966-1969
3
10
Outgoing correspondence
1970-1973
3
11
Outgoing correspondence
1974-1976
3
12
Thorne's Outgoing Correspondence
1977-1999
Outgoing correspondence
1977-1979
4
1
Outgoing correspondence
1980-1982
4
2
Outgoing correspondence
1983-1985
4
3
Outgoing correspondence
1986-1989
4
4
Outgoing correspondence
1990-1993
4
5
Outgoing correspondence
1994-1997
4
6
Outgoing correspondence
1998-1999
4
7
Thorne's Incoming Correspondence
1935-1999
Incoming correspondence, A-M
undated
5
1
Incoming correspondence, N-Z.
undated
5
2
Incoming correspondence, Hoyt, Elizabeth
1950
5
3
Incoming correspondence, Hoyt, Elizabeth
1969-1971
5
4
Incoming correspondence, Hoyt, Elizabeth
1971-1973
5
5
Incoming correspondence, McKay, Gunn
1971
5
6
Incoming correspondence, Thorne, Wynne
1935-1949
5
7
Incoming correspondence, Thorne, Wynne
1974-1978
5
8
Incoming correspondence, unidentified senders
undated
5
9
Autobiographical notes and papers used for Thorne's autobiography
undated
Ch 1; The 1920s; Growing Up
undated
6
1
Ch 2; The Great Depression and College Years
undated
6
2
Ch 3; Producing Babies and Books
undated
6
3
Ch 4; The Search for Values
undated
6
4
Ch 5; Conformity and Creativity
undated
6
5
Ch 6; Social Justice; The 1960s
undated
6
6
Autobiographical notes and papers used for Thorne's autobiography
undated
Ch 7; Feminist Straws in the Wind; The 1960s
undated
7
1
Ch 8; Activism in the 1970s
undated
7
2
Ch 9; The Women's Movement at USU
undated
7
3
Ch 10; Widening the Reach of the Women's Movement
undated
7
4
Ch 11; The University: Women and History
undated
7
5
Ch 12; Gathering Up Loose Ends
undated
7
6
Appendix, Biography of Wynne Thorne
undated
7
7
Thorne's Writings and ERA (Equal Rights Amendment) Papers
undated
"Let the Dishes Wait," by Thorne
1949
8
1
"Leave the Dishes in the Sink," by Thorne
1973
8
2
"Leave the Dishes in the Sink," speech by Thorne
1992
8
3
ERA in Utah file
1970-1979
8
4
ERA meeting in Houston file
1977
8
5
"Hands Across the Valley" meeting papers
1970-1979
8
6
Thorne's Papers Concerning the CAP (communities against poverty) War on Poverty Program in Cache Valley
undated
CAP War on Poverty, meeting minutes, by-laws, membership records and other (removed from a three-ring binder)
1960-1969
9
1
Thorne's Papers Concerning the CAP War on Poverty Program in Cache Valley
1960-1979
Files; CAP War on Poverty papers
undated
10
1
Files; CAP War on Poverty papers
undated
10
2
Files; CAP War on Poverty papers
undated
10
3
Files; CAP War on Poverty papers
undated
10
4
Files; CAP War on Poverty papers
undated
10
5
Thorne's Subject Files
undated
International Women's Conference in Salt Lake City papers
1970-1979
11
1
International Assoc. for Feminist Economics papers
1990-2003
11
2
Whittier Community Center (of Logan) files
1990-1999
11
3
Women in International Development papers
undated
11
4
Women and Gender Institute papers
1985
11
5
Unitarian-Universalism papers
undated
11
6
USU Women's Studies Program papers
1990-2003
11
7
USU Women's Studies Program papers,(contains reports and meeting minutes)
1990-2000
11
8
USU Extension Service and Utah Science papers
1970-1979
11
9
Thorne Family Papers
1941-1960
Correspondence of Kip Thorne
1943-1951
12
1
"A Life of Joy: The Autobiography of New H. Comish"
1959
12
2
"Snowflake Girl," by L.L. Comish
1960
12
3
Papers of Elizabeth Hoyt given to Thorne.
undated
Draft of "Consumers' Demand," by Hoyt,
1935
13
1
Hoyt's notes, writings, syllabi, and additional papers
1930-1950
13
2
Publications and writings by Hoyt
undated
13
3
Publications and writings used by Hoyt for her research
1925-1951
13
4
Subject Files, Misc. Notes and Letters.
undated
Mormons for the Equal Rights Amendment
undated
14
1
Women's Movement
undated
14
2
Migrant Workers
undated
14
3
Thorne's friends at Utah State University
undated
14
4
Misc. notes, comments, and letters
undated
14
5
Biographical Papers and Writings
Vitae Materials
1973-2002
15
1
USU Contracts
1954-1986
15
2
Speech on early career
Oct 1, 1998
15
3
Centennial Lecture, revised
1988
15
4
USU Centennial
1988
15
5
College Catalogues
undated
15
6
Faculty Honor Lecture
1985
15
7
Women's leadership school speeches
1961
15
8
Home economics and feminism
1987
15
9
Early home economics
undated
15
10
Addendum: Thorne's Subject Files
Faculty women's league
undated
16
1
Governor's committee on status of women in Utah
1963-2002
16
2
Logan school board
1961-1967
16
3
President's commission on status of women
1963, 1965
16
4
Women's community work in the 1960s and 1970s
undated
16
5
Utah urban-rural task force, 1971
1971
16
6